Help with the Legendary Item Hammer of Thunderbolts

[samduke]

as the title suggests
Help with the Legendary Item Hammer of Thunderbolts

*Item states that it requires gauntlets of ogre power (sets str to 19)
*Item states that it requires belt of giant strength <any> lets use hill giant (sets str to 21) over rides gauntlets
*Item states that if attuned to thes and attuned to it that it adds +4 to the strength score (increases str score to 25)

Now if we have an additional item manual of strength +2 which also increases the max by +2 this should increase the strength score to 27

next if we have enough ASI's & or Feats that increase Strength this could reach 30 - maybe 32 with the manual

is there any minimum strength requirements for gauntlets , belt or hammer ?

is the math for the above correct?

[EternalPrime]

Attuning to Gauntlets of Ogre Power or a Belt of Giant Strength REPLACES your normal strength score with the score designated by the item. As a rule this score CANNOT be modified by ASIs, Feats, class abilities, or even other magic items. This number is static.
The Hammer of Thunderbolts offers an exception to this rule. It allows the strength score offered by the Belt of Giant Strength to be increased by 4 points. In your example, your character’s strength would be 25 (21 from the belt +4 from the hammer). This strength of 25 would stay the same regardless of any ASI’s, Feats, class abilities, or even the use of a Manual of Gainful Exercise.
If your normal strength is greater than that provided by the Belt of Giant Strength, (say if you are a 20th level barbarian or happened to find multiple Manuals of Gainful Exercise) then you retain your normal strength (the belt is ignored) but you still gain the +4 bonus from the Hammer, to a maximum of 30.
There is no minimum strength requirement to attune to Gauntlets of Ogre Power, a Belt of Giant Strength. or a Hammer of Thunderbolts.

[samduke]

Attuning to Gauntlets of Ogre Power or a Belt of Giant Strength REPLACES your normal strength score with the score designated by the item. As a rule this score CANNOT be modified by ASIs, Feats, class abilities, or even other magic items. This number is static.
The Hammer of Thunderbolts offers an exception to this rule. It allows the strength score offered by the Belt of Giant Strength to be increased by 4 points. In your example, your character’s strength would be 25 (21 from the belt +4 from the hammer). This strength of 25 would stay the same regardless of any ASI’s, Feats, class abilities, or even the use of a Manual of Gainful Exercise.
If your normal strength is greater than that provided by the Belt of Giant Strength, (say if you are a 20th level barbarian or happened to find multiple Manuals of Gainful Exercise) then you retain your normal strength (the belt is ignored) but you still gain the +4 bonus from the Hammer, to a maximum of 30.
There is no minimum strength requirement to attune to Gauntlets of Ogre Power, a Belt of Giant Strength. or a Hammer of Thunderbolts.

site your sources .. where exactly does it say any of this?

[Unk]

site your sources .. where exactly does it say any of this?

In the description of the items..

Edit: a little remark. I disagree that the hammer increases the strength score granted by the belt. It increases your strength, and then you can choose what score to use: your own, score from the gauntlets or score from the belt

[GlenSmash!]

To attune the Hammer of Thunderbolts, You must be wearing the Gauntlets and Belt however it does not say you must be attuned to them.

This is useful for say a level 20 Barbarian with 24 strength who just wants to attune to the hammer and get 28 strength thus saving 2 attunement slots for things like a Ring of Protection.

But yes ASIs only increase your natural score, not the score granted by the Gauntlets or Belt.

[JNAProductions]

In the description of the items..

Edit: a little remark. I disagree that the hammer increases the strength score granted by the belt. It increases your strength, and then you can choose what score to use: your own, score from the gauntlets or score from the belt

There's a Sage Advice tweet from JC, indicating the intent is that the Hammer stacks with the Belt.

RAW, it doesn't, but RAI it does, from the word of the developers themselves.

Edit: The character this was made for had an 8 to start in Strength.

Samduke, let me ask you this: What happens if you take off the Gauntlets and Belt, and put down the Hammer? What is your Strength score WITHOUT any attunement items?

[samduke]

There's a Sage Advice tweet from JC, indicating the intent is that the Hammer stacks with the Belt.

