Inexpensive item to keep a minion alive?

[Braininthejar2]

In the course of my adventures I acquired a minion - an old butler to one of the villains I killed, who now does business in my name in town

he's going to oversee an orphanage that will be the foundation of my future gang, and doing some money lending for extra cash.

The thing is, opening a new money lending business can get him some enmity from the competition, and I wouldn't to find him in a ditch with broken arms.

I'm thinking of giving him some magic item to protect him from thugs, but it can't be too expensive or the whole thing won't be worth it. What would you suggest?

[King of Nowhere]

Unfortunately, with magic if you want quality you must sink a fortune, otherwise you'll get something very minor and still sink a smaller fortune.

Maybe give him a ring of invisibility to help him escape thugs, or an anklet of relocation.

[zlefin]

In the course of my adventures I acquired a minion - an old butler to one of the villains I killed, who now does business in my name in town

he's going to oversee an orphanage that will be the foundation of my future gang, and doing some money lending for extra cash.

The thing is, opening a new money lending business can get him some enmity from the competition, and I wouldn't to find him in a ditch with broken arms.

I'm thinking of giving him some magic item to protect him from thugs, but it can't be too expensive or the whole thing won't be worth it. What would you suggest?

I doubt you'll find a magic item good enough to protect him at a reasonable price.

the better way is to find out who the competition is and make an agreement with them directly; like by giving them a cut of the revenue. this also depends of course on who you're lending money to and on what terms; in some places there's plenty of lenders from different groups, and you wouldn't be at any particular threat just from ordinary lending.
having a powerful patron (or yourself if you're strong enough) or joining a powerful org is another good way to have protection.

[Palanan]

Depending on your budget, an Amulet of Laeral's Tears may be worthwhile. It runs 1200 gp and grants 24 temporary hit points, which could help protect the butler from low-level attacks.

It's expendable in that the item crumbles once all 24 hit points have been used, so this isn't something you'd give him for a front-line fight--more a bit of insurance against unexpected ambush. It's also 3.0 material, so it may have been updated under a different name in the MIC.

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[Darrin]

You could give him a potion of gaseous form for 750 GP. It's not foolproof, but should get him out of most encounters. Fly speed is only 10', but the DR and duration should be enough to get him out of trouble.

Panic Button of Escape is also 750 GP, which gets him dimension door.

If you want something cheaper, Attune Gem or Craft Skull Talisman with a personal spell like winged watcher (Complete Scoundrel) might work... 100 GP for 1 round of flight, or 200 GP for 2 rounds, etc.

[Falontani]

A spark guardian costs 10k gp and is fairly expensive, however for your money you get a tiny Bird construct with dr 5/-, fast healing 1, and a ranged natural attack that does 2d6 electric damage. In addition it has the ability to always know where it's master is. Unless your rivals invest in some serious help, it's not going to be destroyed by most cr 1s.

Other constructs are less expensive, but nothing will come with a defensive chassis like that.

[The Kool]

A spark guardian costs 10k gp and is fairly expensive, however for your money you get a tiny Bird construct with dr 5/-, fast healing 1, and a ranged natural attack that does 2d6 electric damage. In addition it has the ability to always know where it's master is. Unless your rivals invest in some serious help, it's not going to be destroyed by most cr 1s.

Other constructs are less expensive, but nothing will come with a defensive chassis like that.

Isn't that a familiar?

[flappeercraft]

There is the Cloak of Shadow. Gives you a +1 deflection to AC and what is basically Abrupt Jaunt I believe 2/day. Only 5,500 gp.

[Zaq]

What you need to protect someone depends on the kinds of perils they face. What specifically do you expect to threaten this person? Do they just need some extra HP or AC? Do they need a way of quickly running the hell away? Do they need to be threatening? What about just some kind of alarm to call for help?

[The Kool]

Feather Token, Whip. 500gp, impressive stats that will end any low-level fight in no time flat. Single-use only, but the victim of it will either never bother him again or come back with enough force that you're out of your cheap budget range. Leave him with two, replace is needed, and for 1,000 gp you won't have to worry about any casual gang threats.

[Segev]

Have the party wizard, or hire a wizard to, cast refuge (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/refuge.htm) keyed to a safe place, possibly the hired wizard's lair. Give the butler the item, perhaps as a very expensive cravat-pin. If you hire a separate wizard, give him an additional retainer to handle any problems with thuggery or other hostilities the butler may face. Maybe by making him a partner in the venture; now providing incidental and occasional security protects his own financial interests. You'll pay 1500 gp for the material component, and 7650 gp for hiring a 17th level caster to cast a 9th level spell.

Cheaper (7th level spell, only takes a 13th level caster) if it's a cleric.

If it's the party wizard or cleric, set up a way to ensure you know if he activates it so that the party can come back and teach the bad guys that messing with adventurers is a terrible life choice.

Edit to add: It'd only be 2250 gp to get a 1-shot teleport item. Command activated. Make it to a specific location, and it might qualify for a discount; the basic version would actually be anywhere the user wanted (subject to usual miss chances).

[Kalkra]

Use-activated item of Cure Moderate Wounds (1st level spell for Runescarred Berserker)? At-will Dimension Door (2nd level spell for Trapsmith)? Heck, just give him Haste and he can run away really fast (1st level spell for Trapsmith). Or at-will Invisibility (1st level spell for Telflammar Shadowlord).

[Thurbane]

Maybe give him a ring of invisibility to help him escape thugs, or an anklet of relocation.

Amulet of Translocation, plus build a "safe-room" within 10 feet of the front counter...

In the safe roof, have a pull-rope attached to a large bell that can be heard by the city watch.

[Particle_Man]

You are a PC. Kill everyone that might be a threat to your butler and take their stuff. Best of all, you might create more orphans for your butler's orphanage. :smallbiggrin:

[Segev]

Hm. It wouldn't work against everyone, but a continuously-active Butler's Coat of Sanctuary would be a level 1 spell cast by a level 1 caster, x2 for duration, so 4000 gp. Anybody who wanted to attack him for any reason would have to make a DC 11 Will save to even make the attempt.

[Malphegor]

Amulet of Laeral's Tears ... It's also 3.0 material, so it may have been updated under a different name in the MIC.
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Yeah, the MIC version recharges every dawn! Otherwise identical (you can break down the temp hitpoints you get though, it's something like 1 charge=6 points, 2 charges is 12, 3 charges is 24, and it has 3 charges total or something, so in most circumstances there's no reason to not go 24 unless you expect to need a sudden surge of health later in the day), but yeah you can use it every day. They just scrubbed the name Laeral from it and made it charge/day based.

[Braininthejar2]

You are a PC. Kill everyone that might be a threat to your butler and take their stuff. Best of all, you might create more orphans for your butler's orphanage.

My wizard is a noble, and this whole venture is outside of his official business. Subtelty is required. :smallcool: (also his "unofficial ventures" have grown to a point where he needs to delegate. He only acts directly when things actually require his level. )



Okay, this is enough. :smallsmile: I have enough data to work with.