I'm playing a witch with a headband of vast intelligence with the linguistics skill. The item description states, "After being worn for 24 hours, the headband grants a number of skill ranks in those skills equal to the wearer's total Hit Dice." Someone else in the party has a circlet of persuasion. Can the witch briefly take off the headband and borrow the circlet for a minute or two (to perform a discrete charisma-related task) without losing the linguistics bonuses when he puts in back on?
Actually, since the circlet uses the head slot and the headband uses the headband slot, you can use both at the same time.
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I've always had a problem with this myself. Fluff-wise, it makes no sense. These characters are all wearing these articles 24/7? While sleeping, bathing, entertaining, performing *ahem* "private acts"? Really, they can't take them off for a moment or they lose their bonuses and open themselves up to surprise attack? Or does all this get hand-waved into the background?
For example. The PCs are invited to a swanky ball. They go out and buy new outfits and dress to the nines. They then have their assorted headbands, tabards, bracers, helmets, masks and goggles on overtop (or underneath, remember; can't take them off!) of all their finery?
Its a bit awkward, yes. Personally i would say: if the player gets an advantage by putting it off (in caseof trading int for charisma in a meaningful situation), he can suffer the missing skillranks for 24 hours. Otherwise just ignore it
I agree Joex. Unless the PCs were trying to get away with something, I would probably house rule that, after the first 24 hours, the items could be removed for periods of up to 8-12 hours without loss of bonuses when the items are replaced (i.e. no need for a new 24 hour start up period).
In any event, Raymond solved my immediate dilemma. Can't believe I missed that!
That's an interesting take, dark warrior. It would permit frequent item switching, which is the problem Grishnackh brings up. Isn't the 24 hour rule designed to prevent that? Otherwise, isn't it meaningless? Not so hard to have the find some 24 hours to wear an item after acquisition, and then have it work forever without having to meet the 24 hours requirement again...
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I rule in my games that the articles to be attuned to a character, must remain in their possession to receive the benefit. So taking a bath, sleeping, or whatever else the item becomes suppressed and the benefit is not applied when the article is not in the appropriate slot, but can be replaced at a later time to receive its benefit so long as possession is not interrupted, if someone comes along and picks up the item and puts it back down, that to me doesn't count as an interruption in possession. If the item is put on then put back down, that would be an interruption of possession...
Trying to gain the benefit of two items that use the same slot by swapping them out, would result in each item being reset each time they are swapped.
The only reason the "permanent" bonus exists is because you wouldn't want to alter your sheet for an item or spell that is going to affect you short term. That's why bonuses only become permanent 24 hours after the item (or bonus) goes into effect. Whether you've worn it for 5 minutes or 5 days, the result is the same. If you take the item off, you lose it's benefits and when you put it back on, you gain them. For headband items which are worn constantly (unless, again, you're going to a ball for example), it's just easier to actually make the changes on the sheet.
EDIT: misunderstood the issue... the skill ranks themselves only apply after 24 hours? That's not right; it's still part of the permanent bonus. Here's relevant FAQ:
"If I wear a headband of vast intelligence, do I get retroactive skill ranks for my Int increase in addition to the skill ranks associated with the item?"
"No. The skill associated with the magic item represents the "retroactive" skill ranks you'd get from the item increasing your Intelligence. You don't get the item's built-in skill ranks and another set to assign however you want."
Taking that into consideration and abstracting from it, it just means the skill ranks don't get added to the sheet because the INT bonus is not yet permanent. Once the INT bonus is permanent (24 hours) you can record it on your sheet because it's assumed you'll be using that item/buff long term. Once you remove the item, you lose the bonuses.
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That's an interesting take, dark warrior. It would permit frequent item switching, which is the problem Grishnackh brings up. Isn't the 24 hour rule designed to prevent that? Otherwise, isn't it meaningless? Not so hard to have the find some 24 hours to wear an item after acquisition, and then have it work forever without having to meet the 24 hours requirement again...
As Grishnackh suggested most GM assume that after the 24 hour period they can be removed only suppressing the permanent benefit for the period in which you aren't wearing the headband or belt. If you were to apply the effect in another way a simple targeted dispel magic would be a great weapon against high level spellcaster: "You are using a stat enhancing headband? Here, I have dispelled it, say goodbye to your bonus spells for the next 24 hours.
About the switching part, applying a different headband replace the bonus skill. They are 2 different bonuses to the same ability so they don't stack and only the most recent apply.