PF Wizards with bonded items

[herrhauptmann]

I have a few questions regarding wizards with bonded items in PF. My character is a halfling gish wiz3/rgr1

At the moment, his bonded item is a MW shortsword (don't remember why I didn't select rapier for better crit odds), and he has weapon finesse and arcane strike.
Say the next item we find is a +3 shortsword of awesomeness, sized for a halfling. Can my wizard choose to break his old weapon bond and begin bonding with this sword instead?
Does he take XP penalties for breaking the bond? Or do I have to just pay the gold cost for a new bond?

The character will eventually take Eldritch Knight PrC, so his CL will continue to improve, even though his wizard level won't. Does the cost of the bonding ritual take only my wizard level into account or does it key off of caster level?
Also, what other abilities will stop improving while I'm in my PrC? I assume the abilities specialists get will not improve, but not sure what else.

Also, can anyone suggest any good 2nd level spells to take for my third wizard level? My character is a Transmuter with enhancement (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard/arcane-schools/paizo---arcane-schools/classic-arcane-schools/transmutation/enhancement) abilities. Banned schools are evocation and enchantment.

DM would prefer spells only from the Core Book and the Advanced Players Guide, though I'll see if I can convince him to allow spells on the SRD that are from Ultimate Magic or something else.



Trying to convince myself not to cheat with this bonded item thing. Say, make a +1 holy sword for myself, then bond with an amulet, which I then enchant as if I had Craft Wondrous Item. Then bond with a ring, and I enchant as if I had Forge Ring. And so on.

[Baroncognito]

If the object of an arcane bond is lost or destroyed, it can be replaced after 1 week in a special ritual that costs 200 gp per wizard level plus the cost of the masterwork item. This ritual takes 8 hours to complete. Items replaced in this way do not possess any of the additional enchantments of the previous bonded item. A wizard can designate an existing magic item as his bonded item. This functions in the same way as replacing a lost or destroyed item except that the new magic item retains its abilities while gaining the benefits and drawbacks of becoming a bonded item.

So, you would need to "lose" your current bonded short sword and then, after a week, you would perform an 8 hour ritual to designate your +3 whatever of awesomeness as your new bonded item.

As to the cost, it does specify "wizard level" not "caster level."

Your ability to improve your arcane bond won't improve as you level in a prestige class. A wizard can improve the item as if she had all item creation feats for which she meets the minimum level requirement, but only your wizard levels count for that.

You specifically cannot "cheat" in that manner with bonded items. You can only have one bonded item at a time. If you are no longer bonded with it, it loses all the enchantments that derive from being bonded.

[tyckspoon]

At the moment, his bonded item is a MW shortsword (don't remember why I didn't select rapier for better crit odds), and he has weapon finesse and arcane strike.
Say the next item we find is a +3 shortsword of awesomeness, sized for a halfling. Can my wizard choose to break his old weapon bond and begin bonding with this sword instead?
Does he take XP penalties for breaking the bond? Or do I have to just pay the gold cost for a new bond?


Voluntarily abandoning a bond doesn't seem to be addressed- I would say yes, personally, but that's an ask your DM. If nothing else serves, you can certainly choose to destroy the old weapon, thus freeing that bond and allowing you to begin bonding to the new weapon. No XP penalties are mentioned, and Pathfinder in general did away with things that charge XP (crafting no longer has an XP cost, XP-component spells got converted to GP costs), so there's no XP penalty.



The character will eventually take Eldritch Knight PrC, so his CL will continue to improve, even though his wizard level won't. Does the cost of the bonding ritual take only my wizard level into account or does it key off of caster level?
Also, what other abilities will stop improving while I'm in my PrC? I assume the abilities specialists get will not improve, but not sure what else.

Your Wizard level is your Wizard level, distinct from your caster level. If something says specifically Wizard level, then only your levels in the Wizard base class are counted. So yes, your specialist abilities and the cost of the bonding ritual will be fixed at however many levels of Wizard you end up having. The other notable thing that doesn't advance is, by RAW, leveling in Eldritch Knight does not give you the 2 free spells known (again, ask your DM, as this is a fairly common thing to houserule change as being equivalent to a spontaneous caster's Spells Known, which do get advanced.) Keep that in mind, and be prepared to spend more money hunting down scrolls/wizards willing to let you copy in order to keep your spellbook up to date.



Trying to convince myself not to cheat with this bonded item thing. Say, make a +1 holy sword for myself, then bond with an amulet, which I then enchant as if I had Craft Wondrous Item. Then bond with a ring, and I enchant as if I had Forge Ring. And so on.

A bonded item loses all its properties when you un-bond with it. Doesn't work.

[herrhauptmann]

So, you would need to "lose" your current bonded short sword and then, after a week, you would perform an 8 hour ritual to designate your +3 whatever of awesomeness as your new bonded item.

As to the cost, it does specify "wizard level" not "caster level."

Your ability to improve your arcane bond won't improve as you level in a prestige class. A wizard can improve the item as if she had all item creation feats for which she meets the minimum level requirement, but only your wizard levels count for that.

