Not sure why it was ever allowed into the books, but has pretty much everyone killed this item in their games too?
Our fighter forgot to use it every time but when we started theorycrafting about what we could do with it, our DM houseruled it. We removed the full round charge ability. So you can only use it for 1 extra standard or extra move action, but not a full round action.
It is certainly on the "must have items" list for my players as they get up in levels (and yet only 2 in the group had one last campaign), but I never found they actually were game breaking. More often than not the charges never got used as they wanted to hold them until just the right time.
So, no. I have not made any rules restricting these.
I don't mind the effect as much as I mind the price. In my mind, it should cost at least a third as much as a Rod of Quicken Spell.
I don't mind the effect as much as I mind the price. In my mind, it should cost at least a third as much as a Rod of Quicken Spell.
What about the Circlet of Rapid Casting then? Allows you to freely quicken a 4th lvl spell once a day or three 2nd lvl spells or a 3rd and a 2nd level for a meager 15.000 gold.
I don't mind the effect as much as I mind the price. In my mind, it should cost at least a third as much as a Rod of Quicken Spell.What about the Circlet of Rapid Casting then? Allows you to freely quicken a 4th lvl spell once a day or three 2nd lvl spells or a 3rd and a 2nd level for a meager 15.000 gold.
That's maybe a little bit low. But the Belt of Battle is cheaper, isn't it? And it allows you to quicken (effectively) a 9th level spell, should you so choose.
Considering my players only get magic items as rewards or as treasure, no magic gets by without my approval. I prefer to keep magic limited. My game world doesn't allow for things like folding boats or Sub-marine barrels.
If an item seems game-breaking to you then don't give it to them. Even for high magic campaigns that might have a "Magic-Mart" you still don't have to make an item available.
The bard has two and will swap it out in a day if he uses all the charges on one.
Interesting. While I haven't had anyone try this with the battle belt I did have someone feel me out with a healing belt and swapping it out after all charges are used.
I can see this just getting out of hand too fast and smacks of stacking nightsticks to me... so I ruled that using a charge affects the person who used it and the item so swapping on a new belt wouldn't work.
How have you found this to be in your campaign?
Sean Mahoney
The bard has two and will swap it out in a day if he uses all the charges on one.Interesting. While I haven't had anyone try this with the battle belt I did have someone feel me out with a healing belt and swapping it out after all charges are used.
I can see this just getting out of hand too fast and smacks of stacking nightsticks to me... so I ruled that using a charge affects the person who used it and the item so swapping on a new belt wouldn't work.
How have you found this to be in your campaign?
Sean Mahoney
I thought there was some rule that said charged items had to "attune" for 24 hours or something like that (to prevent swapping). Maybe I'm misremembering.
The bard has two and will swap it out in a day if he uses all the charges on one.Interesting. While I haven't had anyone try this with the battle belt I did have someone feel me out with a healing belt and swapping it out after all charges are used.
I can see this just getting out of hand too fast and smacks of stacking nightsticks to me... so I ruled that using a charge affects the person who used it and the item so swapping on a new belt wouldn't work.
How have you found this to be in your campaign?
Sean Mahoney
In the waning days of Living Greyhawk, every high-level character had at least one of these, sometime more than one. They are particularly deadly for archers, whose ability to take two full-round actions means a lot of pincushioned bad guys.
How much does the Belt of Battle cost? I don't have the Magic Item Compendium, but when I saw it in STAP I was (understandably) curious about the price.
How much does the Belt of Battle cost? I don't have the Magic Item Compendium, but when I saw it in STAP I was (understandably) curious about the price.
According to the internet, 12,000 gp.
Thanks.
That is considerably cheaper than I expected.
None of my players have ever used it so I actually had to look this one up.
It doesn't seem particularly game-breaking to me. I would allow it if a player wanted it, or possibly drop it in the loot.
