[3.5] Thong of Might (magic item)

[ihave2cows]

I don't have any prior experience with homebrewing, but a friend of mine suggested an idea that I just had to share with the world.

Thong of Might:
Cost: 64,000 GP
Activation: Passive
Spell caster level: -
Equipment slot: Body
Effect: A humanoid character that wears the Thong of Might while not wearing any armor, shield, or clothing (including other magic items; jewelry excluded) gains the following effects; +6 enhancement bonus to str, dex, and con ability scores, but takes a -2 penalty to all charisma related rolls while in public view in addition to any normal penalties caused by not wearing any clothes. In addition, the wearer gains 1d10 temporary hit points for each 4 levels of his character level (minimum of 1).


Alternatively, a cursed item.


Thong of Pride:
Cost: 64,000 GP
Activation: Passive
Spell caster level: -
Special: This item appears to be a Thong of Might when targeted by divination spells.
Equipment slot: Body
Effect: A humanoid character that wears the Thong of Pride while not wearing any armor, shield, or clothing (including other magic items; jewelry excluded) gains the following effects; +6 enhancement bonus to str, dex, and con ability scores, but takes a -2 penalty to all charisma related rolls while in public view in addition to any normal penalties caused by not wearing any clothes. In addition, the wearer gains 1d10 temporary hit points for each 4 levels of his character level (minimum of 1). This item cannot be removed once worn, and can only be dispelled by a break curse spell, which destroys the item. Any items worn while wearing the Thong of Pride that would cancel the effects gained by it are automatically destroyed, and if the Thong of Pride is destroyed this effect remains for the next 1d12 hours.


Any comments, questions or concerns are appreciated, I would like to see this used somewhere.

[Dumbledore lives]

They seem a little under-priced. A belt of magnificence adding the same total bonus costs 100,000, admittedly with no negative side effects. However these things increase exponentially generally. I'd say maybe 150,000 might be a more reasonable cost.

[Lateral]

They're also... y'know, wearing thongs. I think a little negative price modifier for that is warranted.

[gkathellar]

They seem a little under-priced. A belt of magnificence adding the same total bonus costs 100,000, admittedly with no negative side effects. However these things increase exponentially generally. I'd say maybe 150,000 might be a more reasonable cost.

A Belt of Magnificence lets you wear armor.

[Zeta Kai]

They seem a little under-priced. A belt of magnificence adding the same total bonus costs 100,000, admittedly with no negative side effects. However these things increase exponentially generally. I'd say maybe 150,000 might be a more reasonable cost.

At that point, you might as well price it at YOUWILLNEVERBUYTHISgp.

[Veklim]

At that point, you might as well price it at YOUWILLNEVERBUYTHISgp.

I know a couple of monk builds who would...

[ihave2cows]

Its not really meant to be sold in stores, more of a random loot kind of thing. Also, there is the chance it'll be a Thong of Pride. RP scenarios will never be the same.


Its definitely not as good as the belt of magnificence though, because not only can you not wear armor or shields, but most of your slots have to be empty in order for this to be effective, whereas the belt is just one slot, but I will tone it down to a +6 to the bonuses (or make different versions)

going without penalties, a +6 to three stats would mean it costs 118,000, so maybe changing it to 80 or 90 thou would be good?

[Debihuman]

There is no such thing as "passive" activation in 3.5. This would be "use" activation. This item is WAY underpriced.


For example: to gain ability is bonus squared x 1,000 for each ability

+8 enchancement x 8 x1,000 x 3 (str, con, dex) - 4,000 (charisma 2x2x1,000) = 188,000 gp.

I'm not even sure you should allow a magic item to grant temporary hit points. Rather it should grant an armor bonus (since you can't wear armor with it).

Debby

[gkathellar]

There is no such thing as "passive" activation in 3.5. This would be "use" activation. This item is WAY underpriced.


For example: to gain ability is bonus squared x 1,000 for each ability

+8 enchancement x 8 x1,000 x 3 (str, con, dex) - 4,000 (charisma 2x2x1,000) = 188,000 gp.

I'm not even sure you should allow a magic item to grant temporary hit points. Rather it should grant an armor bonus (since you can't wear armor with it).

Debby

Math is good, but you're not accounting for the -13 AC penalty that comes with this item.

[jackattack]

Nor the 5% chance per hour of developing a serious wedgie...

[UserShadow7989]

Then there's the fact that you absolutely cannot wear any other equipment (barring weapons), mundane or magical, while it's equipped, which is a pretty dang big drawback.