You specifically cannot "cheat" in that manner with bonded items. You can only have one bonded item at a time. If you are no longer bonded with it, it loses all the enchantments that derive from being bonded.

Thanks guys.
Ok, to summarize (and make sure I'm reading you right):

If I reach wizard 6, I can then add any abilities I want to my bonded sword that are +2 cost or below (creating a weapon with a +1 and a +2 ability at once, you just need to meet the higher caster level). If I want the sword to be +3, or have +3 abilities, I need to reach wizard 9.

It's a shame that the old weapon goes to nothing if I remove the bond, but I can see why they did it. (Where does it specify? I missed the entry, just saw the part about a bonded item being destroyed.) Definitely an exploit in there still, similar to using to the spell Mount to cheat someone when they buy your horse.

Any suggestions for some 2nd level spells?
I'm thinking alter self, glitterdust, blur, and badgers ferocity (we have some decent melee characters. Why not make them better?)

[Larpus]

Actually, in the SRD at least there is a mention to what looks like designating a new bonded item:


If a bonded object is damaged, it is restored to full hit points the next time the wizard prepares his spells. If the object of an arcane bond is lost or destroyed, it can be replaced after 1 week in a special ritual that costs 200 gp per wizard level plus the cost of the masterwork item. This ritual takes 8 hours to complete. Items replaced in this way do not possess any of the additional enchantments of the previous bonded item. A wizard can designate an existing magic item as his bonded item. This functions in the same way as replacing a lost or destroyed item except that the new magic item retains its abilities while gaining the benefits and drawbacks of becoming a bonded item.
Anyway, it looks like you do have to pay the money and all that (probably to avoid the crafting exploit you mentioned), though I'd argue that there is no penalty for not having the item on hand.

[herrhauptmann]

A wizard can designate an existing magic item as his bonded item. This functions in the same way as replacing a lost or destroyed item except that the new magic item retains its abilities while gaining the benefits and drawbacks of becoming a bonded item.
Yup, obviously that's there so if your item gets destroyed, you can designate a new, and better item (more durable) as your bonded item. I've just been wondering about upgrading when your old item is still fine and dandy.

[Baroncognito]

Well, Arcane Bond has rules for switching familiars:


Can I dismiss my familiar so I may select a new familiar?
This isn't addressed in the rules anywhere, but yes, you should be able to dismiss a familiar if you want to select a new one. However, you must still wait 1 week and pay 200 gp for the 8-hour ritual. Dismissing a familiar is ending a link between your soul and it, so it should probably take about an hour. The exception to the above is if you take the Improved Familiar feat, which allows you to immediately replace your familiar with the new familiar, at no cost or time required (it is assumed this occurs during whatever preparations you make while leveling up). Once dismissed, an animal familiar is just a normal animal of its type (a special familiar from the Improved Familiar feat reverts to a normal creature of its type). Whether or not it wants to remain with you is up to your GM and probably based on how you treated the creature while it was your familiar.

So, if your old item is fine and dandy, it should follow the same rules. If you dismiss the sword as your bonded item, you have to wait a week and do the ritual before getting a new one.

[herrhauptmann]

Cool, thank you.

[Larpus]

Yup, obviously that's there so if your item gets destroyed, you can designate a new, and better item (more durable) as your bonded item. I've just been wondering about upgrading when your old item is still fine and dandy.
Actually it says "This functions in the same way as replacing a lost or destroyed item except [...]", which leads me to believe that this bit is about getting a new bonded item without having your previous one lost/destroyed, despite not being specifically stated as such (but really, it is the only logical interpretation).

And yeah, I guess the 1 week penalty still does apply, but seeing as the bonded item Wizard gets hit hard in that time, if I were the DM I'd rule that he doesn't need to dismiss the item and its a natural part of the 8 hour ritual, just to avoid having the party essentially sit around for a whole week (since in the lower levels that Concentration DC is simply insane...really, something should be done about set number DCs, they're ridiculous at lower levels and minor annoyances at high ones...sounds rather pointless).

[Baroncognito]

If he's found a +3 weapon, does that still classify as "low levels"?

[herrhauptmann]

If he's found a +3 weapon, does that still classify as "low levels"?

Not if we roll well on the random treasure. +1 Holy is a +3 by cost. Unfortunately, it was a large sized whip. :smalleek:

Larpus:
I'm pretty sure that if I break my weapon bond on a monday, and rebond on the following monday, I don't have to spend that week making concentration checks for every cantrip.
That rule of concentration checks, I think it's just there for if I get disarmed, lose my bonded item, or decide I don't want to use it because I've got better loot.

[Larpus]

I'm pretty sure that if I break my weapon bond on a monday, and rebond on the following monday, I don't have to spend that week making concentration checks for every cantrip.
That rule of concentration checks, I think it's just there for if I get disarmed, lose my bonded item, or decide I don't want to use it because I've got better loot.
Yeah, that would be my rulling if I were the DM and the Wizard broke the bond himself, just so he's not a lump for 7 days (unless the group is large enough for it to not matter much, still I most probably would do it just so the player doesn't feel punished).

However, sadly the rules seem to point otherwise, but it's not mentioned at all, so it's 100% rule 0.