A question about an item...

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MatthiasStormcrow
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Post by MatthiasStormcrow »

Lord, now he wants to know how much it would be worth too? Sheesh, some people are just never satisfied... :P

Uhh, yeah... unfortunately the item creation rules don't say anything about how much a feat is worth. Depends on the feat, I suppose. Misted Memory isn't outrageously powerful, so a ring that grants only that probably isn't worth more than, say 4000 gp tops. The more feats it adds, the more expensive it gets, of course - and exponentially so, since you're granting a single magic item a whole bunch of abilities. A high-end ring that does, say, +3 Deflection, makes an attack count as ghost touch 1/day, does telekinesis 3/day, mage hand at will, and grants Mist Sense is probably easily worth 60,000gp+. Which, of course, is why I suggested having it start out weak and get bigger and better as the campaign goes along; you might want to break its gaining of abilities into 3 or 4 steps, or maybe more?

Also, as I understood it, you're not starting with the ring, but rather are getting it at some point in the campaign based on how powerful it is? So, maybe something like this:

Between 4th and 5th level: Character recieves ring, grants benefits of Misted Memory.

Upon using Misted Memory (has to be at least after the character gets level 5, due to the nature of the feat): Ring additionally grants Mist Sense, Mage Hand 1/day.

Between 7th and 8th level, ideally at some dramatically appropriate, fiance's-ghost-related moment: Ring goes up to +1 Deflection, Mist Sense and Mist Memory, Mage Hand 3/day.

Between 11th and 12th level (again, come up with an in-game reason for this): Ring goes up to +2 Deflection, Mist Sense, Mage Hand 8/day, and Telekinesis 1/day, but your skills have advanced to the point where your fiance's memories aren't really able to teach you anything - so you lose Misted Memory.

Between 13th and 14th level (or possibly 14th and 15th), at some big, grand dramatic moment, like saving your fiance from Lord Godefroy's wrath, or something like that: Ring reaches maximum powers: +3 Deflection, Mist Sense, Mage Hand at Will, Telekinesis 3/day, and a Ghost Touch attack 1/day.

'Course, that's a progression for a pretty long campaign right there, especially if you're starting at level 1. You might just want to tone down the abilities and shorten the progression.

And don't sell it (you insensitive jerk, you!) and then nobody ever has to know exactly how much it's worth. ;)

Also, this way lets your DM adjust on the fly - if it seems like your ring is way better loot than anything anybody else has, the next step can be pushed back (or he might just have your fiance get captured, etc...all of the ring's powers should be dependent on her spirit's presence and her ability to act unimpeded ;) ); alternatively, if the DM's feeling generous he might push one of the steps forward.

Not sure how you feel about giving up the ghost (so to speak), but for game mechanics purposes, you might switch it so that you have Misted Memory to start with at level 1, and the ring grants you Haunted - but you can't spend any of the extra skill points you accumulate from Misted Memory until you've got the ring. It might also be fair for the DM to restrict how you spend the skill points to things your fiance might reasonably have known; depending on her background and character, this could still be pretty broad. (Though, *don't* ask your DM if your fiance can have been a retired spymaster. :P )
"You see, what you thought was a gibbering abomination from the pits of Hell was really just a fruitbat. We get 'em all the time in Salt Lake."

-Benjamin Dean, Doomtown Ep. 8
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Post by Guardian of Twilight »

Thanks for all of the great advice. It's just what we were looking for. We both really like how you were able to space the abilities out and maintain a great balance on them, so I guess I owe you one. I think that pretty much wraps up all of the loose ends on my character and now I can just sit back and wait until Halloween to get a chance to try him out. If things work out well, I will even try to submit a short story about him in the future. A million thanks to all of you and your great ideas. :)
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Post by Guardian of Twilight »

I am just wanting to say thanks for all of the help that you guys lent me. The campaign is going incredibly well, and I am almost ready to head back and get the ring for my character. Thanks a lot you guys, and I will put more info up in a little while about the campaign and what is going on.
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