
Da G8keepah |
I want to give a high level Orc Barbarian npc a magic item I am calling "Gauntlets of Titan's Grip." Anyone who wears them will gain +4 to climb checks, +4 to CMB to start or maintain a grapple and +4 to CMD to resist being disarmed. In addition, if the wearer has 18 strength or better he can use weapons as if he were 1 size category larger. So he can use a Great Axe intended for an Ogre or can dual-wield normal Great Axes. How much should this item cost?

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Hmm offhand I would say perhaps a bit more than gloves of dueling. The damage and effects are not far off that item, even though one allows larger weapons and one enhances a fighter's weapon bonus. I will let the wiser and far better than me at math number crunchers give you some more specific pricing, but thats where I would start. And since you are talking gloves, we are already using the appropriate item, so no additional cost for non-standard slotting.

Darksol the Painbringer |

Well, there are several things to consider. The biggest thing is to determine what are similar and what are separate properties, so as to calculate the final cost properly.
Since these are all continuous effects, let's take a look at The Magic Item Creation guidelines.
The +4 to Climb checks will be a Competence bonus, which results in a cost of 1,600 gold (4^2 * 100). If you want to make it some other sort of bonus, we can extrapolate the AC Bonus theorem and make the formula (X^2 * 125), resulting in a new total of 2,000 gold.
A +4 on Grapple checks and +4 to CMD V.S. Disarm are both difficult to apply without looking at spells; however, the closest spells that come to mind are Bull's Strength, since a higher Strength affects both CMB (for Grappling) and CMD (for Disarm), or Divine Power (which covers increases to Strength checks and Strength-based Skill Checks). These will have to be separate effects, and it will fall similarly to a reduced Ability Bonus (about 1/4th of the value) for each, resulting in 4,000 a piece (8,000 total).
As for the 1 size category larger, this can stem from a spell such as Lead Blades, which treats a weapon as if it were 1 category larger for damage dice. This would be an effect of the spell, using the continuous rules and applying the (altered) effects of a level 1 minute/level spell, in which case the amount would be 2(1*1*2,000) = 4,000 gold at the minimum. For simplicity purposes, I'll keep it at a minimum, though for a high-level campaign, you might want to increase the CL.
So a sub-total of 13,600/14,000 Gold. However, there are 4 abilities total; a 1,600/2,000 gold Skill increase, a +4 on Grapple checks, a +4 to CMD V.S. Disarm, and able to wield weapons 1 size larger without penalty or increased handiness needed. Except for the highest cost ability, multiply each of the lowest costs by an additional 50%. So this sub-total of 13,600/14,000 then becomes 18,400/19,000
However, you do cite an 18 Strength requirement, which while not difficult to reach, does limit it some; I'd treat it as a "Requires Skill to use" effect, reducing the total price by 10%. With this, the total formula then becomes the following:
0.9(1.5(2,000+4,000+4,000)+2(1*1*2,000))
OR
0.9(1.5(1,600+4,000+4,000)+2(1*1*2,000))
This results in a grand total of 16,560/17,100 gold for the item at bare-minimum CL, with crafting requirements like Craft Wondrous Item, Bull's Strength or Divine Power, and Lead Blades. As for the Caster Level, that's for you to decide, though remember, an increase in Caster Level does alter the price, especially for the Continuous effect.
I hope this helps.

Mechanical Pear |

Well, I'd probably place it higher than this, because the gloves, I assume, would stack with Lead Blades/Enlarge Person/all that, right?
That'd make its worth quite a bit more to some builds.
And, being a DM, you could always cheese it. If you don't want it in the players hands, make it an artifact that only works if you're part of a certain bloodline, like this enemy barbarian. So after they kill the barbarian, the gloves become just a trophy to sit in a dusty museum, and that clears up the whole "what's its power level?" question.
Because, also, if any old NPC can make this item, then the players might feel slighted if they can't make the same item.
Or, you could simply say it does not stack with Lead Blades or the Impact Weapon Enchantment, and then the math becomes quite a bit simpler.