So is a Starmantle cloak just this good are was there an errata i don't know about?

[Voidstar01]

The Starmantle cloak from the book of exalted deeds

Can't copy it word for word because rules but here's the Relevant bit:

"Contact with the starmantle does not destroy magical weapons or missiles, but the starmantle's wearer is entitled to a DC 15 reflex save each time he is struck by such a weapon; success indicates that he takes only half damage from the attack"

as you may summize from that bit about not destroying magical weapons, non-magic weapons fair even worse against this item.

it's priced at 132,000 GP, i paid more for fast healing 2 from the silthilar graft than it would cost me to half all incoming damage, because i have a reflex bonus of +15, i LITTERALLY can not fail this save, because it does not scale in any way, no mention of uses or x/day limits. Why don't i ever hear about this this? is there something im missing that makes this not as fantastic as think it is?

[Psyren]

Nah it's pretty well known to be broken. Try it with Evasion.

[Troacctid]

It's 132,000 gp.

[Voidstar01]

It's 132,000 gp.

I paid 182,000GP for fast healing 2, i'm feeling a little cheated right about now

[Sutr]

It's that broken that it gets ignored over time possible theoretical optimization. Also super expensive.

[MisterKaws]

It's 132,000 gp.

Fair point. Most DMs wouldn't let you get it before levels 17+. By then, wouldn't be much of a show-stopper.

[Psyren]

Fair point. Most DMs wouldn't let you get it before levels 17+. By then, wouldn't be much of a show-stopper.

"Immunity to damage from all melee and ranged weapons" would still matter even at those levels I'd say.

[Troacctid]

I paid 182,000GP for fast healing 2, i'm feeling a little cheated right about now
You should. That's horribly overpriced.

[Elves]

According to DMG rules it should technically cost 134k, not 132k (20gp material cost*100). Other than that it's just priced by the DMG guidelines. The Starmantle spell itself is the source of the imbalance here, though this is an example of how you should use discretion with those DMG guidelines (and with custom spell items in general).

And yes, that spell annoys me even by the standards of early 3.5. The devs would never even consider a BAB+11 feat that makes you take half damage from spells with a DC15 Fortitude save, and that feat wouldn't even address all the other ways spells can **** you up.

[Troacctid]

Some other powerful items you could be buying!

1/day gate: 55k
Continuous death ward: 60k
At-will quickened fireball (10d6 damage): 69k
50/day charges to summon an elder elemental: 72k
At-will telekinesis: 75k
Continuous true seeing: 75k
At-will metamorphosis: 84k

I'd take pretty much any two of these over a starmantle cloak.

[Elves]

Yep, the pricing guidelines break down if you put pressure on them. That spell is still kind of sad in how bluntly it abandons parity.

[KillianHawkeye]

Note that you still fail the save on a natural 1, so it isn't completely foolproof.

[Biggus]

So with Evasion and some sort of reroll ability Starmantle means your chance of taking damage from any kind of physical attack is 1/400, no wonder it's one of the most often-banned spells.

[RNightstalker]

So with Evasion and some sort of reroll ability Starmantle means your chance of taking damage from any kind of physical attack is 1/400, no wonder it's one of the most often-banned spells.

Complete Scoundrel has the luck feats.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

So with Evasion and some sort of reroll ability Starmantle means your chance of taking damage from any kind of physical attack is 1/400, no wonder it's one of the most often-banned spells.When I GM I just don't let it combine with Evasion, and I count natural attacks as magical for the spell's purposes. It's a powerful spell, but those are the truly borked parts.

[Voidstar01]

When I GM I just don't let it combine with Evasion, and I count natural attacks as magical for the spell's purposes. It's a powerful spell, but those are the truly borked parts.

But watching an ancient red wyrm's teeth disintegrate sounds funny as hell

[Mr Adventurer]

Natural weapons aren't "weapons" in typical game parlance, so I'm not sure the spell even does anything against them.

[grarrrg]

I paid 182,000GP for fast healing 2, i'm feeling a little cheated right about now

Fast Healing is considered (grossly?) overpriced to begin with.

[Malphegor]

It's said to be good if paired with a Ring of Evasion, but I'm unsure if the Ring counts as true evasion, since I suspect the starmantle spell was intended to be done on a rogue who gets evasion naturally.

I am not entirely sure why a wizard wouldn't just have it as a Contingent spell on friends and allies. (if PhraseIUtter="STARCLOAK", Then Cast(Starmantle)). I guess as a budget thing since it costs 20gp a pop as a spell, since over a longer career the hundreds of thousands of gold would be exceeded if it's always kept as a contingency, but...

I dunno. Having physical magical items that all they do is replicate a spell by the time you can afford them is presumably meant to be a treasure findeable and useable by non-magic characters perhaps. But most games tend to have one caster eventually, so by the time you can afford this kind of thing you could probably set up magical contingency programs that auto-cast it, and instead spend your gold on things hard to get in spell form.

[Willie the Duck]

"Immunity to damage from all melee and ranged weapons" would still matter even at those levels I'd say.

No one is denying that it has value. However, at the levels where you can reasonably have it, it is still a huge expense and it protects very well against things that are becoming less and less of your primary threat profile.


