Magical Gauntlets

[Curious]

Hey there, me again. So this thread had its genesis in a campaign I'm about to start running, specifically with one of the players.
. . .
He's a monk. Not just that, but a monk with a cleric and a wizard as his only teammates. While I am running Pathfinder, so the monk has gained some buffs over 3.5, it still seems like a massive disparity in power level, so I decided I would buff the monk with some magic items, specifically a set of weapons. So I home-brewed up the following items, which I hope to introduce to him when he is at a relatively low level -about four- so that he can hopefully be more effective.

The Binding Chain of Dominance, and the Enlightened Key of Freedom:

Key:
+3, CG Flaming Gauntlet
Int: 12
Wis: 13
Cha: 14

Senses: 30 ft.
Languages: Common, Protean

Special Purpose: To protect the freedom and liberty of all creatures.
Special Purpose Power: 1/day, Cause all metal objects to fly off a creature, whether they be chains or armor.



Chain:
+3, LE Frost Gauntlet
Int: 14
Wis: 13
Cha: 12

Senses: 30 ft.
Languages: Common, Abyssal

Special Purpose: To conquer and dominate all living and unliving creatures.
Special Purpose Power: 1/day, Cause black chains to erupt from the earth and bind a creature in place.


Neither gauntlet will place a negative level on an adventurer with an opposing alignment to gain a negative level.


The background for the gauntlets will be filled in later, right now I'm just looking for criticism or comments on applicability. What do you think?

[Greenish]

Well, monks aren't proficient with gauntlets.

[calar]

Well, monks aren't proficient with gauntlets.Mmmmm, I'd make a DM ruling that they are. The only reason monks never use gauntlets is becouse their unarmed damage is already leathal. If they weren't, that would be rather rediculous since fighting with gauntlets is nearly identical to unarmed combat.
"This metal glove lets you deal lethal damage rather than nonlethal damage with unarmed strikes. A strike with a gauntlet is otherwise considered an unarmed attack."From description of gauntlet. Monks can use them.

[Reynard]

Well, monks aren't proficient with gauntlets.
They also aren't proficient with their unarmed strikes.

OP: I saw someone suggest magical 'handwraps' for Monks, items which basically meant a Monk had something to use as their base for weapon enhancements.

[KillianHawkeye]

+3 intelligent weapons with extra damage enchantments are kinda overkill at level 4, aren't they? That should be something you get near the climax of a campaign (or at least in the mid-levels), not at the start of one.

[Thurbane]

The best option for adding enchantments to a Monk's unarmed strikes are both 3.0: Necklace of Natural Attacks (SS) or the Ward Cestus (A&EG).

[Curious]

Oh yes, I forgot to mention; he would only be receiving one of the gauntlets off the bat, and would have to quest for the other. He would also need to use its abilities to the max, as I plan on sending powerful do-gooders and villains after them, all trying to obtain the gauntlet.

[NichG]

+3 intelligent weapons with extra damage enchantments are kinda overkill at level 4, aren't they? That should be something you get near the climax of a campaign (or at least in the mid-levels), not at the start of one.

Well since its being used to balance a monk against a cleric and wizard, its probably not too overkill. The powers are maybe a little better than 2nd level spells depending how they're actually done mechanically, but they're not going to scale with the character. If one made the monk full BAB (a fairly common fix) that'd be +1 to hit. Assume a level 4 character has at least a masterwork weapon, is another +1 to hit. So its +1 to hit better than full BAB monk at this level, and roughly +6.5 damage on top of that which is pretty good, but ends up being merely comparable to, e.g., a barbarian 2-handing and raging with a greatsword.

The main issue is that it won't scale, so the monk will eventually fall behind again in four levels or so. Maybe grant a synergy power when both gauntlets are acquired, which you can base on how the party dynamics are going at the time (which gives you a tool to dynamically adjust the party's power balance).

[Curious]

NichG:
Yeah, I was thinking about something like that for when he found the second gauntlet, probably several levels down the road. The way I was thinking was that the two gauntlets hate each other, but are naturally meant to complement one another as well, so if you succeed on a few will saves, boom, you have some new powers. I was thinking that to show the synergy, I would make the Flame and Frost abilities on the gauntlets become Flaming Burst and Icy Burst, respectively, and then perhaps stacking the combat bonuses -so they both become +6, say- and increasing the number of times per day that the special abilities can be used. Stop me if I'm overestimating the power disparity, but I really don't think any of these abilities will do anything other than even the playing field.

[Popertop]

you might even consider improving the abilities to be more relevant at that level.
like chains that can't be escaped via FoM, and the metal that flies off a creature makes attacks at all creatures within a 30 ft radius.

[Curious]

Actually, thats a pretty good idea, Popertop. I think I'll use that, it should definitely provide a bit more in the way of balance between the re-makers of reality and the poor, poor monk. :smallwink:

[NichG]

Random non-mechanical thoughts on the gauntlets.

The forces represented by the two gauntlets are: one hand is subjugation, removal of freedom, a limitation of options; the other hand is the unlocking of potential, the creation of independence, the severing of restraints. One could see the one hand as being the creation of connections, while the other hand is the destruction of connections, where a connection is a way in which concretely one thing can control another and abstractly represents cause and effect.

These ideas are diametrically opposed in an alignment system, thus the two gauntlets fighting eachother within the mind and soul of the user when both worn simultaneously. But they can also represent a complete toolset of a sort. Whatever one can create with one hand, they could undo with the other, and vice versa. That suggests to me possible implications, especially since the background is currently nebulous.

What if these gauntlets are basically the protections worn by a supernatural creature that created fundamental connections between things. That is, this creature was responsible for modifying the basic cause and effect relationships of the universe - they needn't have been a deity, or responsible for making all cause and effect in the first place, but perhaps they used it to create a great geas or bless an entire family line or something.

Essentially, the gauntlets protected the creature from being burnt by its own creations, but in doing so the gauntlets absorbed the energies they were used to manipulate. That suggests that someone who masters the gauntlets would pass beyond the conflict of their energies to return them to an underlying 'original purpose' that would replace their current purpose.

It also suggests a reason why other individuals would want them - perhaps they seek to manipulate the same powers as this original owner once did, but for nefarious or misguided purpose, and need the gauntlets to do so safely. And of course if the monk gets to the place where cause and effect are forged and wears the gauntlets there...

The Monk as the re-maker of reality. I feel sorry for the wizard and cleric now.

Probably too focused on that one player though. That could be an entire campaign plot in its own right.

[Darrin]

The best option for adding enchantments to a Monk's unarmed strikes are both 3.0: Necklace of Natural Attacks (SS) or the Ward Cestus (A&EG).

There are two 3.5 items in Magic Item Compendium that allow monks to use their unarmed strike damage and can also be enchanted further: Dragonfang Gauntlets (8610 GP) and Scorpion Kama (6302 GP). The latter is also flurry-able.