Guys -
Under the description belts & handbands read as follows:
"The headband grants the wearer an enhancement bonus to Intelligence of +2, +4, or +6. Treat this as a temporary ability bonus for the first 24 hours the headband is worn."
So is the bonus permanent after the first 24 hours?? What if a player wears the belt or headband for, say, 48 hours straight and then takes off the item or loses it or it's stolen. Since the player wore it for 24+ hours, do they still have the bonus +2/+4/+6?
Many thanks.
No, the bonus is still lost if the item is removed. It just means for the first 24 hours the bonus to attributes is being treated as a temporary buff rather than a permanent increase.
For the most part, this particular rule exists to prevent people from doing cheesy things by swapping their item slot throughout the day. For instance, a spellcaster could wear the stat-boosting item when preparing spells to prepare more spells then after casting them switch to a different item.
Temporary Ability Score Increases vs. Permanent Ability Score Increases: Why do temporary bonuses only apply to some things?
Temporary ability bonuses should apply to anything relating to that ability score, just as permanent ability score bonuses do. The section in the glossary was very tight on space and it was not possible to list every single ability score-related game effect that an ability score bones would affect.The purpose of the temporary ability score ruling is to make it so you don't have to rebuild your character every time you get a bull's strength or similar spell; it just summarizes the most common game effects relative to that ability score.
For example, most of the time when you get bull's strength, you're using it for combat, so the glossary mentions Strength-based skill checks, melee attack rolls, Strength-based weapon damage rolls, CMB, and CMD. It doesn't call out melee attack rolls that use Dex instead of Str (such as when using Weapon Finesse) or situations where your applied Str bonus should be halved or multiplied (such as whith off-hand or two-handed weapons). You're usually not using the spell for a 1 min./level increase in your carrying capacity, so that isn't mentioned there, but the bonus should still apply to that, as well as to Strength checks to break down doors.
Think of it in the same way that a simple template has "quick rules" and "rebuild rules;" they're supposed to create monsters which are roughly equivalent in terms of stats, but the quick rules are a short cut that misses some details compared to using the rebuild rules. Likewise, the temporary ability score rule is intended as a short cut to speed up gameplay, not as the most precise way of applying the bonus.
A temporary ability score bonus should affect all of the same stats and rolls that a permanent ability score bonus does.
posted October 2013 | back to top
Magic Items, Wearers, and Durations: If a magic item grants an effect with a duration to the wearer, can I put it on, activate the effect, take it off, and keep the effect active?
No, as soon as you remove an item that grants an effect to the wearer, you are no longer the wearer, so any remaining duration immediately expires. The same is true if the item affects the owner, wielder, and so on. If the item's effect does not specify the recipient as the wearer (or owner, wielder, etc), then unless it says otherwise, it remains when the item is removed.
Yeah, there is almost no difference in temp vs permanent so for the most point it's not something to worry about. As it says it "should affect all the same stats and rolls that a permanent ability score" does." For most situations, there is no functional difference between temp and perm.
Thanks guys!!