Uncustomary Bonus: What is it?

[RiddledDragon]

Hello all, I have been browsing several 3.5e posts here on magic item creation, and have seen the idea of an "uncustomary" bonus appear several times in these forums. I have checked the DMG, Magic Item Compendium, etc... and have only seen "other" bonuses for AC and Saves. Is there any way to get an uncustomary bonus to abilities? Any clarification and help would be appreciated.

[Anthrowhale]

If you mean untyped bonuses, then the spells Greater Visage of the Deity and Transfusion do this.

[Crake]

If you mean untyped bonuses, then the spells Greater Visage of the Deity and Transfusion do this.

I think they mean the non-standard, but still typed bonuses, like sacred, profane, insight, luck etc

The DMG lists them in the magic item creation guidelines as “AC bonus(other)” and “Save bonus(other)” with a table subtext note that specifies the above four types as examples

[Chronos]

Basically, for any given stat you might want bonuses to, there's some type of bonus that's most common (or a few of them, for AC). But then there are a bunch of less-common bonus types. And since bonuses stack if they're different types but not if they're the same type, the less-common bonus types are more valuable, because you likely already have some bonus of the common type.

For instance, for a bonus to an ability score, an enhancement bonus is most common (but you can also get a competence, morale, insight, or luck bonus). For a bonus to a skill, a competence bonus is most common (but you can also get an enhancement, morale, insight, or luck bonus). In fact, there are insight, morale, and luck bonuses to almost everything, but they're never the most common type. Sacred and profane bonuses are even rarer, and so they're especially valuable.

As a concrete example, a mid to high level rogue probably already has a pair of Gloves of Dexterity (+6 enhancement bonus to Dex). So if she finds some other item (or spell or whatever) that gives a +8 enhancement bonus to dex, it's an upgrade, but only a two-point upgrade. She'd much rather have an item (spell, etc) that gives a +4 luck bonus to dex, because that'd be a four-point upgrade.