Skill Boosting Items

[ItWasFutile]

I need a little clarification on them, what are the crafting requirements. What spell do I need access to, what is the caster level requirement, etc

[HC Rainbow]

I need a little clarification on them, what are the crafting requirements. What spell do I need access to, what is the caster level requirement, etc

I'm not sure to the exact caster level requirements but I will keep looking.

The Price to craft these items is Bonus squared × 100 gp

For Example:
Cloak of the Elvenkind grands a +5 bonus to hide checks.
5^2 = 25 x 100gp = 2500 gp.
Thus the price of Cloak of the Elvenkind.

I'll try to keep looking in regards to what the casterlevel requirements are but I know you normally need Craft Wonderous Item for that. Spells wise it depends on the bonus you are looking for.

[ItWasFutile]

I need a magic item to boost my usage of UMD. I need it to work exactly one time so that I can use a scroll that is Cleric only with my sorcerer to turn myself into a ghost. which is going to require me to tag a UMD check of 27. Due to the world, I have to craft it myself, and would like to do so for as cheaply as possible.

[Rijan_Sai]

How big of a boost do you need? There's always the generic Masterwork Tool (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#toolMasterwork) from the PHB/SRD. Completely mundane, gives a +2 circumstance bonus to the related skill check. 50gp, 1lb, Infinite Uses...(possible DM dependent.)

[ItWasFutile]

I need to hit a DC 27 UMD check. It's a cross class skill. I have a cha mod of +4, so, a +22. assuming that I use a generic tool, I can get away with a +20 item

[Khedrac]

Well you probably have the +2 synergy for 5 ranks in spellcraft when activating scrolls, but are you telling us you have no ranks in UMD? (1 on dice +4 Cha + 22 item = 27).

UMD is Trained Only - with no ranks you cannot even attempt the skill.

Next, assuming you have one rank, and 5 ranks in Spellcraft you now seems to need +18.
(Why not +19? - because if you roll a 1 on activate blindly it fails regardless)

The specifics of what spell you need are up to the DM, as is the cost, but you are probably looking at:

18^2 * 100 * .2 (once per day) = 6480 + any costs from the spell

This seems low to me, possibly because I know you are just trying to be clever with it, so at that point I would probably increase it, but that's me.

I have gone with 1/day as that is cheaper than changed (divide by 2 for 50 charges - there are no rules for making an item on non-full charges, just for selling them).

The big question is what spell it would be. The default for "I have no idea" is wish - since that is the spell for Fortification. Expensive.

However, Moment of Prescience gives a skill bonus of up to +25, and would be a good and cheaper choice.

At this point the question arises - why not just get a scroll of Moment of Prescience at whatever caster level you need? It's less hassle unless there is no NPC to make it.

Edit: I cannot stress enough that this is really a question for your DM - the rule on custom items is "Ask your DM".

[sleepyphoenixx]

Unless it's time critical you don't really need a 100% success chance.
That kind of a waste since skill-boosting items get expensive fast.

Since you only need to make the one check it will be a lot cheaper to get a combination of the following:
- a casting of Divine Insight (SpC) (up to +15 or +20, depends on reading) This is a personal spell so your best bet is probably to get a cleric and pay him to cast Imbue with Spell Ability on you. Cheap even if you don't know a cleric who casts it for free.
- a casting of Guidance of the Avatar (web (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20010504a)). This one is a touch spell and adds +20. Also cheap. Some DMs don't allow web content though.
- Snowsong (SpC) +4 morale to charisma. Bard spell. Higher level than the cleric solution, so probably not worth it.
- Inner Beauty (FC1) +4 sacred to charisma if you're good. Also a bard spell. See above.

There's a few more things that can temporarily boost Cha or a skill, these are just the ones that come to mind.

[ItWasFutile]

I need to get raise ghost contingencied on myself. (Cleric 4 out of ghostwalk) Due to the DM, I am not going to be able to simply pay someone to do it for me, I will have to craft the contingency myself. That requires my sorcerer to have access to the spell. If it was part of a domain, I would take the Arcane Disciple feat and call it a day. It has nothing to do with the DM wanting lower power. If that was the case, I would forget about it and move on. It is entirely the DM's belief that if he doesn't like that option, it must not be a valid option. As a player, he almost exclusively plays crafting wizards.

Does anything from the Draconic Heritage feats give you UMD? I am already taking that, and if I could just pick up UMD as a class skill from that, that would solve my woes.

I suppose that another option would be to take a level of bard, beguiler, rogue or something else that makes it a class skill and then take able learner. That would probably be easier come to think of it.

Then I can just make the check straight up.

[sleepyphoenixx]

The Apprentice(Spellcaster) feat (DMG2) gives you UMD as a class skill.

A Ring of Theurgy (CArc, 20000gp) can add a spell to your list until you cast it, as long as you can find a cleric to cast it into the ring for you. Once you're done with that you can use it to add other spells to your list as needed so it stays useful.
Explorers Handbook has the Drake Helm that does essentially the same thing.

You could also just take a level of Cloistered Cleric and use it to get into Dweomerkeeper.

[ItWasFutile]

I'm not playing a Sorcerer, it's a homebrew class. Think arcane Spirit Shaman. That's just the closest thing to it. I'm already dual stat dependant, don't really want to add a third. Archivist wouldn't be a bad idea though.

As for magic items, no magic items can be purchased. I either have to wait for them to come to me by random chance, or make them myself.

Apprentice won't work, because that leaves too much up to the discretion of the DM. I expect him to try and screw me over at every possible opportunity.

To put things in perspective, I refuse to use the spell Leomund's Secret Chest, because he will make it his life's goal to destroy my focus and deprive me of all my items stored in it.

[sleepyphoenixx]

So, you can purchase no items, can't find a cleric that would cast a 2nd level spell on you, and your DM is out to screw you at every opportunity so you can't use any other way to get it done.
But you can get a scroll of an obscure 4th level cleric spell without problems? :smallconfused:

If your homebrew class qualifies somehow you could look into Wyrm Wizard to get the spell on your list. If that doesn't work either i'm pretty much out of ideas.

[ItWasFutile]

Believe me, it makes about as much sense to me as it does to you. Whether he admits it or not, it's all about his personal tastes as a player bleeding into his game design. Scrolls are the one thing he buys in large number. I won't have a problem finding the scroll.

[Khedrac]

If scrolls are readily available then the simplest is to go for scrolls of one of the skill boosting spells listed above. That way he cannot even mess you up over it being a custom item.

Edit: if the destination spell is 4th level - a scroll of limited wish can be used to duplicate it. Now you only have to worry about the caster level check.

[Bronk]

If the DM likes crafting custom magic items so much when he's a player, maybe he'd let your character research new versions of the spells you want that you can use...

[Joe the Rat]

Does anything from the Draconic Heritage feats give you UMD? I am already taking that, and if I could just pick up UMD as a class skill from that, that would solve my woes.

I suppose that another option would be to take a level of bard, beguiler, rogue or something else that makes it a class skill and then take able learner. That would probably be easier come to think of it.

Then I can just make the check straight up.Draconic Heritage would let you qualify for the Dragonblood Sorcerer substitution - which makes UMD a class skill. But that does require an actual level of sorcerer... Oh, and it also gives you Draconic Heritage as a bonus feat. Won't that be nice.

If you take a Rogue dip at 5th level +, you can just dump all your (base) skill points for the level into UMD. That's +8 right there.