Ok. Pretend for a second that you are a player in a group of (moderate) min/maxers. You're playing the craft-everything wizard and your GM, in a fit of laziness, has said "Just use the magic item creation guidelines. I'll look over it later. But:"
- Use the topmost section of the table if it applies (an attack/damage only bonus is worth half the general bonus)
- No personal range spells on items
- Immediate spell effects must have a charge limit of some kind
- No race/class/etc discounts
- Permanent bonuses of any kind require a 24 hour attunement
- Use-activated can go off once per round max (the rules are really vague here anyway)
So, what's the most overpowered item you can think to build? Remember, the WBL guidelines do apply in this hypothetical game, so your character level matters. For now, we'll assume that time isn't an issue.
No one? Does that mean that no one can think of any particularly broken items under these rules or that no one cares enough to try?
What about getting a ring of invisibility for half price? Do you think that's so overpowered it would break the game?
Most overpowered option? Intelligent Items.
They "break" the action economy, and they "break" the spell trigger and spell completion limitations. Just keep their ego score low.
Hrm... Good point. I'm a lot more concerned with normal magic items at the moment though, so can you think of anything overpowering within the guidelines above other than intelligent items?
By 'immediate spell effects' do you mean spells with a duration of instantaneous? Some clarity here please.
Oh sorry, yes. I meant instantaneous effects, not immediate effects.
Don't have the time to do the calculations at the moment, but I'm going to toss out the Litany of Righteousness spell. Even using the 'once per round use-activated' condition, you only need it, once per round. A paladin, would tear through evil enemies even faster than normal with this ability. Think about it, he smites, then whenever he swings his sword against an evil person, the Paladin does double damage against them. Remember, double damage, so if you crit, you have to total the damage, then double it.
It's not as bad as it initially sounds (although it's still something to consider).
The item would be 28,000 gp (2 * 7 * 2000) because of the paladin's spell progression. The paladin is a prepared caster though, so you'd want to compare this to 7 pearls of power (2nd level) as well as to the extra +1 or +2 they could (likely) get on their weapon, including holy. Plus, in most parties, it'll only double the paladin's damage (only those with a good aura).
If the duration modifiers applied to use-activated items (something I never really figured out) it'd be 112,000 gp.
My numbers are different. Remember, a Paladin's Caster level is her level -3. So it would be 2 * 4 * 2,000 * 4 = 64,000 gp*. I'm not really sure why you're comparing them to Pearls of Power, the Paladin isn't getting spells back, he's simply getting the benefits of a magic item. Otherwise, every item that mimics a spell effect, must also be compared to a Pearl of Power.
The bare minimum a Paladin could afford this, is at 8th level and only if the created the item them self. Otherwise, I would estimate this item as being available around, roughly, 13th level.
*If you don't apply the *4 multiplier, it costs 16,000 gp, and would be available at roughly 8th or 9th level.
Oh yeah. I forgot about the paladin's caster level modifier.
Also, the comparison with a pearl of power is probably not the best one here, but it's a little more useful with this spell than with others since it's paladin only and mainly benefits the paladin's attacks. Unfortunately, the spell is swift and the pearls are command word, so not so great a comparison I guess.
So, assuming the higher price for the moment, would you pay 64,000 for double damage against evil creatures? Assuming that's on top of an otherwise ordinary +1 sword (so about 3,500 with the *1.5 for multiple abilities), that totals 67,500. For that, you could have a +3 holy sword plus another 15,000 in random stuff. I don't know, that's pretty close, assuming you aren't playing a party of all paladins.
BTW, if you want to know why I multiplied by 1.5, check the APG weapons. The ones with more than pluses multiply further abilities by 1.5. Of course, they also usually spend more on the pluses than the extra abilities, which is probably a decent guideline, but I'll avoid adding that to my list at the moment.
I'm still unsure whether or not the duration multiplier should apply to use activated items. I can see arguments either way. In this case, it definitely seems like it should have that multiplier.
Oh god yes, 16,000 for double damage? All day, every day baby.
My cousin and I once sat down and plotted out some theoretical method of dealing something like 100 points of damage at 8th level, because of this spell, and this item. Remember, it double damage, so anything that has a variable, has to be totaled first.
He's playing Kingmaker, and he has a +2 Fey bane bastard sword, and he can make it Holy as well, and he UMD's a Wand of Lead Blades. Granted, he also rolled for stats and got two 18s, which he put into Charisma and Strength (which he upped to 20). So if he Smites an Evil Fey with Power Attack, he will deal 2d8+ 7 (two handed Str) +4 (Power Attack) +4 (Weapon Enhancement, Bane makes it +2 better vs Fey) +12 (Smite) +2d6 (Holy) +2d6 (Bane) for 2d8 + 27 + 4d6. If he Crits (which he took improved Crit), it's 4d8 + 52 + 4d6. Then, once he's totaled all his damage, he doubles it, because of the spell Litany of Righteousness. I told him to take Vital Strike and make his GM cry whenever he can only make a single attack.