tonberrian
2012-04-27, 03:48 PM
As a foreword, I dislike the current mechanical implementation of wealth in the 3.5 system. The fact that the game balance, such that it is, is dependent on the characters getting appropriate loot is terrible - but, unfortunately, beyond the scope of this fix. On the other hand, it is boring and concept-inhibitive - and that, at least, I can change.
So! The mechanics. This fix comes in two forms. In the first, players may sacrifice of valuable items to empower themselves with semi-permanent magical effects (known hereafter as blessings). These effects take up item locations as a magic item would, and automatically suppress any magic item in the same location. The character chooses which blessings he is manifesting by spending 15 minutes in meditation at the beginning of the day. To manifest these blessings, the character must have a clear mind, much like a wizard preparing spells (and is subject to the same rules). If he does not choose to do so, the character manifests the same blessings he did the previous day. Blessings are treated as magic items in interactions with soulmelds.
A blessing is, effectively, a magical item that cannot be lost or stolen (barring specific effects), but also cannot be given away. For example, a blessing form of a cloak of Charisma provides a bonus to Charisma and suppresses any magical cloak that the character may wear, but, without an exotic effect, cannot be taken from him. It also cannot (by default) be detected without any effect capable of detecting magic items. Blessings by default have no visual appearance, though customization is both possible and encouraged. A blessing can give the benefits of any permanent magical item. Non-permanent items (such as those with a limited total number of charges, like wands) can never be made into blessings. Blessings function as magic items with regard to spells and effects. Only one blessing can exist in an item slot at a time, for those items that are limited by slots.
There are several cases which deserve special attention. Weapons do not take up item slots on the body; however, while a character may have any number of weapon blessings active at a time, each blessing may benefit any given weapon, and each weapon can only gain the benefits of one blessing at a time. Changing which blessing applies to which weapon takes the same action as readying a weapon, and may occur concurrently. Natural weapons can be blessed, and each have to be blessed separately. Unarmed strikes can be blessed, but if one were to fight with multiple unarmed strikes (such as by using the two- or multi-weapon fighting feats), each instance of unarmed strike would have to be blessed separately. A blessing may also be applied to ammunition - it costs double what a normal magic weapon would, but is applied to every piece of ammunition that is used, until it is switched for another.
Armor and shield blessings function similarly, having each blessing only be able to effect one item and each item only being to maintain one blessing, and having the action to switch out blessings take the same action(s) as readying the real armors in question. Armor blessings can be assigned to normal clothing, in which case the armor is treated as having an armor bonus of +0. Blessings that take up the robe body slot are mutually exclusive with armor and armor blessings - robe slot blessings simply do not function if the character is wearing armor or benefiting from an armor blessing.
Augment crystal blessings can also be acquired; while a character can maintain any number of augment crystal blessings, he can only benefit from currently active ones, which follow the normal rules for which augment crystals can be active on what items, and what action it takes to change them out.
Finally, while the various tomes and manuals that add inherent bonuses to ability scores cannot be created as blessings (for they are one use items), a character can purchase a inherent bonus as a blessing, though there are some special rules. In addition to the cost of (desired bonus x 27,500) virtual gp, a character must also meditate for a total of 48 hours over 6 days on the use of the attribute in question, at the end of which he receives the desired inherent bonus. This blessing is permanent and nonmagical; a character cannot choose to not benefit from it. On the other hand, it cannot be upgraded (in the same sense that all inherent bonuses cannot be upgraded, only replaced), nor can it be sacrificed for more virtual wealth.
Creating (or improving) a blessing for oneself is fairly easy. All that is required is the valuable items to sacrifice, a place to "meditate", and time. What these terms mean for an individual character varies, so long as the character ends up giving up the valuable item and ends up with no mechanical benefit (the DM is encouraged to examine these methods and veto them if he does not think they follow the spirit of a sacrifice). Sacrificing a valuable item puts an amount of "virtual gold pieces" equal to half the item's market value into a pool of "virtual wealth" (or, in the case of items that are inherently valuable, such as gold, gems and the like, the player may add the full market value), from which the character can purchase or upgrade blessings, which are priced as if they were magic items. The time necessary to sacrifice an item is 1 day/ 1000 gp of market value sacrificed. At any time, the character may choose to spend 8 hours in "meditation" to spend any virtual wealth in his possession on blessings. Once a blessing is created, a character may sacrifice it as if it were a valuable item, adding half its market value back into his virtual wealth pool, but other than that, his choices are permanent. Players cannot create blessings for themselves that would count as epic magic items until they reach level 21, but upon reaching that level, they may sacrifice up to 10,000 gp per day of market value, rather than 1,000 (this is to account for the 10x price increase of epic items and keep blessing creation time reasonable).
Creating (or improving) a blessing for another person requires that the creator have an appropriate item creation feat, and is created exactly as a magic item would be, but requires that the subject of the blessing to be present for item creation at all times.
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The second part of this fix is an ACF that any class can pick up.
MINIMALIST EXISTENCE (Su)
You have decided that magic items are not for you. You cannot use magic items or have blessings put upon you. In return, blessings that you create for yourself do not have item slot limitations - they are effectively slotless, with no increase in price. Also, they function as supernatural effects rather than magic items, meaning that (among other things) they cannot be dispelled.
If you willingly and knowingly use a magical item, or you have a blessing placed upon you by another being, you lose all the benefits of this ability and all blessings you have created for yourself. They can only be returned once the character receives an atonement spell, which only works if the character is no longer benefiting from any effects that would cause him to lose this ability.
__________________________________________________ ____________
Finally, Dungeon Masters are encouraged to provide virtual gp as a reward that is more intangible than money or magic items, representing favor that a character has gained from deities and spirits. Building a well for an impoverished town does not provide a character with riches, but there can be a reward on a more cosmic scale. The DM should also provide virtual wealth for defeating opponents that use blessings, as blessings cannot normally be looted like a magic item could be.
