While plumbing the depths beneath Foxglove Manor, our party came across "What appears to have once been an exquisite puzzlebox the size of a man’s fist lies smashed on the ground". A judicious amount of magical mending was used to restore the box. So anyone have a clue how much an exquisite puzzlebox might be worth?
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While plumbing the depths beneath Foxglove Manor, our party came across "What appears to have once been an exquisite puzzlebox the size of a man’s fist lies smashed on the ground". A judicious amount of magical mending was used to restore the box. So anyone have a clue how much an exquisite puzzlebox might be worth?
Masterwork is 350 gp. Art objects can be sold at full value so anywhere between 350 gp to maybe 500 gp would be reasonable in my book.
Masterwork is 350 gp.
Are you referring specifically to the cost of masterwork weapons or something else?
Fair enough. Though, for the sake of argument, masterwork armors start at 150+ gp while masterwork tools usually go for 50+ gp. Just saying.
While plumbing the depths beneath Foxglove Manor, our party came across "What appears to have once been an exquisite puzzlebox the size of a man’s fist lies smashed on the ground". A judicious amount of magical mending was used to restore the box. So anyone have a clue how much an exquisite puzzlebox might be worth?
An exquisite puzzle box found in Foxglove Manor may be a lot more than a simple puzzle box. You should hang on to it, and examine its mysteries at a higher PC level.
;-)
*nudge. Wink also.*
It was a phylactery of sorts, but now it's just treasure without a set value. Hence the question.
It was a phylactery of sorts, but now it's just treasure without a set value. Hence the question.
It doesn't cease to be a lich's phylactery just because lich is dead. I suspect it would have greater value to a certain kind of collector, and I don't mean ornate puzzle box enthusiasts.
It doesn't cease to be a lich's phylactery just because lich is dead.
Doesn't it? Without a lich's soul hidden inside, it's little more than a pretty box. Besides, I'm not certain it ever really was a proper phylactery to begin with.
Hm. A proper phylactery would have cost 120,000 gp to create initially. So how much of that goes into the box construction itself, and how much was wasted in magical components? The box must be fashioned of the most precious materials to accommodate such a high cost...
I suspect it would have greater value to a certain kind of collector, and I don't mean ornate puzzle box enthusiasts.
Perhaps, though it's always tricky trying to find a collector willing to pay for historical artifacts. I'm still trying to find someone interested in the cadre of 10,000 year old Runelord statues I've got stowed up at Thistletop. =P
It doesn't cease to be a lich's phylactery just because lich is dead.Doesn't it? Without a lich's soul hidden inside, it's little more than a pretty box. Besides, I'm not certain it ever really was a proper phylactery to begin with.
Hm. A proper phylactery would have cost 120,000 gp to create initially. So how much of that goes into the box construction itself, and how much was wasted in magical components? The box must be fashioned of the most precious materials to accommodate such a high cost...
I suspect it would have greater value to a certain kind of collector, and I don't mean ornate puzzle box enthusiasts.Perhaps, though it's always tricky trying to find a collector willing to pay for historical artifacts. I'm still trying to find someone interested in the cadre of 10,000 year old Runelord statues I've got stowed up at Thistletop. =P
Well, there might be something more than historical value. It can't be easy to learn how to build a phylactery on your own. That's some pretty impressive eldritch secret, AFAIC, or everyone would be doing it. Some useful info must be gleaned from owning a completed phylactery — even if you don't intend to use it yourself. I guess that's the "added value" I'm assigning to the object, above and beyond "ornate box".
This is really a GM's call to make. I personally wouldn't downgrade an arcane object like a phylactery to "just a box" once the PCs picked it up. Sauron's One Ring was a phylactery of sorts, and it served as the MacGuffin for the whole danged epic! I would probably use it to tempt the wizard to lichdom over the course of the campaign. Your GM may feel differently, or maybe you'll show him this thread and he'll realize just how fun that would be and go ahead with it :).
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Make Whole Spell - Make whole can fix destroyed magic items (at 0 hit points or less), and restores the magic properties of the item if your caster level is at least twice that of the item.
From the Broken Condition - If the item is magical, it can only be repaired with a mending or make whole spell cast by a character with a caster level equal to or higher than the item's. Items lose the broken condition if the spell restores the object to half its original hit points or higher.
If it were my campaign, I would rule that you have a nice box (more along the lines of 300-500 gp) but nothing like the phylactery (i.e. the magic item that cost 120,000gp) it once was.
To continue with Lincoln's Lord of the Rings analogy, Mending and its ilk could make a masterwork longsword out of the shards of Narsil but it couldn't make Andúril (Aragorn's sword of kingship) as that took Elrond's magic.
It can't be easy to learn how to build a phylactery on your own. That's some pretty impressive eldritch secret, AFAIC, or everyone would be doing it.
