Improving (and stacking) magical items

[bootzin]

Hey Guys!

So, I was reading through MIC, and I got to the part where it lets you add magical items abilities together, but honestly, I read it again and again and still have no idea of how to calculate the prices of my equipment.

Let's start with a simple example: Let's say I have Acrobat Boots (900gp) and I want to add the Boots of Agile Leaping (600gp) to it. How exactly do I proceed? Do I pay 600 for adding the property? Do I pay 900? Or 1350? Or yet 300? I really have no idea of how much do I pay since the rules are a bit tricky over this. (At least for me, maybe I'm just dumb :smallfrown:)

Secondly: How many properties may a single magic item have? And let's say I was going to add a third one, how much would it cost? (Say I'm adding Boots of Landing (500gp) to it)

And at last: Could you give me a couple more examples of costs? Only so that I understand the real mechanics behind it

[Deophaun]

The price for a magic item with stacked properties is as follows

Highest Power + (Power1 + Power2... PowerN)*1.5 + Common Power1 + Common Power2... Common PowerN

So, for your first question, it would cost you 900 gp to add the Agile Leaping power to your Acrobatic boots, making the item worth 1,800 gp. If you were then going to add a +2 Enhancement bonus to Dexterity, that would only cost 4000 gp, because that's a common power to add to boots.

The key to remember is, no matter what order you add powers to an item, the final cost of the item is going to be the same. So if you were adding the Acrobatic power to your Boots of Agile Leaping, that would cost 1,200 gp (900 for Acrobatic, +300 for Agile Leaping).

There is no formal limit on the number of powers you can add, though it is possible to make the item so expensive it becomes Epic, which then adds a x10 multiplier on further powers.

[bootzin]

The price for a magic item with stacked properties is as follows

Highest Power + (Power1 + Power2... PowerN)*1.5 + Common Power1 + Common Power2... Common PowerN

So, for your first question, it would cost you 900 gp to add the Agile Leaping power to your Acrobatic boots, making the item worth 1,800 gp. If you were then going to add a +2 Enhancement bonus to Dexterity, that would only cost 4000 gp, because that's a common power to add to boots.

The key to remember is, no matter what order you add powers to an item, the final cost of the item is going to be the same. So if you were adding the Acrobatic power to your Boots of Agile Leaping, that would cost 1,200 gp (900 for Acrobatic, +300 for Agile Leaping).

There is no formal limit on the number of powers you can add, though it is possible to make the item so expensive it becomes Epic, which then adds a x10 multiplier on further powers.

Hm, that simplifies tihngs a lot. The only thing I still don't get is: You said the final cost was going to be the same, but one ended up as 1,800 and the other as 1,200. Which one is it?

-----EDIT-----
NVM, got that cleared. The 1,200 is an additional cost over the Agile leaping boots cost, right?

[Deophaun]

Hm, that simplifies tihngs a lot. The only thing I still don't get is: You said the final cost was going to be the same, but one ended up as 1,800 and the other as 1,200. Which one is it?
That was just the cost to add the Acrobatic, which was the price for Acrobatic itself plus the 50% premium for Agile Leaping. There is still the 600 gp from the existing Agile Leaping power, so 1,800 gp total.

[bootzin]

Thanks a lot! That really made things A LOT clearer :smallsmile:

[bootzin]

Ok, I'm using this thread because it is a really similar question, but now regarding magic weapons and armor..

If I get it right, getting a +3 enhancement bonus to an armor, for instancec, does not grant me a +3 AC bonus, right?

So, does that mean that pre-epic I can only have a +5 equivalent bonus if I'm going to have a +5 AC bonus? The same true for weapons?

And If I want to put Halfweight (A +3 bonus) to a masterwork armor, I'd have to pay 16.000gp? And if it was a +1 armor would I pay 15.000? Or Would I pay the normal +3 cost? (9.000) And the armor wouldn't gain the +3 AC bonus?

[Flickerdart]

Ok, I'm using this thread because it is a really similar question, but now regarding magic weapons and armor..

If I get it right, getting a +3 enhancement bonus to an armor, for instancec, does not grant me a +3 AC bonus, right?

So, does that mean that pre-epic I can only have a +5 equivalent bonus if I'm going to have a +5 AC bonus? The same true for weapons?
I think you are confusing two similar terms:
Enhancement bonus is the flat +1 AC (or +1 attack and damage) you get from your regular +X magic weapon or armor.
Enchantments are fancy abilities that have a +X enhancement bonus equivalence for purposes of cost.

