Ancestral Relic, whats it do exactly?

[dantiesilva]

Can someone explain this feat to me I do not get it in the least.

[Mr.Bookworm]

What's to explain? e: Or, more accurately, what are you having trouble understanding about the feat?

It's a pretty decent feat that gives you a magic item that you can upgrade on your lonesome. The upsides are that you can directly sacrifice loot instead of selling it to the magic mart for half value and that you don't need to dip into the crafting system to use it. The downside is that it takes quite a bit of time to upgrade your item (a couple of months on the high end).

If your DM plays your campaign as being very high magic or is lenient with the loot (and your swordsman trips over a +2 sword to replace his +1 sword every now and then), it's not nearly as good. If your campaign is low magic or you're starved for loot (and don't coincidentally find upgrades to your current swag), it's much better.

[dantiesilva]

So the prices on the table are how much you pay to upgrade it then? I don't get how it upgrades. Do you pay one thousand and X to get a +1 bonus on it.

[Asrrin]

So the prices on the table are how much you pay to upgrade it then? I don't get how it upgrades. Do you pay one thousand and X to get a +1 bonus on it.

Ok, so you have your ancestral relic and your feat. You want to upgrade it to a +1 flaming longsword. That works out to a total of a +2 bonus, which according to DMG is worth 8000gp. In order to make the change, you must spend 1 day for every 1000gp worth of gold the upgrade is, plus 1000gp worth of gold or magic items to upgrade it. In our instance this would be 8000gp worth of gold and magic items and 8 days of ritual, which takes up 8 hours of time per day.

Now say you want to change it from a +1 flaming to a +1 shock. This "upgrade" is still only worth 8000gp, so it doesn't cost any gold or magic items, and depending on your DM may require either no time spent in the ritual or only a single day.

Now you want to upgrade it to a +2 shock longsword. this is a total of a +3 bonus, worth 18000gp. You've already paid 8000gp on the relic, so now you only need to make up the difference, i.e. 10000gp of items and gold, 10 days of ritual at 8 hours a day.

[dantiesilva]

Now does that bonus stack with the one from Kensai? Or do they overlap thus you would use one to power up your weapon with enhancements, and the other to give special abilities?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You can sacrifice anything to add its market value to your ancestral relic, which is then added to the relic's stored gp value. You can then apply that value toward assigning magical properties to the relic, but those properties' total value cannot exceed the value by your level on the table. Nothing says you cannot store value for future use in excess of the maximum magical value.

For example, your party kills a bunch of orcs, and you have 20 studded leather and 20 falchions. The gear is in poor condition and may not even be worth hauling back to town to sell, as you would only get a fraction of its value. However, you can sacrifice all of that into your ancestral relic for its full market value, or 2,000 gp. You must meditate for two days to do so, but you can spend eight hours one day to do half, and eight hours another day to do the rest.

As another example, the party is going through a ruin and finds an ornate marble fountain in one of the overgrown gardens. It's in good condition and certainly worth quite a bit, but it's a permanent fixture and much too heavy to move. In comes your character with his Ancestral Relic feat, and you kneel by it for eight hours a day for several days until the entire thing is sacrificed and the full value is added to your relic! The same goes for all the fixtures in a given dungeon: doors, decorations, carvings, murals, you name it, its value gets added to your gear despite such items not typically being taken into consideration for party loot.

If the party would sell junk loot for half its value, you can buy it from the party pool for that price, and still get a portion back when cash is split. You can sacrifice that junk loot into your relic to add its full market value. For example, 1,000 gp of junk loot would sell in town for 500 gp normally, or 125 gp per character in a party of four. You pay the rest of the party 375 gp for the pile (500 gp, and then you get back 125 gp), and sacrifice the full 1,000 gp into your relic, so you're upgrading it for 3/8 cost.

Each time you upgrade your relic you can completely change what its properties are. You can get a rod, make it a Lesser Rod of Extend, later switch it to a Lesser Rod of Empower, then a Lesser Rod of Maximize, and later upgrade it to a Lesser Rod of Quicken. You don't have to keep any of its previous properties when you upgrade it. You can get a masterwork/masterwork Quarterstaff, make it a custom Runestaff (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ps/20070216a) with any spells you want on it. At any time you can switch what spells it provides, and as long as the value stays the same a gp difference of zero makes it take zero days of meditation to switch it. Later on add charges of spells per a Staff (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm#creatingStaffs). Eventually make each end +1 Defending and put Greater Magic Weapon +5 on each for +10 AC.

It's basically a fully customizable item, plus a garbage disposal for junk loot or unlootable decor that the party wouldn't have hauled back to sell. You always get to pick what magical item it is and can switch what it is (apart from its shape) whenever you want. It's especially good for a character who's extremely dependent on 'the right item' such as a bow with the right properties for an archer, or a runestaff for a sorcerer, etc., especially when your DM won't reliably give PCs access to buying magic items or placing an order to get them crafted.