RAW, it doesn't, but RAI it does, from the word of the developers themselves.

Edit: The character this was made for had an 8 to start in Strength.

Samduke, let me ask you this: What happens if you take off the Gauntlets and Belt, and put down the Hammer? What is your Strength score WITHOUT any attunement items?

JNAProductions; by RAW the base str score does not matter, the ASI, Feats apply to the BASE non magical stats
Magical effects like the manual of strength +2 apply to the magical effect of the belt/hammer effect this has been confirmed from WOTC.
*scrubbed*

[Chronos]

Also note that no matter what you do, you can't get a Strength score higher than 30, because in 5e, ability scores above 30 simply do not exist. Although the pattern for bonuses is obvious, it's never explicitly spelled out in a formula, and the only official way to know what any given ability score does is to look it up on the table, and the table does not have any rows beyond 30.

[samduke]

Also note that no matter what you do, you can't get a Strength score higher than 30, because in 5e, ability scores above 30 simply do not exist. Although the pattern for bonuses is obvious, it's never explicitly spelled out in a formula, and the only official way to know what any given ability score does is to look it up on the table, and the table does not have any rows beyond 30.

technically with manual and belt and hammer I think the max is 29 with no way of getting 30

[Teaguethebean]

technically with manual and belt and hammer I think the max is 29 with no way of getting 30

well you can use more than one manual so that doesn't really add up. also storm/cloud giant belt+hammer of thunderbolts would mathematically grant 33, and 31 respectively

[samduke]

well you can use more than one manual so that doesn't really add up. also storm/cloud giant belt+hammer of thunderbolts would mathematically grant 33, and 31 respectively

true but the hammer limits it to 30, the only thing from wotc on the manuals/tomes is they are magical and apply to magical item set values or base non magical attributes which ever is better. up to either a base magical of 22 or in the case of the hammer 30 as it is listed

Options are
Hill Giant 21 + manual 2 + hammer 4 = 27 , + manual 2 = 29
Stone Giant / Frost Giant 23 + manual 2 + hammer 4 = 29
Fire Giant 25 + manual 2 = 27 OR + hammer 4 = 29
Cloud Giant 27 + manual 2 = 29
Storm Giant 29 can not have anything applied as it goes over the 30

so not really possible to get 30

[Contrast]

Magical effects like the manual of strength +2 apply to the magical effect of the belt/hammer effect this has been confirmed from WOTC.

Could you please quote where they've confirmed that? Belt and manual would not result in belt strength +2 it would just result in the strength your belt replaces being increased by 2 is my understanding.

[TIPOT]

true but the hammer limits it to 30, the only thing from wotc on the manuals/tomes is they are magical and apply to magical item set values or base non magical attributes which ever is better. up to either a base magical of 22 or in the case of the hammer 30 as it is listed

Options are
Hill Giant 21 + manual 2 + hammer 4 = 27 , + manual 2 = 29
Stone Giant / Frost Giant 23 + manual 2 + hammer 4 = 29
Fire Giant 25 + manual 2 = 27 OR + hammer 4 = 29
Cloud Giant 27 + manual 2 = 29
Storm Giant 29 can not have anything applied as it goes over the 30

so not really possible to get 30

Level 20 Barbarian strength 24 + manual 2 + hammer 4 = 30

[GlenSmash!]

Or you know Storm Giant belt 29 + 4 hammer = 33 but capped at 30 so round down to 30.

You can go do this on D&D Beyond pretty easily and see it.

[Ruebin Rybnik]

Now the tough questions is...
If you were a level 20 Barbarian with this hammer, what do you use your 2 other attunement slots for?

Im thinking probably Winged Boots for flying, and then a Mantle of Spell Resistance.

[GlenSmash!]

Now the tough questions is...
If you were a level 20 Barbarian with this hammer, what do you use your 2 other attunement slots for?

Im thinking probably Winged Boots for flying, and then a Mantle of Spell Resistance.

It would vary by subclass. Eagle totem has less reason for winged boots than others, and a High level Zealot doesn't care about AC.

Spell resistance is pretty universally good though, so good call there.

I'd be tempted to grab a Horn of Valhalla just for the theme. And summons are pretty powerful.