Magic Item Based on Specific Feat

[vorpalwarrior]

Pathfinder 1st Edition

Lawful servant of St. Ides, Master of the West Wind, Abraham "The Ram" Hammerhand of the Hammerhand Clan here again with another question.

Bram, as me friends call me, is a dwarven monk with the three Snapping Turtle Style feats. As such, with one hand free, I get a +2 Shield bonus to AC. I want to increase this bonus via a magical item.

Since the Snapping Turtle Style requires one hand to be empty, I think the "Hands" space is appropriate. Therefore, I propose crafting "Turtle Shell Gauntlets," thick gloves made of turtle shell that imbue their wearer with the ability to increase Snapping Turtle Style Shield AC bonus.

From what I see, if the bonus is "armor bonus (enhancement)," then the cost is just like a shield: 9k gp for +3, 16k gp for +4, and 25k gp for +5.

It is not a deflection, luck, insight, sacred, or profane bonus, and it definitely takes up a space on the body. Therefore, I do not see it having any increased cost.

As always, I appreciate your feedback.

P.S. I understand that you are wondering how this item will interfere with my "Gauntlets of Strong Jaw" from an earlier post. My party decided that Strong Jaw is better applied to a neck space similar to "Amulet of Mighty Fists."

[Meirril]

OP wants a bonus to the AC provided by a style feat. I am unaware of any items that add AC bonuses to feats. As such, it calls the premise into question. This may be a bad idea. Especially considering that you need to put 3 feats in to raise AC by 2 and you gain a lot of side benefits from the 3 feats.

Also the AC bonus from the Snapping Turtle Style gets to be applied against touch attacks if the character picks up the second feat in the chain.

Lastly the hand slot generally doesn't offer AC bonuses. This allows the bonus to stack with other AC improving items. This is mitigated by the thought that the feat is a shield bonus, and normal shields are allowed to be enchanted. However, this overlooks that Monks that would be disallowed the use of a buckler or shield and their wisdom bonus to AC are the primary class that would be interested. This is an attempt to circumvent that restriction.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend allowing it. If I did, I'd be more tempted to call it a [competence] or [insight] bonus to shield. This way it increases the shield bonus which is what OP wants, rather than calling it an Armor bonus. Also considering the dubious nature of the slot I think its more appropriate to double the cost to match AC from neck and ring slot items. My last suggestion would be to only allow the AC from the feat to be doubled, so only a +1 or +2 bonus and also allow for shield special abilities to be added, but only until the item reaches a total of +2 enhancement, though I could reconsider that and allow a total of +2/+2 or the use of a special ability that reflects the Snapping Turtle Style.

[Name Violation]

Or just use unhindering shield

link

[Quixote]

...bracers of armor?

[vorpalwarrior]

Thank you for pointing to the Unhindering Shield feat. It seems like a good starting place.

One build requires three feats by 9th level: Shield Proficiency, Shield Focus, and Unhindering Shield. For the price of a 155 gp masterwork buckler, this build has +2 Shield AC and still allows Monk-specific abilities. To increase the total Shield AC bonus (i.e. normal buckler plus enhancement), the cost would be 1k gp for +3, 4k gp for +4, and 9k gp for +5.

Another build requires four feats by 5th level: Snapping Turtle Style, Snapping Turtle Clutch, Snapping Turtle Shell, and Improved Grapple. This build also has the +2 Shield AC. On top of that, this build includes the following:
1) the benefits of Improved Grapple,
2) Shield AC applied to CMD and Touch AC,
3) one grapple attempt per round as an immediate action if a melee attacker misses, and
4) -4 to critical confirmation rolls ...
basically the benefits of being a Snapping Turtle Style Monk, which is why I built a Snapping Turtle Style Monk.

This is where I repeat my initial inquiry. What is the appropriate cost of a hand-space item that increases the Shield AC bonus of this second build? I initially suggested using the "armor bonus (enhancement)" of "bonus squared x 1,000 gp" but started at +3 so that it superseded the Snapping Turtle Shell +2 bonus instead of stacking with it, which is the point because this item requires the Snapping Turtle Style feat.

In the end, keep in mind, per the magic item creation guidelines, +6 Gloves of Dexterity would grant exactly what I am proposing (+3 to AC, CMD, and Touch AC) and in fact even more (bonus to ranged attacks, bonus to Reflex saves, bonus to Initiative, and bonus to all DEX-based skill checks) and would cost 36k gp. That is straight from the guidelines; nothing circumventive or dubious there.

But I don't want Gloves of Dexterity. I want Turtle Shell Gauntlets.

Again, I appreciate all feedback.

[VoodistMonk]

I see absolutely nothing wrong with your proposed Turtle Shell Mittens, honestly...

I think the feat chain is prerquisite enough. Paizo makes d@mn sure you pay with blood when it comes to useless prerquisites, I sure as $#!+ am not going to ever say there should be MORE prerequisites added to anything.

Price seems fair. I say run them as-is.

[Quixote]

Yeah, I don't get it. It's a bonus to your AC. It costs what bonuses to AC cost.

You shouldn't have to pay some kind of premium; you don't need +10 full plate to get +1 over the normal armor.

I'd price the AC boost an Amulet of Natural Armor. It's a bonus that increases another bonus.
Add in a premium for touch attacks and a separate (probably lower) cost for the CMD bonus. So...I dunno...bonus squared ×3,500gp or so?

The fact that the hand slot doesn't give out AC bonuses normally does not matter at all. Snapping Turtle Style allows you to use your hand as a shield. Precedent is there. It's not like you're trying to make a Helm of Giant Strength or a Cloak of the Ram.
And the possibility of abuse is also not a concern; the character using this item already used their neck slot for something that doesn't boost AC.