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This is an item intended to give a cat familiar the ability to assume a human form and interact with the world that way. The elements I used as a base are hat of disguise greater (change forms), ring of eloquence (talk) and belt of giant strength + 6 (for the greater variant).
Collar of Seeming
Aura faint transmutation; CL 3rd
Slot Neck; Price 23,250 gp; Weight —
Description
Fine markings spell out the alphabets of four languages around the inside of this finely crafted black leather band. Originally crafted by a mage for their familiar who was sick of dodging humans who didn't look down to see who was at their feet this item has since become popular with many adventurers who's animal companion wishes to talk or not trigger a riot when they enter a small village just because the locals have never seen a tiger or pseudodragon before.
Like a hat of disguise (Greater), this collar allows its wearer to alter her appearance. It functions as an alter self spell (as opposed to disguise self). The collar becomes a part of the disguise and can be a collar, a necklace, a choker, and so forth.
Furthermore the wearer gains the ability to speak and understand the four languages whose alphabets are inscribed on the ring. Normally the languages are Common, Dwarven, Elven, and Gnome. Though other collars with different sets of languages might also exist. The wearer retains the ability to speak in these languages even if her form is normally unable to do so (such as a druid wild shaped into a wolf or a cat familiar).
The collar also makes it easier for the wearer to find the correct words to express herself, granting a +2 competence bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Perform (oratory) checks. Also, if the wearer is deafened and attempts to cast a spell with a verbal component, the chance of spell failure is reduced to 10%.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, alter self; comprehend languages; Cost 11,625 gp
Collar of Seeming (Greater)
Aura moderate transmutation; CL 8th
Slot Neck; Price 50,250 gp; Weight —
This rare and expensive variant of the collar of seeming grants the wearer a +6 bonus to their strength score in addition to its other effects allowing smaller familiars such as cats to possses strength far closer to the normal limits for a medium humanoid and more powerful animal companions to become even more dangerous physically.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, alter self; comprehend languages; Cost 25,125 gp
my first question is does the cat have an intelligence high enough to make communication viable?
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It's largely intended for familiars and they tend to get intelligence boosts as part of the leveling. Even at first level a familiar has an int of 6 below average for a human but not so much so they're completely out of bounds by 9th level its 10 average for a human and if you make it to level 20 they hit 15 which is often starting wizard territory. Animal companions are admitedly less intelligent but they also tend to be larger creatures so it would be fairly easy to alter the collar of seeming greater so that rather than str it boosts int instead taking most animals to around 8 int which is not that far below normal human.
If the item is based on the Alter Self spell, then it's a polymorph effect.
Changing a non-small/non-medium creature via polymorph requires you to first adjust its ability scores according to polymorph rules; for a tiny animal (e.g. a cat) this results in an automatic +4 to Strength and -2 to Dexterity.
Therefore I don't think the greater variant of your item is necessary.
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If the item is based on the Alter Self spell, then it's a polymorph effect.
Changing a non-small/non-medium creature via polymorph requires you to first adjust its ability scores according to polymorph rules; for a tiny animal (e.g. a cat) this results in an automatic +4 to Strength and -2 to Dexterity.Therefore I don't think the greater variant of your item is necessary.
I thought it only got +2 as per the spell description . . .
Medium creature: If the form you take is that of a Medium humanoid, you gain a +2 size bonus to your Strength.
A cat has a strengtht of 3 or 4 (depending on species) which with the +4 you mention is 7 and with the 2 in the spell is 5 both of which are fairly low. If your right then you'd get 9 which is low but fine however if they do only get 2 then that gives them 3 + 2 + 6 = 11 upper end of human but still fine.
A cat has a strength of 3 or 4 (depending on species) which with the +4 you mention is 7 and with the 2 in the spell is 5 both of which are fairly low. If your right then you'd get 9 which is low but fine however if they do only get 2 then that gives them 3 + 2 + 6 = 11 upper end of human but still fine.
They get +6 in total, +4 from polymorph adjustment (untyped) and +2 (size) bonus from being transformed into a medium creature.
So the altered cat either has strength 9 or 10 (depending on the cat species) with just the lesser variant of your item.
Adding another +6 enhancement bonus with the greater variant doesn't seem necessary for your purpose imo.
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The price can always be adjusted if need be, my experiments recently have me feeling the magic item prices tend to wind up a bit more expensive though that may be just that what I'm making is very niche and of interest probably only to me.
I'm half inclined to remove the house rule for 1.5 multiplier for multiple abilities because especially with the already epensive items that really ups the cost. I mean just removing it from these 2 gives you costs of 15,500 or 33,500 (1/2 that if making it yourself) which is a HUGE drop in price. Still expensive but the greater version drops by over 15 thousand gold in price.
I'm hoping more for feedback on the item itself and its nature with this thread.
EDIT
UNLESSS I'm meant to be factoring it into the original item the hat of disguise duplicates a spell AND changes form to blend in (as different headgear) which could be the glammered property. Similarly the ring of eloquence lets you talk and adds a bonus to several skills. So both of them might need to be divided by 1.5 before calculation hmmm.