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I owe James Risner an apology; I thought that he was the PDT guy who wrote this, but it was Mark Seifter:-
The ring actually says "by activating" rather than "on command", so my (unofficial) opinion based on that fact is that it's use-activated.
EDIT: I may have been wrong all these years, as rings by default are command word it seems.
So, one of the guys on the same PDT that was responsible for this FAQ had assumed for 'all these years' that the ring was a silent act of will. He went into this discussion with the rest of the PDT with that belief, had the discussion, and came out the other side still believing it. He then posted, with that same assumption.
Therefore, no-one, not one person on the PDT, mentioned 'command word' in that discussion.
I've been playing since 1st ed myself, and I've had the same assumption the whole time. Based on the words written in the 1st and 2nd ed DMGs. Neither 'command word' or 'duration' were mentioned.
In fact, they didn't specify either in the way that 3rd ed started to do in later books (such as the excellent Magic Item Compendium, which would specify both action type and either 'command' or 'mental' in the entry for activation).
Before then, certain writing habits evolved. For duration, if it said something like 'you can use (spell name) as the spell', then this would work a lot like a spell like ability, including target, duration and everything else. On the other hand, if it said something like, 'when activated, the wearer becomes (state conferred as described in a spell description), as the (spell name) spell', then the spell's stat block was irrelavent; the wearer just gained the benefit as if he was under the effect of the spell.
The ring of invisibility was the type that conferred the state, without casting the spell, since it first appeared.
As for activation method, a similar shorthand evolved. If it said 'on command', this meant a command spoken out loud (just like it meant in the 3.5 MIC). If it said 'at will', then it meant 'activated mentally'.
So when I read those phrases in the 3.0 DMG, the 3.5 DMG and the PF CRB, I understand that the writers meant the same thing.
And according to Mr. Seifter's posts, he believed similar things. If I'm misrepresenting him, I hope he'll post a more accurate breakdown.
NO ONE EVER PURCHASE THIS RING! I want to see it in use!
Having found one and used it, I'd say: (a) it's not that badly priced for a character who buffs and heals and summons in combat rather than attacking. (b) a character who is invisible all the time can be quite frustrating for a GM (see also: high level ninjas). The majority of monsters have no way of seeing invisible enemies. Most spells and effects are powerless against a foe who can't be targeted.
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NO ONE EVER PURCHASE THIS RING! I want to see it in use!Having found one and used it, I'd say: (a) it's not that badly priced for a character who buffs and heals and summons in combat rather than attacking. (b) a character who is invisible all the time can be quite frustrating for a GM (see also: high level ninjas). The majority of monsters have no way of seeing invisible enemies. Most spells and effects are powerless against a foe who can't be targeted.
At low levels you are quite right... but every monster and their dog seem to have True Seeing starting around levels 11-13... so it becomes useless at higher levels. For not much more (i.e. ~25K) someone can get a +5 shield or +5 fullplate...
(a) buy a wand and save tons of $
How many skill ranks do you think the average cleric has in UMD?
Being invisible all the time is, in my experience, much safer than being invisible only when you thought it was worth using up a charge from your wand. Let's say you're playing Kingmaker and you're constantly getting attacked by wandering monsters in the wilderness. A wand is nowhere near as good because you'd have to use your first standard action of every battle to benefit, or use up a wand every two and a half hours. In other types of campaign, it's a closer call, but at least it saves you constantly having to keep track of 3 minute durations and worrying about whether you should waste a 90gp wand charge whenever you open a cupboard.
(b) how does having a 3 minute 'reactivation' fix this issue?
It doesn't - I was discussing the price of the item. The 3 minute duration is completely irrelevant if rings of invisibility are activated by mental command (except for a few unusual situations, such as when you fall unconscious and no-one knows where), and just makes it a bit harder to do stealth missions if they have command words.
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For homegames, I'll settle for a continuous use vanish ring from now on, as previously discussed:
Ring of Occasional Appearance: the wearer of this ring is continually under a vanish effect, as per the spell; upon performing an hostile act he becomes visible as per the spell, but on the ring's turn or his turn, the vanish effect can be reactivated mentally as a standard action.
There. It's a wearable item that specifically says mental action to reactivate. And it's on as long as you wear it.
Cost: 8,000.
(ring's turn language is a hold out from my campaign's actual ring, which is intelligent and more expensive...)
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1/3 the time you will need to use a standard action to refresh your ring invisibility anyways
How so? Just refresh it every minute while walking in the wilderness. If a combat begins, you have 20 rounds of guaranteed invisibility.
It's a command word.
I think you're probably right, but the existence of this thread seems to indicate that this is still in dispute.
The whole previous debate was how this completely eliminates the 'stealth mission' capabilities of the ring. It's not a 'bit harder', it's ludicrously stupid because you will be detected with a normal DC hearing check when you speak the command word.
Depends on the location. In a noisy place, you can probably speak a command word without anyone noticing. For many stealth missions, doors will negate invisibility anyway. In a typical cave adventure, all you really need to do is sneak into the next cavern, see what's in there, then sneak back and tell your friends - that's possible within three minutes. In situations where the enemy realizes that an invisible person is spying on them, catching you is still going to be difficult.
Just refresh it every minute while walking in the wilderness. If a combat begins, you have 20 rounds of guaranteed invisibility.You carry a timepiece with you? You're going to blow 10% of your standard actions on ring activation? The whole day?
It doesn't need to be as accurate as once per minute - just aim for 30 to 90 seconds and you'll be fine. I'm pretty sure I can spare 10% of my standard actions while exploring a dangerous area. I suppose a GM might rule that saying a command word hundreds of times is fatiguing?
No, it's not.It's a command word.I think you're probably right, but the existence of this thread seems to indicate that this is still in dispute.
Has everyone suddenly agreed? That's a nice change.
Yes, there are isolated incidences where RoI stealth works.
There are only isolated instances where any kind of stealth works. There are all kinds of enemies who can spot you even if you're invisible (scent, tremorsense...) and most are incredibly dangerous to a solo PC. If there's a couple of goblins in front of a closed door, how are you going to sneak past even with permanent greater invisibility and 30 Stealth?
For most cases, just having a high stealth skill is much, much better. And it doesn't cost you 20k of your WBL.
It doesn't cost 20K, but it does require you to have high Dex and low ACP and stealth as a class skill and to put many skill ranks into it (or similar investment). And even then you can't hide in plain sight so are completely dependent on the environment.
All players have only 1 Standard, 1 Move and 1 Swift action per round. Anything that let's you do something else as a free action is a great boon, after all it's very rare to find abilities that give you extra actions per round. The greatest thing about boots of haste is exactly the fact that you can activate it as a free action, something a wizard would have to spend a standard action to do with the spell, "not to mention" provoking AoO.
If we could make all items activate as a free action, for one side it would be GREAT!, but that would also make spellcasters underpowered.
I think the best thing would be to be able to cast/activate one "Buff Spell" per round with a swift/part of a move/part of a standard action, BUT, until such a great change is made, it seems to be fair to activate everything with standard action, to keep balance with spells.
If you could pay the price to have a continuous effect item, like wings of flying, then you won't have to waste time activaing it.
I find activating items with a thought to be very "trigger happy"."BOOM! Damn, I should not have thought about that".
So, if a Ring of Invisibility requires a Command Word, and only lasts 3 minutes, and costs 20,000gp, then how much would how much would it be if it lasted indefinitely, but required a Command Word?
How much would it cost if could be activated mentally?
How much would if cost if it was an "always on" effect when worn--no activation or deactivation? That's how I generally treat such items if they're easy to don and doff.