[Zeb]

Note while you might be able to sacrifice anything for its value, you still need to spend time at
a consecrated or hallowed location which without access to those spells yourself can be a little tricky.

[Fax Celestis]

Note while you might be able to sacrifice anything for its value, you still need to spend time at which without access to those spells yourself can be a little tricky.

Scroll of consecrate: 200 gp.

[Asrrin]

Scroll of consecrate: 200 gp.

Not quite, Consecrate is a 2nd level spell with a duration of 2hr/level. A run of the mill scroll will only have a CL of 3. You need Consecrate cast with a CL of at least 4 in order to get the full 8 hours of meditation.

[Fax Celestis]

Not quite, Consecrate is a 2nd level spell with a duration of 2hr/level. A run of the mill scroll will only have a CL of 3. You need Consecrate cast with a CL of at least 4 in order to get the full 8 hours of meditation.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/scrolls.htm

2nd-Level Divine Spells
{table=head]d%|Spell|Market Price
19-20|consecrate|200 gp[/table]

[Asrrin]

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/scrolls.htm

2nd-Level Divine Spells
{table=head]d%|Spell|Market Price
19-20|consecrate|200 gp[/table]

From your link:

Determine Effect

A spell successfully activated from a scroll works exactly like a spell prepared and cast the normal way. Assume the scroll spell’s caster level is always the minimum level required to cast the spell for the character who scribed the scroll (usually twice the spell’s level, minus 1), unless the caster specifically desires otherwise.

Consecrate is a 2nd level spell with a caster level of 3 unless otherwise specified. It will last for 6 hours, which is not enough to meet the requirements for Ancestral Relic. You must use a scroll, item, or spell with a minimum caster level of 4 in order to have the Consecrate effect last at least 8 hours.

[Fax Celestis]

Scrolls are Spell level * caster level * 25. A scroll of consecrate in the DMG/SRD is already CL4: 2*4*25=200

[dantiesilva]

Thank you everyone that helped a lot. Especially saying I am making a strike team of the clergy (Like Van helsing) using such things.

[TuggyNE]

Scrolls are Spell level * caster level * 25. A scroll of consecrate in the DMG/SRD is already CL4: 2*4*25=200

Sadly, no. Consecrate has 50 gp worth of material components, which are included in the price of the scroll. 2 * 3 * 25 + 50 = 200.

[Chronos]

Scrolls are Spell level * caster level * 25. A scroll of consecrate in the DMG/SRD is already CL4: 2*4*25=200
Plus the cost of any expensive material component, which for Consecrate is 25 GP.

...Which doesn't work with CL 3 or 4, because CL 3 should be 175, and CL 4 should be 225.

EDIT: Oh, wait, it's holy water and the silver dust. That brings it up to the 50 that TuggyNE ninjaed me on.

[Fax Celestis]

Oh, wow, it totally has a component I didn't even notice. MY BAD.

Fine, 250gp for a consecrate scroll. And a DC 22 UMD, if the party cleric hates you.

[Segev]

A large altar-stone that casts Consecrate as a 4th level caster on a command word once per week would be 1,109 gp (rounded up). That's 19,400 gp for an at-will command activated item of a 2nd level spell cast by a 4th level caster, divided by 35=(5/(1/7)) for being usable once every 7 days, times 2 for not taking a body slot. Honestly, given the difficulty of transporting it, I'd probably ad hoc it back down to 555 gp (again rounded up).

[Vaz]

Make it an Ancestral wooden Quarterstaff with the Morphing, Skillfull, and Sizing (possibly Aptitude as well depending on feats) Abilities. Put spells into it as a Staff (including Consecrate, Spikes, Entangling Staff and Shillelagh). When the charges run out (apart from one for Consecrate).

Any other leftover bits of money you then use the rules in the A+EG to give you feats as if from a Magic Item, such as things like Boomerang Daze, and other broken feats.

Use your accumulated treasure from having a weapon that transforms into any other weapon you can imagine (of any size; include Giant Size with that).

Use Body Outside Body and Persist +Extend on an Incantatrix to gain a load of free +2 weapons to use (although you're an Incantatrix with Persisted Body Outside Body; you should have at least Arcane Disciple and Archmage 2 in there some where for fun with Miracle and Wish to gain around 75K/clone/day (with each clone summoning 4 other clones).

You should have plenty of money for Ancestral abusing.

[Jeff the Green]

A large altar-stone that casts Consecrate as a 4th level caster on a command word once per week would be 1,109 gp (rounded up). That's 19,400 gp for an at-will command activated item of a 2nd level spell cast by a 4th level caster, divided by 35=(5/(1/7)) for being usable once every 7 days, times 2 for not taking a body slot. Honestly, given the difficulty of transporting it, I'd probably ad hoc it back down to 555 gp (again rounded up).

There are rules for such things (called 'wondrous architecture') in the Stronghold Builder's Guide. I can't remember the multiplier, though.