I paid 182,000GP for fast healing 2, i'm feeling a little cheated right about now

Fast Healing is considered (grossly?) overpriced to begin with.

It seems like the game designers didn't realize that everyone would be walking around with dozens of CLW wands, as methods of healing up between fights were routinely treated as much more powerful (and thus items which allowed such much more expensive) than I think the gaming public finds reasonable. Certainly the level-adjustments for creatures with such abilities treats it like 'a really big deal.'

[Mr Adventurer]

I am not entirely sure why a wizard wouldn't just have it as a Contingent spell on friends and allies. (if PhraseIUtter="STARCLOAK", Then Cast(Starmantle)). I guess as a budget thing since it costs 20gp a pop as a spell, since over a longer career the hundreds of thousands of gold would be exceeded if it's always kept as a contingency, but...

Prob because Contingency is a Personal spell.

[Biggus]

Complete Scoundrel has the luck feats.

Or if you can get access to the Pride domain, you can reroll every natural 1.


When I GM I just don't let it combine with Evasion, and I count natural attacks as magical for the spell's purposes. It's a powerful spell, but those are the truly borked parts.


Natural weapons aren't "weapons" in typical game parlance, so I'm not sure the spell even does anything against them.

Yeah, the wording is ambiguous, but I certainly wouldn't let it work on natural weapons (if I allowed it at all).

[ViperMagnum357]

The BoED writers must have been on a 'halving damage' kick, because that book also has the Retributive Amulet plus the spells Empyreal Ecstasy and Sublime Revelry; all of which functionally halve damage in melee, and the latter two from ranged as well.

[Psyren]

The BoED writers must have been on a 'halving damage' kick, because that book also has the Retributive Amulet plus the spells Empyreal Ecstasy and Sublime Revelry; all of which functionally halve damage in melee, and the latter two from ranged as well.

Hard for you to walk up to some orcs and sing kumbaya (read: calm emotions aura) if they can pincushion you from afar or run you through when you get close.

[magwaaf]

Ah the book of exalted brokenness... love it. We banned starmantle and alot of the other broken stuff from this book. Starmantle is too good

[LordBlades]

IMO, it would only be a problem in low/mid power games. In high power games, by the time you can afford 100-150k HP items, your problems are mainly guys who cast spells, not guys whose main strategy is 'I hit it with a pointy stick'.

[Blackhawk748]

I paid 182,000GP for fast healing 2, i'm feeling a little cheated right about now

..why?? Per MIC you can get Fast Healing 1 from a continuos Lesser Vigor for like... 8k I think? Or was it 16k? Either way, a hell of a lot cheaper than that.

[Elkad]

IMO, the static reflex save is the major issue.
Needs some scaling. DC=Attackers BAB+10 or something.

Same problem as Cast Defensively, Tumbling past enemies, and various other things.

Taking something away from your attacker should never be a static check.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Natural weapons aren't "weapons" in typical game parlance, so I'm not sure the spell even does anything against them.Natural weapons are considered weapons in typical game parlance, close enough to dissolve into harmless light by RAW.
Natural weapons are always considered light weapons.

You can’t add the bonus from Power Attack to the damage dealt with a light weapon (except with unarmed strikes or natural weapon attacks)Hence the need for the relatively simple house rule.

[Elves]

IMO, the static reflex save is the major issue.
Needs some scaling. DC=Attackers BAB+10 or something.

Same problem as Cast Defensively, Tumbling past enemies, and various other things.

Taking something away from your attacker should never be a static check.

DC=the attack roll? And reduce to 1 round/level probably.

[MisterKaws]

"Immunity to damage from all melee and ranged weapons" would still matter even at those levels I'd say.

But to be fair, at that level, a Globe of Invulnerability or a Forcecage can mostly replicate the effect.

And you'd probably be far more worried about save-or-suck effects, rather than direct damage.

[Psyren]

But to be fair, at that level, a Globe of Invulnerability or a Forcecage can mostly replicate the effect.

Both of those are stationary, and the latter stops you from using most spells on anyone outside. The cloak meanwhile moves with you and doesn't interfere with any of your own actions.



And you'd probably be far more worried about save-or-suck effects, rather than direct damage.

Even if you get debuffed though, eventually physical damage is what most monsters dish out to try and kill you.

[Troacctid]

How about a cube of force? Only 62,000 gp.

[Elves]

Only lasts a few minutes per day, less with damage, and limits your speed.

[LordBlades]

.
Even if you get debuffed though, eventually physical damage is what most monsters dish out to try and kill you.

If you do get debuffed to the point you're no longer a threat, including a Greater Dispel Magic in the mix shouldn't be that hard.

[Psyren]

If you do get debuffed to the point you're no longer a threat, including a Greater Dispel Magic in the mix shouldn't be that hard.

You'd think, but a bunch of high-level and epic monsters just don't have it. And for the ones that do - you can't AoE dispel items, so whichever round they spend trying to suppress your Starmantle is a round they're not spending trying to kill you, so you still win.

[Mr Adventurer]

Not by way of counterpoint, but just in case anyone is thinking about such encounters, the Eldritch Giant has greater dispel magic at will and the Quicken SLA feat for it. They are the absolute worst!