Could you make a stronger shield with a higher level spell?

[eyebreaker7]

"Lion’s Shield
This +2 heavy steel shield is fashioned to appear to be a roaring lion’s head. Three times per day as a free action, the lion’s head can be commanded to attack (independently of the shield wearer), biting with the wielder’s base attack bonus (including multiple attacks, if the wielder has them) and dealing 2d6 points of damage. This attack is in addition to any actions performed by the wielder.

Moderate conjuration; CL 10th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, summon nature’s ally IV; Price 9,170 gp; Cost 4,670 gp + 360 XP."


Would it be possible to give it a stronger attack by using a higher level summon nature's ally spell? I need to make my own "version" of the shield anyway so I'm just curious.
The shield is going to be a light wooden with a skill not a lion's head.
Would that require some necromancy involved? Or maybe just summon monster instead of nature's ally?

[denthor]

What do you want the shield to do?

You could have it cast a summon monster whatever level 3 times per day per the spell. Just adjust the gold value of creation for the higher level caster and make sure it is properly aligned critter that shows up.

[tyckspoon]

The default form of the item is sculpted as a lion, but that is not a fundamental trait of the item - mechanically, it's just a shield that can be commanded to make a bite attack. It can do that with a skeletal head, a wolf's muzzle, a bunch of animated medusa-hair snakes, or even a flat surface that temporarily animates and gnaws on your foes with a splintered maw. If you're making one yourself/having it crafted for you it can look like whatever you want. The necessary spell to make it doesn't need to change either, although if you do change it it won't really have any mechanical effect - the shield will do the same thing at the same cost whether you have it created with Summon Monster, Summon Nature's Ally, Summon Undead, or Animate Objects.

As for creating a more powerful version of the shield, that's between you and your DM. The only upgrade that would be within fairly regular item rules would be giving it a higher base enhancement bonus - upgrading the bite attack falls squarely into custom item rules, which is almost entirely 'ok here's some guidelines, but work out a fair price for what you want with your DM.'

[ExLibrisMortis]

There's no general-purpose rule to apply here. You're effectively making a custom magic item. You compare your custom item to existing items to figure out the cost and crafting prerequisites.

Your want a lion's shield with a stronger attack, delivered by a skull instead of a lion. The attacking ability seems to cost as much as a +1 bonus*. The obvious way to increase the damage is to increase the bonus equivalent. For example, a greater lion shield with a +2 equivalent attacking ability would cost 16 170 gp, and would perhaps require CL 12 instead of CL 10. The damage might improve to 3d6 plus the shield's enhancement bonus (+2). That way, the damage counts as magic damage and overcomes damage reduction of certain monsters, which is always useful.

For the spell requirement, you could use summon undead IV instead of summon nature's ally IV. There's no need to use a higher-level spell. After all, a headband of intellect +6 is still made with fox's cunning.

*The difference between a lion's shield and a +2 heavy shield is exactly the difference between a +2 heavy shield and a +3 heavy shield. A +3 shield's cost is broken down into 170 gp for the masterwork heavy shield, and 9000 gp for the enchantment.

[Ramza00]

Check out hammersphere in MIC, 3d6 damage, cheaper, less times per day, in effect you have a grenade you throw and it lands within 170 feet and it does its thing attacking with your BAB including extra attacks after the first one. Move action to teleport it to new target with 170 feet.

[ixrisor]

It’s plausible that you could enhance the attack of the shield as a separate weapon, the same way a spiked shield would be enhanced. In other words, add the cost of enhancing a weapon to +x to the cost of the shield to give the bite a +x bonus to attack and damage.