APG: Magic Items: Lord's Banner of Crusades

[Pirate]

Yar!

The Lord's Banner of Crusades (page 307) "...emits a Hallow effect in a 40' radius..."

Cool.

Hallow has 4 effects:

1: Magic Circle against Evil (modified to fill the 40' radius of the Hallow)

2: +4 Sacred bonus to DC's to resist positive energy, & -4 penalty to negative energy DC's. (within the 40' radius of the spell)

3: Dead bodies cannot be turned into undead. (same)

4: your choice of 1 of 22 additional spell effects that fill the area and last for 1 year. You may also designate which creatures in the area are affected by this effect: all, same/opposed faith, same/opposed alignment. (same)

Once again - cool.

However, do I actually get my choice of one of these 22 additional spell effects from the Hallow effect caused by a Lord's Banner of Crusades?

From my first read through, I thought yes, as it quite simply states Hallow with no exceptions or altercations written. However, the more I think about it, the more I question it.

I know already that items that grant one of various effects grant only one determined on creation and that does not change (see Headband of Vast Intellect and it's bonus' to skills), however, the effects that Hallow give you vary in power from 1st level spell effects to 4th level spell effects. This variation is covered by the variable material component cost of the spell. However, even though the item creation guidelines are just that (guidelines), they would suggest that the price of an item like this would be variable, depending on the power of the accompanying effect.

Looking at the items' price (100 000 gp), it looks like the material component cost (1 000 gp, + variable gp) was completely ignored (5th level spell x caster level 10 x 2 000 = 100 000).

Does this mean that the 4th effect of the spell was intended to be left out? If so, doesn't Hallow still requires at least 1 000 gp in material components regardless of the additional spell effects that add to the cost? (I think of them as seperate. That is, 1 000 for the base spell of Hallow, plus 1 000/spell level of the spell effect added by Hallow's 4th effect; due to the comma that seperates the base 1 000 gp material component cost and the additional 1 000/spell level cost) ...or is this discrepancy due to the situational use of the item (only when properly mounted AND only when held by a person of the same faith as the person who's crest is shown on the item).

I should point out that that is a 1/3rd (or a -50 000gp) reduction in price using the item creation guidelines. (CL 10 Hallow made permanent on an item with the material cost of Hallow included, but not the material costs from including the effects from hallows 4th effect would be 150 000gp)

Note: two important notes from item creation to remember (which, from my experience, many people don't) are the following:

]Spell Effect: 2 If a continuous item has an effect based on a spell with a duration ... If the spell has a 24-hour duration or greater, divide the cost in half.

Although [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells---final/hallow]Hallow is instantaneous, it's 4th effect has a 1 year duration.

...and:

]Component: 4 If item is continuous or unlimited, not charged, determine cost as if it had 100 charges.

...of course, this means that creating the Lord's Banner of Crusades from scratch WITH the variable material component cost in mind for [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells---final/hallow]Hallow's 4th effect would create an item costing between 200 000gp and 350 000gp! (this is not taking into consideration the reduction in price due to the limited nature in which is must be used to have any effect at all, but I never though that guideline could reduce an items cost by so much!)

I know that "it's my game, do what you want", but that's not the (primary) purpose of this post (also, I really don't like seeing those posts when they don't include anything else other than "do what you want/houserule it" ... and I'm sure there will be some now simply because I posted that I don't like seeing that).

I'd like to get other peoples opinions on this.

Would you allow this item to act strictly as written (full effects of the Hallow spell, including the choice of 1 of it's 22 spell effects described in it's 4th effect (cannot be changed once taken) for the flat item price of 100 000gp)? Would you do something different (such as all of the effects that Hallow grants except its 4th effect)?

And does anyone have any insight as to the intent of this item? (the answer to this question would definitely help me in deciding how to use this item in my games)

Sorry for the long post, and thanks. ;)

~P

[Pirate]

Yar.

Beuller?

Perhaps a shorter post:

Does the Lord's Banner of Crusades really give you your choice of 1 of 22 variable spell effects ranging in power from 1st to 4th level in addition to all the other effects of the Hallow spell, for a flat cost of 100 000 gp?

Details on the effects vs cost issue are in the above post.

~P

[Thazar]

Good question... and good call on making it a shorter post. :) I think this item is complex enough that your DM will always have final say on the abilities and cost of the item. (I know you did not want to hear this, but it is the caveat to anything that follows...)

First off to the duration effect. The duration is one year for the 4th effect for the Hallow spell, but the magic item would make that effect permanent. (Just like a magic sword does not expire like the spell Magic Weapon.)

I believe the cost listed is for the basic spells of the 4th power. Bless, Bane, etc. If a player was making the item, I would have the higher level spells bump the cost. (Some spells also do not really make much sense for a mobile banner in my opinion.) I would bump the price by 25K GP for each additional level of the power. It is not the same math, but looks fair compared to the overall item cost. That would put the spell resistance item at 225,000 GP. A Mantel of Spell Resistance is 90K for comparison of the cost.

And to your final point I would say the spell effect that is added is decided and fixed at the time of making the banner.

Very cool item overall.

[Sean K Reynolds]

I can't find my dev notes for that item at the moment, but I'm pretty sure the item's cost doesn't include any extra spell effects--those are optional parts of the hallow spell, and applying a flat cost for all of them (from bless to freedom of movement) would be a ripoff for a weak effect if priced for a good one, or would be way too good if priced for a weak effect.