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It is not PFS-legal, no.
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It's also crazy broken as it nets you a permanent +2 Str or Dex that stacks with all other stat enhancing items on the cheap.
Not to mention darkvision, lowlight vision, scent or swim speed as the situation demands.
It's also crazy broken as it nets you a permanent +2 Str or Dex that stacks with all other stat enhancing items on the cheap.Not to mention darkvision, lowlight vision, scent or swim speed as the situation demands.
Or a Familiar with hands.
And so what if your familiar has hands. Whoopie
Well... he succeed in one of the three rules to be able to cast from a wand.
The other two being able to speak (raven, improved familiar, ...), and the last having access to either a spell list (one or two improved familiar) or UMD (most of them via their master).
Lets see. Amulet of NA gives you infinite NA. Ring of Protection gives you infinite deflection bonus. Enhancement bonuses to weapons give you infinite bonuses to attack and damage. Belts for Stats give you infinite lasting stat bonuses.
I could go on, but the point is that infinite lasting bonuses granted through items are always better than the limited lasting bonuses you get through the spell.
Amulet of Natural Armor starts at +1. Barkskin starts at +2.
Enhancement to weapons is capped at +5. True Strike gives you +20.I disagree. I think that the limited lasting bonus you get from a spell tends to be better than the infinite lasting bonus from magic items. Why? Because the spell uses up your slot for the day, while the item continues to function day to day. Of course the item should (typically) be weaker than the spell.
And so what if your familiar has hands. WhoopieWell... he succeed in one of the three rules to be able to cast from a wand.
The other two being able to speak (raven, improved familiar, ...), and the last having access to either a spell list (one or two improved familiar) or UMD (most of them via their master).
I am not sure what you are saying here. Sounds like a bad cell phone connection.
However, if you point is that you believe that hat of greater disguise will allow a familaiar to cast via a wand (which I doubt greatly without a lot of other investments), then I have two comments.
First, so what? Second, so what? Does a wand casting familiar break the game? Will your adventure come to a crumbling halt because a familiar can cast with a wand?
Let's see (UMD, Skill Focus UMD, high Chr, all companion skill points into UMD, Improved Familiar, $ spent on hat of greater disguise, $ spent on buying wands). If someone is willing to go through all of that to have a familiar that can cast a wand then so be it.
This is far from PUN PUN.
This is one of the solution to cast 2 to 3 (with quicken) spells each round for a wizard.
Give your familiar a utility wand, and you'll have the best assets there is.
For example : RAW, a raven familiar speak one language. By using Alter self (as the spell), you can give him hands. By investing some of your immense reserve of skill points in UMD, it will have +1 in UMD by level 3 (level at which you get Alter self) [+3 ranks, -2 CHA].
It means that if you give him a Magic missile wand, he will have 90% of doing nothing (it doesn't change from normal, and the charge is not expanded), 5% of casting a magic missile (great, as it's free except for the charge), 5% of not being able to use the wand for the day (but the charge is not expanded).
At each level, you augment the chance of activating the wand by 5% (and you can give him better wands because you're richer, with no penalty as all wands have the same UMD check). For example, a 10th level wizard, will have a raven familiar without magic items (except for wands) that can use wands 40% each round, fail 55%, and 5% of not being able to cast this wand for the day (but will have access to several wands, if needed).
The hat of disguise, greater is just a mean to access this spell all day for a mere 12000gp (6000gp for someone with Craft Wondrous Item).
(For the new options for familiars in the companion archive, I don't know how it works, so I will consider that book doesn't exist).
Magic weapons are not made from greater magic weapon. All you need is:
"Item Creation Feat Required: Craft Magic Arms and Armor.
Skill Used in Creation: Spellcraft, Craft (bows) (for magic bows and arrows), or Craft (weapons) (for all other weapons)."
+5 Amulet of Nat Armor is 50k, +3 is 18k.
Lets price out this Hat anyway. We're looking at CL3 and Spell Level 2. Continuous effect price is SLxCLx2,000 in gold. Oh, but there is this little superscript 2 there, which states:
"2 If a continuous item has an effect based on a spell with a duration measured in rounds, multiply the cost by 4. If the duration of the spell is 1 minute/level, multiply the cost by 2, and if the duration is 10 minutes/level, multiply the cost by 1.5. If the spell has a 24-hour duration or greater, divide the cost in half."
Alter self is 1min/level. So we have to then double it. 2x3x2,000x2 = 24,000 gold. Not the 12,000 it is listed at. I think whoever created the item missed that little superscript, and forgot to double the price for 1min/level duration.
Now, if you're paying 24,000 (or crafting for 12k) I think the hat is less powerful. Considering you could do a slotless +2 attribute for 8k.
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The real advantage is stacking. A +4 belt and hat cost less than a +6 belt. A +6 belt and hat gives a +8 bonus, something not otherwise available.
Now, if you're paying 24,000 (or crafting for 12k) I think the hat is less powerful. Considering you could do a slotless +2 attribute for 8k.
Ding ding ding! This is exactly the problem.
