Hey guys,
So I have a player who wants to craft a cloak of vanishing; basically a cloak of invisibility. It is based off of the spell below (see below).
My questions are:
1. How much would it cost to make/craft this cloak?
2. Would activating the cloak be a swift action or a standard action? The spell is a swift action, but the book (Pathfinder PHB) says a standard action; page 183. under Activate Magic item.
Here is the spell as well as some info he has given me. Feel free to point out ANY issues with his reasoning; thanks!
"Cloak of Vanishing
based off of this spell
INVISIBILITY, SWIFT (Spell compendium)
Illusion (Glamer)
Level: bard 1
Components: V
Casting Time: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 round
With a whispered syllable you complete the
spell. You notice that others look past you
as if you weren’t there.
This spell functions like invisibility (PH
245), except as noted above.
It's a limited form of invisibility, but even 1 round of invisibility can save your life tactically. I also like that it could be set off as a swift action so you could vanish on your turn and use a double move to get far far away from a bad situation. Not so good for sneaking around because it only lasts 6 seconds but like I said, in a few instances being able to vanish as a swift action could really make a difference.
Cost would be 1800 for a level 1 spell item that is set off with a command word. To make the spell last 2 rounds would actually double the price of the item.
crafting it would be a little tricky and fun, because I'd have to buy a scroll of Swift Invisibilty and hire a bard to cast it upon a cloak as part of the crafting process."
Thanks guys for all your help!!!
The problem is that it's not just useful for buggering out with a double move. It's best used for sneak attacks. Swift action to activate, move action to get into place, standard action to sneak attack. Every round. No need to flank. Also, at the price suggested by the magic item creation guidelines you can get this little thing around level 4. Sure, it only lasts one round, but it costs a swift action, which most classes have little to no use for.
My suggestion? Don't allow this item to exist. Go for a limited use per day ring of invisibility. 1/day for 4000 gold.
The pricing guidelines break easily, especially if you use low level spells that mimic higher level spells with some kind of drawback. Whenever possible you should compare it to similar existing items. In this case, a Ring of Invisibility priced at 20,000gp.
In combat, this item is even more useful than a Ring of Invisibility. You could activate it as a swift action, get your invisible attack, and not even care about the duration because you broke your invisibility anyway. Out of combat it is significantly less useful. You could scrutinize over comparative worth, but I would be tempted to call the whole thing a wash and price the item, swift action and all, at 20,000gp.
I would advise making a magic item based on the spell vanish. Like most magical items it would be a standard action to activate, meaning it would require much more tactical thinking. Also your GM is much less likely to shoot the idea down. For a cloak that gives 1 round of invisibility it would be 2,000 gp to craft and so on based on whatever caster level you wanted to use.
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Items make around the "swift [something]" line of spells are very dangerous for the game balance.
When the spells were developed the drawback of having them last only a round was considered sufficient to keep the level down even if the spell themselves had the equivalent of a +4 level feat (quicken) applied to them.
That is good as long at it is a spell limited to a character spell slots, generally for classes with a small number of spell/day. As soon as you make it available for the general public through command activated items they tend to become unbalanced.
I, for the initial pricing of the item, would use the non-swift version of the spell, plus the level needed to quicken it.
At that point I would apply a discount based on mi evaluation of how useful the new item could be.
With this kind of homebrew items it is better to err giving a too high cost that giving a too low cost.
Yeah, there is a ton of broken mojo that came out of the Spell Compendium...
Hey guys,
So I have a player who wants to craft a cloak of vanishing; basically a cloak of invisibility. It is based off of the spell below (see below).My questions are:
1. How much would it cost to make/craft this cloak?
2. Would activating the cloak be a swift action or a standard action? The spell is a swift action, but the book (Pathfinder PHB) says a standard action; page 183. under Activate Magic item.Here is the spell as well as some info he has given me. Feel free to point out ANY issues with his reasoning; thanks!
"Cloak of Vanishing
based off of this spell
INVISIBILITY, SWIFT (Spell compendium)
Illusion (Glamer)
Level: bard 1
Components: V
Casting Time: 1 swift action
Range: Personal
Target: You
Duration: 1 round
With a whispered syllable you complete the
spell. You notice that others look past you
as if you weren’t there.