I for one certainly regretted letting it in to my Savage Tide campaign back in the day. I daresay this magic item MAY have even, in a roundabout way, led to the overnerfing of solid fog! :P
Hmmmmmmmm, it all makes sense now. ;)
I for one certainly regretted letting it in to my Savage Tide campaign back in the day. I daresay this magic item MAY have even, in a roundabout way, led to the overnerfing of solid fog! :PHmmmmmmmm, it all makes sense now. ;)
Explain for those of us who don't get it then? >_>
The Belt of Battle allowed a high level Wizard to kill almost anything we encountered in one round when combined with a Rod of Quickening (3 Meteor Swarms in one round, anyone?). Very broken item, especially for it's price.
The Belt of Battle allowed a high level Wizard to kill almost anything we encountered in one round when combined with a Rod of Quickening (3 Meteor Swarms in one round, anyone?). Very broken item, especially for it's price.
In my experience so far, it feels like that is just how high level wizards roll. An encounter is really all about who gets initiative and the higher level PCs figure that out and stack stuff to increase it. I guess I see this as a problem with high level play as it would continue even without the belt.
Sean Mahoney
Initiative was never a problem for a Wizard with the Pre-Emptive Sense feat (Ultimate Feats. Not Pathfinder, but if a DM allowed it...). I've seen Wizards with Int bonuses of +20 at epic levels and Dexterity bonuses of +7 or higher. +27 initiative pretty much guarantees the Wizard's gonna go first.
Which doesn't even touch the level 20 diviner's Init bonus, even on a surprise round at level twenty the diviner *can* have an Initiative of 44 (10 class bonus, 10 Dex bonus, 20 class feature, 4 improved Initative).
But what can a Diviner do with that Initiative? I'm not familiar with it personally but I can only assume they specialize in Divining spells. Do they even have access to the big fwackoom spells like Meteor Swarm? I'm just saying, a regular old Wizard with a +30ish Initiative is pretty impressive and what they could do with that belt is just sick.
But what can a Diviner do with that Initiative? I'm not familiar with it personally but I can only assume they specialize in Divining spells. Do they even have access to the big fwackoom spells like Meteor Swarm? I'm just saying, a regular old Wizard with a +30ish Initiative is pretty impressive and what they could do with that belt is just sick.
A diviner is a regular old wizard. Some people call specialist wizards by their school names. Diviner, Evoker, Illusionist, Conjurer, Necromancer, Abjurer, Enchanter, Transmuter.
Hmmm... in that case, what about a Diviner with the Pre-Emptive Sense feat (we'd be talking an initiative of 20 + 20 + 10 + 7 +4 for a whopping 61!)? Exclude say Enchantment and Illusions so you can still cast Evocations and slap on a Belt of Battle along with a Major Rod of Quickening and 1 level in my poor forgotten Archmage Prestige Class and you have 3 Meteor Swarms with the Sonic Descriptor for 72d6 Sonic Damage and 18d6 physical damage (an average of 216 sonic and 54 physical)... not bad for one round.
Fun thing about Diviners? They only get ONE prohibited school, unlike most specialists who have to discard two.
The Belt of Battle allowed a high level Wizard to kill almost anything we encountered in one round when combined with a Rod of Quickening (3 Meteor Swarms in one round, anyone?). Very broken item, especially for it's price.In my experience so far, it feels like that is just how high level wizards roll. An encounter is really all about who gets initiative and the higher level PCs figure that out and stack stuff to increase it. I guess I see this as a problem with high level play as it would continue even without the belt.
Sean Mahoney
Past a certainly level 3.X becomes dueling with rocket launchers. Neither side can take near as much as the otherside can dish out, so either go first or have a well written will.
Fun thing about Diviners? They only get ONE prohibited school, unlike most specialists who have to discard two.
Wrong! Also (as follow up) you can now give up Divination as a specialist too!
Fun thing about Diviners? They only get ONE prohibited school, unlike most specialists who have to discard two.Wrong! Also (as follow up) you can now give up Divination as a specialist too!
Well, wrong in Pathfinder... but this is the 3.5 forum, is it not?
Sean Mahoney
Ah, thanks for the update, I wasn't aware.