By RAW do crafted published magic items look however the crafter desires?

[cosmonuts]

A belt of battle is a leather strip with a platinum buckle.

Reasonably I'd allow an artificer making one to decide what it looks like, but is this supported in RAW?

[malonkey1]

I'd say that it's technically not, but that it really doesn't matter, as long as it's the same type of item and it makes sense. (for example, a Feather Token has to be a feather)

[Mnemnosyne]

By RAW, any magic item power can be added to an already existing magical item of the same slot for only a 1.5x increase in price, or no increase, if you're adding (or adding to) a common item effect from the table on page 234 of the MiC. This would seem to suggest that generally the shape and design of the item is not relevant to its magical powers. Possible common-sense exceptions to be made in cases where the shape of the item is inherent to the powers in some way or another.

[TuggyNE]

A belt of battle is a leather strip with a platinum buckle.

Reasonably I'd allow an artificer making one to decide what it looks like, but is this supported in RAW?

I don't think it really matters, any more than it matters whether you throw tiny tarts at someone to induce hideous laughter or instead throw a miniature joke book. It's just random fluff that interacts with nothing special, except maybe repel metal or stone, and even then "organic belt with metal buckle" is about all that's important.

[Boci]

I don't think it really matters, any more than it matters whether you throw tiny tarts at someone to induce hideous laughter or instead throw a miniature joke book. It's just random fluff that interacts with nothing special, except maybe repel metal or stone, and even then "organic belt with metal buckle" is about all that's important.

I had a multi page discussion about whether a DM was a jerk for giving a player with mask of lies a penalty to charisma checks because the picture and description were so dodgy, so appearance apparently can matter.

[cosmonuts]

I don't think it really matters, any more than it matters whether you throw tiny tarts at someone to induce hideous laughter or instead throw a miniature joke book. It's just random fluff that interacts with nothing special, except maybe repel metal or stone, and even then "organic belt with metal buckle" is about all that's important.

How about in a game where NPCs and PCs can recognize a belt of battle on sight, so there's some use in changing its form, forcing them to identify it?