So! The mechanics. This fix comes in two forms. In the first, players may sacrifice of valuable items to empower themselves with semi-permanent magical effects (known hereafter as blessings). These effects take up item locations as a magic item would, and automatically suppress any magic item in the same location. The character chooses which blessings he is manifesting by spending 15 minutes in meditation at the beginning of the day. To manifest these blessings, the character must have a clear mind, much like a wizard preparing spells (and is subject to the same rules). If he does not choose to do so, the character manifests the same blessings he did the previous day. Blessings are treated as magic items in interactions with soulmelds.
A blessing is, effectively, a magical item that cannot be lost or stolen (barring specific effects), but also cannot be given away. For example, a blessing form of a cloak of Charisma provides a bonus to Charisma and suppresses any magical cloak that the character may wear, but, without an exotic effect, cannot be taken from him. It also cannot (by default) be detected without any effect capable of detecting magic items. Blessings by default have no visual appearance, though customization is both possible and encouraged. A blessing can give the benefits of any permanent magical item. Non-permanent items (such as those with a limited total number of charges, like wands) can never be made into blessings. Blessings function as magic items with regard to spells and effects. Only one blessing can exist in an item slot at a time, for those items that are limited by slots.
There are several cases which deserve special attention. Weapons do not take up item slots on the body; however, while a character may have any number of weapon blessings active at a time, each blessing may benefit any given weapon, and each weapon can only gain the benefits of one blessing at a time. Changing which blessing applies to which weapon takes the same action as readying a weapon, and may occur concurrently. Natural weapons can be blessed, and each have to be blessed separately. Unarmed strikes can be blessed, but if one were to fight with multiple unarmed strikes (such as by using the two- or multi-weapon fighting feats), each instance of unarmed strike would have to be blessed separately. A blessing may also be applied to ammunition - it costs double what a normal magic weapon would, but is applied to every piece of ammunition that is used, until it is switched for another.
Armor and shield blessings function similarly, having each blessing only be able to effect one item and each item only being to maintain one blessing, and having the action to switch out blessings take the same action(s) as readying the real armors in question. Armor blessings can be assigned to normal clothing, in which case the armor is treated as having an armor bonus of +0. Blessings that take up the robe body slot are mutually exclusive with armor and armor blessings - robe slot blessings simply do not function if the character is wearing armor or benefiting from an armor blessing.
Augment crystal blessings can also be acquired; while a character can maintain any number of augment crystal blessings, he can only benefit from currently active ones, which follow the normal rules for which augment crystals can be active on what items, and what action it takes to change them out.
Finally, while the various tomes and manuals that add inherent bonuses to ability scores cannot be created as blessings (for they are one use items), a character can purchase a inherent bonus as a blessing, though there are some special rules. In addition to the cost of (desired bonus x 27,500) virtual gp, a character must also meditate for a total of 48 hours over 6 days on the use of the attribute in question, at the end of which he receives the desired inherent bonus. This blessing is permanent and nonmagical; a character cannot choose to not benefit from it. On the other hand, it cannot be upgraded (in the same sense that all inherent bonuses cannot be upgraded, only replaced), nor can it be sacrificed for more virtual wealth.
Creating (or improving) a blessing for oneself is fairly easy. All that is required is the valuable items to sacrifice, a place to "meditate", and time. What these terms mean for an individual character varies, so long as the character ends up giving up the valuable item and ends up with no mechanical benefit (the DM is encouraged to examine these methods and veto them if he does not think they follow the spirit of a sacrifice). Sacrificing a valuable item puts an amount of "virtual gold pieces" equal to half the item's market value into a pool of "virtual wealth" (or, in the case of items that are inherently valuable, such as gold, gems and the like, the player may add the full market value), from which the character can purchase or upgrade blessings, which are priced as if they were magic items. The time necessary to sacrifice an item is 1 day/ 1000 gp of market value sacrificed. At any time, the character may choose to spend 8 hours in "meditation" to spend any virtual wealth in his possession on blessings. Once a blessing is created, a character may sacrifice it as if it were a valuable item, adding half its market value back into his virtual wealth pool, but other than that, his choices are permanent. Players cannot create blessings for themselves that would count as epic magic items until they reach level 21, but upon reaching that level, they may sacrifice up to 10,000 gp per day of market value, rather than 1,000 (this is to account for the 10x price increase of epic items and keep blessing creation time reasonable).
Creating (or improving) a blessing for another person requires that the creator have an appropriate item creation feat, and is created exactly as a magic item would be, but requires that the subject of the blessing to be present for item creation at all times.
__________________________________________________ __________
The second part of this fix is an ACF that any class can pick up.
MINIMALIST EXISTENCE (Su)
You have decided that magic items are not for you. You cannot use magic items or have blessings put upon you. In return, blessings that you create for yourself do not have item slot limitations - they are effectively slotless, with no increase in price. Also, they function as supernatural effects rather than magic items, meaning that (among other things) they cannot be dispelled.
If you willingly and knowingly use a magical item, or you have a blessing placed upon you by another being, you lose all the benefits of this ability and all blessings you have created for yourself. They can only be returned once the character receives an atonement spell, which only works if the character is no longer benefiting from any effects that would cause him to lose this ability.
__________________________________________________ ____________
Finally, Dungeon Masters are encouraged to provide virtual gp as a reward that is more intangible than money or magic items, representing favor that a character has gained from deities and spirits. Building a well for an impoverished town does not provide a character with riches, but there can be a reward on a more cosmic scale. The DM should also provide virtual wealth for defeating opponents that use blessings, as blessings cannot normally be looted like a magic item could be.