Custom Item to increase initiative?


Rules Questions


I see that the cracked dusty rose prism gives a +1 to initiative for 500gp. So, I looked at the custom magic item creation rules but couldn't figure out what the particular formula would be to get more of a bonus, if I were to create a custom initiative boosting item of my own.

So... does anyone happen to know what that formula might be?

Please and thank you.


There is no formula.
There are no other items for boosting initiative.
Unless your GM (or yourself if you're the GM) particularly wants such items in their game and is prepared to give them to most NPC's and 'fast' monsters in order to keep some sort of chance that they might be able to beat the PCs, I strongly advise not allowing them.


Got something against the Belt of Incredible Dexterity?

Or a Dueling weapon?

Seems like plenty to me (that's a potential total of +8 with the Rose Prism).

Sczarni

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You could find a spell that grants the benefit, then use the formula to create a general item cost from there.

Anticipate Peril (1st level) could grant a +5 bonus IF the device could be constructed at a higher caster level (generally this isn't allowed, but with certain feats is). The base for this would be:

Continuous with use - Spell level 1, Caster level (1-5), times 2000.
Plus the cost of the materials x 100 (0 gp). Times 2 for 1 min / level.
So a +1 would be 4,000, +2 would be 8000, +3 12,000, +4 16,000, +5 20,000. This costs more if not slotted in a slot location. And would be a LOT cheaper if you made it a use/day item.

As GM I'd give someone a +5 init over a +5 sword any day of the week... given that it is replicating a level 1 spell (that isn't even "Self" only like true strike) it seems like a good gold sink. Also, that is one of the restrictions on these devices, by the way - you should not allow them to replicate "self" only low level spells, or if they do, jack the price up by 2x, 4x or 10x because these spells are designed to be more powerful CASTER ONLY spells.


anything raising dexterity, or wisdom if you are an inquisitor

EDIT: also personally as a GM, I allow just about any kind of magic item, basically if there is a spell for it, then it can be made into an item. But not all GMs will be this lenient.

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Initiative is a deceptively powerful statistic, which is probably why there's pretty much no initiative items out there. Also note that all initiative usually stack with one another.


I see. I had thought that since the ioun stone had a +1 initiative bonus, that there might be a sort of this number squared times this number sort of deal, like how they did with saves, AC and such.

That being said a lot of solid suggestions. The character being a wizard, I'll probably want to find weapon that would make sense for him to carry around constantly for the dueling weapon and the dueling property is a bit pricey for the current level (6th). Belt of dexterity is a possibility and it helps more than just initiative and creating an item based off of anticipate peril is definitely an option as well.

Thanks everyone for the input.


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Skill bonus (competence) is Bonus squared x 100 gp
Save bonus (resistance) is Bonus squared x 1000 gp
Ability bonus (enhancement)is Bonus squared x 1,000 gp

Since a bonus to initiative shouldn't be as expensive as a strait bonus to DEX, I would say the bonus squared * 500. This fits with the existing bonus from the ioun stone, but allows you to make more powerful items.
+1=500
+2=2000
+3=4500
+4=8000
+5=12500

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Whatever you do you need to lock it down to the same type as the Ioun stone giving +1 so you don't have a situation of stacking multiple different items to get higher than one item's worth of bonus.


Not that 3.x is a great precedent to use, but there were a couple different items out there that granted the Improved Initiative feat (bracers of the blinding strike being the first thing I'm remembering). From memory, most of the items that granted use of a low-tier feat (dodge, TWF, etc) had a market value *around* 4000gp (or you could reverse engineer out the cost of the other abilities and be left with about 4k).

That's really not a bad starting point.

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