Yes, whenever you make an item more expensive it is less powerful.Further, you are making an argument for the item being underpriced not broken.
Last, sometimes the prices on items are raised or lowered to fit their true value. Don't get so stuck on a formula. It is a guideline to pricing. Funny thing is, I have played many game of Pathfinder with different people and the Hat of Greater Disguise is by far not a top item selected by players. If it is as underpriced as you seem to think, why would this be so?
Fair enough. Allow me to rephrase: This item is unbalanced.
It is unlikely to break the game, but it will give the character using it an unfair advantage (as shown by Artanthos above). It also makes it so everyone with the slots to spare will want to go with the obviously better hat2 and belt4 over the belt6. That destroys verisimilitude for some as now everyone has magic shapechanging hats when they otherwise wouldn't have.
At best, you could argue "it's balanced because anyone can get one" in which case, it's straight up power creep.
There's a multitude of reasons for not liking its existence.
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1) It is legal. It's on the Chronicle Sheet:
2) It's not permanent. It lasts for 3 minutes at a time. Standard action to activate.
3) It doesn't stack (or even work) with effects like Enlarge Person.
4) If you use it less than 125 times, it's not really any better than 2.5 wands of Alter Self, other than not needing UMD to trigger it or an action to draw the wand.
It's a nice item. I don't think it's overpowered.
EDIT:
2.67 wands of Alter Self. Unless you wanted to get a wand of Disguise Self to go with it.
EDIT EDIT:
Not legal without the sheet, obviously, but still legal.
This is one of the solution to cast 2 to 3 (with quicken) spells each round for a wizard.
Give your familiar a utility wand, and you'll have the best assets there is.
For example : RAW, a raven familiar speak one language. By using Alter self (as the spell), you can give him hands. By investing some of your immense reserve of skill points in UMD, it will have +1 in UMD by level 3 (level at which you get Alter self) [+3 ranks, -2 CHA].
It means that if you give him a Magic missile wand, he will have 90% of doing nothing (it doesn't change from normal, and the charge is not expanded), 5% of casting a magic missile (great, as it's free except for the charge), 5% of not being able to use the wand for the day (but the charge is not expanded).
At each level, you augment the chance of activating the wand by 5% (and you can give him better wands because you're richer, with...
I guess I could not resist responding.
Yes, you are right. That is how wands work. However, does a Raven with a 5% chance of casting with a wand scare you? Even a 50% chance?
And when you said "give you familiar a utility wand, and you'll have the BEST ASSETS THERE IS" you really lost me. Overstating just a little maybe. Give me a Cohort that can cast and use wands and whatever else I build them to do. Now that is the best asset.
After all, it is a familiar at the end of the day. If the GM ever wants to kill the thing it is easily dead. I have never seen a familiar (wand bearing or not) break the game.
Because the familiar didn't cost anything to the wizard besides a few skill points (which can still be useful for your wizard, the day the cleric and rogue are dying) and pocket money ?
I mean, I didn't propose to rewrite the familiar, equip it with dozens of items and make it uber wizard. I didn't take feat(s), nor spend a lot of money here. It's just standard familiar, and by level 3, you can have 1 free spell every 20 rounds (that represents maybe 40 gp before passing from level 3 to 4, which improve the capability of the familiar).With a better familiar (improved familiar), you don't need Alter self, and start with better (and sometimes MUCH better) charisma. For example, the brownie start with 17 CHA, and that means +5 UMD over the raver for the same level. This familiar can also teleport himself and make mirror image, it flies and is tiny (for full of bonus if you use ray spells for your wand(s)).
The arbiter is almost invulnerable, flies, is tiny, is immune to pretty much anything, speak every languages and cast commune once per week. Adding the fact that at 7th level he could have +9 UMD, you have a familiar that can cast a spell every two rounds. That's awesome, all included for the spending of one feat.
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It's not permanent. It lasts for 3 minutes at a time. Standard action to activate.
Like the hat of disguise or the ring of invisibility, there is no duration limitation. Only your third sentence is correct.
the duration comes from the item's CL. Alter self at CL 3 = 3 minutes. You can activate it any number of time per day, but the duration is still the same.
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It's not permanent. It lasts for 3 minutes at a time. Standard action to activate.Like the hat of disguise or the ring of invisibility, there is no duration limitation. Only your third sentence is correct.
The wording of the Greater Hat of Disguise is different on the chronicle sheet:
her appearance. It functions as an alter self spell (as opposed to disguise self). The hat becomes a part of the disguise and can be a hat, a helmet, a headscarf, and so forth.
The latter specifies casting the spell at CL 3rd.
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I don't see how it could be legal with the chronicle sheet and illegal without. See all of the items from season 0 we can only use during the sceinario because we can not purchase them.
An item isn't legal unless it comes from an allowed source (and is not specifically disallowed for PFS).
The exception is anything that you find on a chronicle sheet. I believe there may be some items on Season 0 chronicle sheets that are not legal because they were either incorrect or from the 3.5 ruleset.
In theory, anything you encounter in a scenario that is not always available should show up on the chronicle sheet. Some things do slip through the cracks.