I would think the 120,000 gp price tag along with the need to be an 11th level caster with the create wondrous item feat and the willingness to tear out one soul, die and then rise as an undying abomination are the more obvious reasons why people aren't lining up to become liches.
Sauron's One Ring was a phylactery of sorts, and it served as the MacGuffin for the whole danged epic!
Oh, you just had to go and bring the Lord of the Rings into this didn't you? I'd contend that it was the tower of Barad-dûr itself that served as the receptacle for Sauron's soul; that's where he reformed following his defeat by Isildur. The One Ring was simply a powerful artifact he'd crafted and desperately needed back to ultimately rule Middle Earth.
I would probably use it to tempt the wizard to lichdom over the course of the campaign. Your GM may feel differently, or maybe you'll show him this thread and he'll realize just how fun that would be and go ahead with it :).
That's actually a really cool notion, though I doubt she'd be interested in taking the campaign in that direction.
You have bested me with your Tolkien lore. I concede.
But I shall never concede the coolness of tempting players with immortality and pure evil!
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Well, there might be something more than historical value. It can't be easy to learn how to build a phylactery on your own. That's some pretty impressive eldritch secret, AFAIC, or everyone would be doing it. Some useful info must be gleaned from owning a completed phylactery — even if you don't intend to use it yourself. I guess that's the "added value" I'm assigning to the object, above and beyond "ornate box".
the one arguement I have against this is that James has said that each lich in Golarion has a unique process to get there, so studying one phylactery does not necessarily open you up to knowing the way to lichdom
It doesn't cease to be a lich's phylactery just because lich is dead.Doesn't it? Without a lich's soul hidden inside, it's little more than a pretty box. Besides, I'm not certain it ever really was a proper phylactery to begin with.
Hm. A proper phylactery would have cost 120,000 gp to create initially. So how much of that goes into the box construction itself, and how much was wasted in magical components? The box must be fashioned of the most precious materials to accommodate such a high cost...
I suspect it would have greater value to a certain kind of collector, and I don't mean ornate puzzle box enthusiasts.Perhaps, though it's always tricky trying to find a collector willing to pay for historical artifacts. I'm still trying to find someone interested in the cadre of 10,000 year old Runelord statues I've got stowed up at Thistletop. =P
Well, there might be something more than historical value. It can't be easy to learn how to build a phylactery on your own. That's some pretty impressive eldritch secret, AFAIC, or everyone would be doing it. Some useful info must be gleaned from owning a completed phylactery — even if you don't intend to use it yourself. I guess that's the "added value" I'm assigning to the object, above and beyond "ornate box".
This is really a GM's call to make. I personally wouldn't downgrade an arcane object like a phylactery to "just a box" once the PCs picked it up. Sauron's One Ring was a phylactery of sorts, and it served as the MacGuffin for the whole danged epic! I would probably use it to tempt the wizard to lichdom over the course of the campaign. Your GM may feel differently, or maybe you'll show him this thread and he'll realize just how fun that would be and go ahead with it :).
I think the antithesis edition of Honest Abe is onto something here. A creative DM could find a number of uses for such an item. Having been used to house an evil Lich's soul, it may have some negative energy residue. This might have a very slow, suble effect on the PCs over time if they decide to keep it. It might also draw the attention of a prospective Lich looking to cut corners, be it cost or time.
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You have bested me with your Tolkien lore. I concede.
But I shall never concede the coolness of tempting players with immortality and pure evil!
That's if you equate where he returned versus what his soul was tied to. They didn't kill Sauron by tearing down Barad-Dur, they did it by destroying the Ring :)
That's if you equate where he returned versus what his soul was tied to. They didn't kill Sauron by tearing down Barad-Dur, they did it by destroying the Ring :)
To be more specific, I believe it's the foundations of Barad-dûr which eventually served as the repository for Sauron's soul. After Sauron's defeat by Isildur the armies of men and elves actually tore down the walls of Barad-Dur though the foundations proved to be indestructible because Sauron had used the power of the One Ring to erect them. The orcs eventually rebuilt the tower once the men and elves got bored and went home. Sauron's soul then reformed within the tower; where he remained stuck without the power of the One Ring.
The Tower collapsed once the ring was destroyed because its otherwise indestructible foundations crumbled without the ring's power to sustain them; which also led to Sauron's demise. Truthfully all three (Ring, Soul and Tower) were intrinsically linked. But I'd say that the One Ring contained only Sauron's unthinking magical power while Barad-Dur itself housed his conscious soul. Once he was killed by Isildur and his power (the One Ring) was taken, his soul remained trapped within the bounds of his phylactery (the tower of Barad-Dur). That's why he sent out armies and the Nazgûl to do his bidding; without the ring's power to act, his disembodied soul was limited to impotently watching the world go by from the heights of the tower.
But I digress. =P