Enchantments do not grant you their +X as AC or attack/damage bonuses. So yes, pre-epic you can only have an item with enhancement bonus of +5, though you can have a total +10 worth of enchantments.


And If I want to put Halfweight (A +3 bonus) to a masterwork armor, I'd have to pay 16.000gp? And if it was a +1 armor would I pay 15.000? Or Would I pay the normal +3 cost? (9.000) And the armor wouldn't gain the +3 AC bonus?
To enchant an armor, it must already be magic (enhancement bonus of +1). To have such a bonus, it must be masterwork. So your total cost is [armor cost] + [masterwork cost] + [total enhancement + enchantment bonus cost). The cheapest you could get Halfweight for would be a +1 Halfweight suit of armor, an armor that has a cost equivalent to a +4 armor.

[Deophaun]

bootzin, if you wanted to put Halfweight on your armor, what you need to do is make sure your party thief steals all your gold before you get the chance to do so. If he's nice, he'll use some of that money to put Easy Travel on your armor instead, before blowing the rest on wine and wenches.

I think you are confusing two similar terms:
Enhancement bonus is the flat +1 AC (or +1 attack and damage) you get from your regular +X magic weapon or armor.
Enchantments are fancy abilities that have a +X enhancement bonus equivalence for purposes of cost.
Enchantments are actually spells from the least valuable school of magic. :smalltongue:

The game refers to those fancy abilities with the creative descriptor "special abilities."

[bootzin]

Well, thanks for clarifying all that (:

And I misused the terms, I meant: Having a +3 Special ability does not grant me a +3 to AC, right?

Regarding Easy Travel, that's an awesome ability, problem is: my character has 4 STR, and I want to use a Heavy Armor, so I kinda need easy travel AND Halfweight or Belt of Wide Earth, but Halfweight, although costs double the amount, transforms the Heavy Armor into Light Armor, which has quite some advantages (Such as qualifying for class features that only applies when wearing light or no armor)

[Flickerdart]

And I misused the terms, I meant: Having a +3 Special ability does not grant me a +3 to AC, right?
As I mentioned in my post, that is correct. Only dumb enhancement bonus gives you + to AC. For this reason, many people will just buy a +1 suit of armor with +9 worth of special abilities and then just beg their cleric for a Magic Vestment spell in the morning.

[Deophaun]

Regarding Easy Travel, that's an awesome ability, problem is: my character has 4 STR, and I want to use a Heavy Armor.
The question I have is... why? If your character has that low Strength, he's only going to be in melee if he's Dex based (or Charisma, or Wisdom, both of which can get those bonuses added to AC), and heavy armor (even that turned light) does not play nice with Dexterity (and is outright hostile to Wisdom and Charisma bonuses to AC). Even modest Dex investment will push you above the limits for Mithral plate. Furthermore, this +3 places a cost premium on additional enhancement bonuses or special abilities that could be better spent elsewhere. And it will prevent you from having a +5 Enhancement bonus and something really useful like Soulfire, as you go above the +10 limit.

And let's not even get into what will happen if he winds up in the water.

If you want the appearance, I suggest refluffing the look of lighter armor or asking for a custom glamered special ability instead.

[bootzin]

The question I have is... why? If your character has that low Strength, he's only going to be in melee if he's Dex based (or Charisma, or Wisdom, both of which can get those bonuses added to AC), and heavy armor (even that turned light) does not play nice with Dexterity (and is outright hostile to Wisdom and Charisma bonuses to AC). Even modest Dex investment will push you above the limits for Mithral plate. Furthermore, this +3 places a cost premium on additional enhancement bonuses or special abilities that could be better spent elsewhere. And it will prevent you from having a +5 Enhancement bonus and something really useful like Soulfire, as you go above the +10 limit.

And let's not even get into what will happen if he winds up in the water.

If you want the appearance, I suggest refluffing the look of lighter armor or asking for a custom glamered special ability instead.

I know that in the vast majority of the time, a heavy armor would suck in a high dex build, but there is one specific case in which it actually improves it. I'll be using a clockwork armor, and I happened to be able to change its materials, so I'll make it out of Riverine, making it immune to damage (Including frost damage) and thus having an awesome heavy armor that only applies a portion of its weight to encumbrance, gives me a +4 circumstance (And thus stacks with enhancement and inherent) bonus to DEX AND STR and still increases my base speed, instead of reducing it. The armor has no Max DEX and no ACP, so it is actually the best armor possible for a high dex build, but again, it is heavy armor.

Regarding the swim part, my character has a racial swim speed, so he can always take 10 on swim checks, and he uses DEX instead of STR, wich means that I won't have much trouble with it