We have a party member who wanted to invest nearly half a million dollars for bracers of +8 armor bonus, +8 luck bonus, and +8 sacred bonus.
in his mind since all the bonuses are +8 individually he says it's not too much magic in one slot. another player says it's the eqivalant of a lvl 24 magic item because the three different defense bonuses.
I would like some insight into A.) can these bracers be made. B.) would an
GM allow such items C.) what lvl of magic item are they (in my mind they seem just shy of artifacts). and D.) how do you combat something like that if he tries to unbalance the game with items like this?
Well is he making it himself or is he paying a mage to make it and if i remember correctly this will cos 360000 gp and be a caster lv 48 becaus the caster level is twice the full bonus
And if he's having a wizard make it for him, have the wizard keep it and give him a fake. and when the player complains say "do you really think he'd hand over something this powerful"
+8 luck bonus to what? same for sacred bonus, all 3 to AC?
and I wouldn't recomment what Rapthorn said, if the wizard really is lvl 48, he couldn't just rob the players of everything.
What level is that crazy player of yours?
A) sure they can be made, artifact were also made once, not by PCs but still
B) depends on what the boni are for, but normally: no way, too much money on one item. How did he get that money? if he just starts his character then there is a rule I believe, not more than 1/3 on one item, if he's playing his character for a while, then he had to sell all his stuff at 1/2 the price and will get an aweful deal.
C) I'm not sure, raptorn mentioned lvl 48, seems okay.
Can they be made? Perhaps. Note that other than bracers of armor (+8 armor) and the belts/headbands (+6 ability score), most non-artifact items granting bonuses (apart from skill bonuses) are capped at +5.
As a GM, I'd allow a +8 armor, +5 luck, +5 sacred version and strictly follow the rules for "Multiple Different Abilities" (Core Rulebook, pg. 549) and Table 15-29:
+8 armor bonus ("enhancement") = 8 x 8 x 1,000 gp = 64,000 gp
+5 AC bonus (other/luck) = 5 x 5 x 2,500 gp = 62,500 gp x 1.5 = 93,750 gp
+5 AC bonus (other/sacred) = 5 x 5 x 2,500 gp = 62,500 gp x 1.5 = 93,750 gp
Total = 64,000 gp + 93,750 gp + 93,750 gp = 251,500 gp market price (good luck affording it)
The GM is free to set the level requirements to whatever seems fitting. A minimum CL 16 to create the +8 armor bonus and CL 15 for each of the +5 bonuses seems reasonable to me.
If you properly apply the magic item creation rules (especially using the top of Table 15-29 for items that grant continuous bonuses, instead of the "use activated/continuous spell effect" line) and always compare to similar items, it's much harder to unbalance the game. However, high level play is, in some respects, very easy to unbalance.
To put it in perspective, though, the character has just "spent" 250+K gp to raise their AC by +18. A fighter in +5 mithral full plate (35,500 gp) with a +5 animated heavy steel shield (49,170 gp) gains a +21 bonus to AC for about 1/3 the investment.
Animated is a frustrating enchantment for comparison purposes, given that you have to loose it as a standard action and it does not confer its benefit after 4 rounds.
The tone of your post seems to imply that the wizard is spending a lot of money for those bonuses ... I disagree. The bonuses that character receives are the best kinds of bonuses a character can achieve. Every point of it works against incorporeal creatures, against opponents attacking from surprise, and from creatures or spells that only have to touch the caster rather than break his armor; there is no way to deny him those bonuses. I don't know that the 250k is reasonable, but if it's not, I doubt that it's far off.
I used animated to prevent the two-handed weapon fighter advocates from complaining about "gimping" a high-level fighter's damage by using a shield for AC. One standard action (possibly at the start of the fight in the same round your spellcasting buddies cast haste and other goodies) still lets you move + draw. Unless almost every combat has opponents within 60 ft at the start, you're probably not going to see a lot of impact. Or you could just go with a two-weapon fighting/shield bash mobile fighter with a light quickdraw shield to make switching between ranged attacks and melee easier.
+5 ghost touch mithral full plate (74,500 gp) and a +5 bashing ghost touch light steel quickdraw shield (81,209 gp) still gives +20 to AC that applies to incorporeal touch and opponents attaking from surprise (+14 if the shield is not readied; but with the Quick Draw feat, "you may don or put away the quickdraw shield as a free action," so the assumption is that it will apply, since you can put it away without affecting your action economy) for about 2/3 of the cost. Granted, regular touch attacks are easier, but the +8 armor bonus from the bracers doesn't apply either (see Core Rulebook pg. 185); depending on your GM, luck bonuses probably will apply and sacred bonuses might (neither is a "size modifier, Dexterity modifier, [or] deflection bonus").
A lot of this comes down to how your GM treats the bonus types. Personally, I'd say that the insight is equivalent with dodge (can't use if flat-footed/unable to move; you may know, but you need to be able to act), luck with deflection (almost always useable), and profane/sacred with enhancement (only improves the targeted creature, effect, or object).
Can they be made? Perhaps. Note that other than bracers of armor (+8 armor) and the belts/headbands (+6 ability score), most non-artifact items granting bonuses (apart from skill bonuses) are capped at +5.
As a GM, I'd allow a +8 armor, +5 luck, +5 sacred version and strictly follow the rules for "Multiple Different Abilities" (Core Rulebook, pg. 549) and Table 15-29:
+8 armor bonus ("enhancement") = 8 x 8 x 1,000 gp = 64,000 gp
+5 AC bonus (other/luck) = 5 x 5 x 2,500 gp = 62,500 gp x 1.5 = 93,750 gp
+5 AC bonus (other/sacred) = 5 x 5 x 2,500 gp = 62,500 gp x 1.5 = 93,750 gp
Total = 64,000 gp + 93,750 gp + 93,750 gp = 251,500 gp market price (good luck affording it)The GM is free to set the level requirements to whatever seems fitting. A minimum CL 16 to create the +8 armor bonus and CL 15 for each of the +5 bonuses seems reasonable to me.
This looks pretty solid to me. On a personal note I had to have a talk with my players about this. AC was getting rediculous. There really are too many ways to boost your AC to rediculous levels.