This spell functions like invisibility (PH
245), except as noted above.It's a limited form of invisibility, but even 1 round of invisibility can save your life tactically. I also like that it could be set off as a swift action so you could vanish on your turn and use a double move to get far far away from a bad situation. Not so good for sneaking around because it only lasts 6 seconds but like I said, in a few instances being able to vanish as a swift action could really make a difference.
Cost would be 1800 for a level 1 spell item that is set off with a command word. To make the spell last 2 rounds would actually double the price of the item.
crafting it would be a little tricky and fun, because I'd have to buy a scroll of Swift Invisibilty and hire a bard to cast it upon a cloak as part of the crafting process."
Thanks guys for all your help!!!
================================================================
Swift Invisibility is listed in the Spell Compendium. As such, i would look at the Complete Magic item Compendium, on how to build that us using 3.5 rules and location slot restriction that were in 3.5 rules.
The Information listed below, is based on the APG Vanish spell, as listed in APG page 253. Pathfinder does not have any slot restriction on spell location.
=================================================================
Note: While you could create the cloak at 1 round, i would try to make it a minimum of 2 rounds, to better get use of of the cloak. This would only raise your CL and DC by 1 point anyway.
Craft Wondrous Items (3rd level need to take feat)
Spell = Vanish (1st level spell, 1st level minimum Caster Level)
Caster Level = Up it to 2nd level to get 2 rounds of use from the spell.
Cloak = 1 standard action to use. (spell is a 1 standard action to cast). Command Word.
DC to Create = 5 + 2 = 7 DC
Item DC vs Saving throws = DC 2
(SL x CL x 1,8000) = (1 x 2 x 1,8000) = 3,600 gp
Charges per day (say 2) = 3,6000 divide by 2.5 = 1,440 gp
1,400 gp Retail Price = 25% of Wealth = Can aford to buy at 4th level at 6,000 gp total wealth.
700 gp Creation Cost = 25% of Wealth = Can aford to make at 3rd level at 3,000 gp total wealth.
==============================================================
If you Absolutely need it to be a Swift action, then you would need to quicken feat ( or add +5 to DC), and the item would have to be a use-activated item and not a command word item. It would cost more also.
Craft Wondrous Items (3rd level need to take feat), Quickened Feat (or add +5 DC to creation)
Spell = Quickened Vanish (5th level spell, 9th level minimum Caster Level) = Assuming made by wizard, CL would be higher if made by bard.
Caster Level = 9th level and you would get 5 rounds of use from the spell (max).
Cloak = 1 swift action to use. Has to be a Use-Activated item, to get the quickened effect (spell is a 1 standard action to cast).
DC to Create = 5 + 9 = 9 DC (again assuming wizard to make, bard would be higher)
Item DC vs Saving throws = DC 9 (again assuming wizard to make, bard would be higher)
Note = (SLxCLx2,000) Use-actiaved or Continuous, note 2, does not apply, as the item is still using charges per day limiter.
(SL x CL x 2,000) = (5 x 9 x 2,000) = 90,000
Charges per day (say 2) = 90,000 divide by 2.5 = 36,000
Retail price = 36,000 gp = 25% of wealth = Can buy at 13th level = at 140,000 gp total wealth.
Creation Price = 18,000 gp = 25% of wealth = Can make at 11th level = at 82,000 gp total wealth.
...........
Cost to much, cut the price in half, buy limiting it to so many charges before it is disenchanted or crumbles to dust (DM option).
50 charges = 1/2 Original price = 18,000 gp retail / 9,000 gp creation.
25 charges = 1/4 Original price = 9,000 gp retail / 4,500 gp creation.
12 charges = 1/8 Original price = 4,500 gp retail / 2,250 gp creation.
06 charges = 1/16 Original price = 2,250 gp retail / 1,125 gp creation.
03 charges = 1/32 Original price = 1,125 gp retail / 563 gp creation
01 charges = 1/64 Original price = 563 gp retail / 282 gp creation.
............
Or just get a NPC wizard to cast a Quickened Vanish spell on you for (SL x CL x 10 gp) = (5 x 9 x 10 ) = 450 gold Retail, per casting. Listed here for reference.