I agree the temporary hit points are overkill on top of what the Con boost provides, however- as is you gain +3 hp per level and +3 to your AC from the Dex boost. Adding an armor bonus to AC per 4 hit dice instead might be more balanced, but it undercuts the aforementioned drawback so I hesitate to suggest that.

It might just be better to drop the +1d10 temp hp per 4 hit dice altogether, and note the hit points granted by the bonus to Con are temporary hit points instead. Maybe add a flat penalty to all social skills on top of the Charisma penalty, since a simple -1 to all of those skills doesn't quite capture the 'HI! I'M TALKING TO YOU WHILE NEARLY NAKED! ISN'T THIS AWKWARD?!' drawback? Alternately, a bigger Charisma penalty or a similar penalty to Wis and/or Int might help get the value of the item down to where you want it.

[ihave2cows]

Thong of Might:
Cost: 75,000 GP
Activation: Use
Spell caster level: -
Equipment slot: Body
Effect: A humanoid character that wears the Thong of Might while not wearing any armor, shield, or clothing (including other magic items; jewelry excluded) gains the following effects; +6 enhancement bonus to str, dex, and con ability scores, but takes a -2 penalty to all charisma related skill checks and a -5 penalty to Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Gather Information, Perform, and Sense Motive while in a social setting in addition to any normal penalties caused by not wearing any clothes.

Second draft, any better?

[Othesemo]

Looks good. I have one question, though. Why the penalty to Sense Motive? I don't see how wearing a thong, however awkward, would lessen one's perceptiveness.

Also, why not just make it a flat -7 to all charisma based skills?

[GuyFawkes]

Am I missing something? Since when did not wearing clothes become a penalty to Diplomacy when it's a girl doing it?

EDIT: Okay, make that a female doing checks against males of the same race.

[ihave2cows]

Looks good. I have one question, though. Why the penalty to Sense Motive? I don't see how wearing a thong, however awkward, would lessen one's perceptiveness.

Also, why not just make it a flat -7 to all charisma based skills?

For one, those skills specifically are a -5, as in seperate from the others, though honestly there aren't many charisma checks that aren't covered in that, but mainly because of Perform and UMD. I suppose what I should do exclude the others entirely.


As for sense motive, you are probably going to be in a conversation with someone when making that check. Your mind is probably going to be a bit distracted due to embarassment, unless you have a character who's that kind of guy.

As for Fawkes; unless you're trying to seduce somebody and use that as reasoning with the DM, the conversation being had is going to have distractions.

[Debihuman]

Thong of Might:
Cost: 75,000 gp
Weight: --
Activation: Use
Caster Level: 11
Equipment Slot: Body
Aura: Moderate Enchantment
Feat: Craft Wondrous Item
Spells: Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, Bear's Endurance, Feeblemind

Effect: A humanoid character that wears the thong of might while not carrying a shield, wearing any armor, or wearing any other clothing (including other magic items; jewelry excluded) gains a +6 enhancement bonus to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution ability scores, but takes a -2 penalty to all Charisma related skill checks and a -5 penalty to Bluff, Diplomacy, Disguise, Gather Information and Perform checks made while in a social setting in addition to any normal penalties caused by not wearing appropriate clothes.

I went through the spell list to find spells which could replicate this and feeblemind comes the closest for the penalties to Charisma and skills. Aura and Caster Level set to feeblemind since that is the highest level spell.

Wearing a thong doesn't make you naked since you technically are wearing the thong, which is an article of clothing so I edited your text. I also took the liberty of removing the penalty to sense motive since that really isn't clothing dependent.

Also, you don't wear a shield, you carry it.

Of course, if you have Profession (Gigolo) or Profession (Streetwalker), this might not be inappropriate. If you have either of those professions, perhaps you only take a -1 penalty to Charisma checks and no penalties to the skill checks. If you are a Barbarian, perhaps you only take a -2 penalty to the skills but no penalty to charisma. Barbarians can only wear thongs of might made from fur.

What material are thongs of might made from?

Debby

[Roderick_BR]

Am I missing something? Since when did not wearing clothes become a penalty to Diplomacy when it's a girl doing it?

EDIT: Okay, make that a female doing checks against males of the same race.

A girl wearing only a thong will be seem as a slut and not be taken seriously when needed, like a diplomatic meeting (umm.. eyes are up here) or intimidating someone (I like it rough...), I believe. Bluffs could work though, since the distraction would help her "arguments".

[Analytica]

If Dr Manhattan wore this, would his Diplomacy bonus go up instead?

Also, consider that you could apply spells to raise your AC, and illusions to clothe yourself. For a spellcaster, this seems like an interesting option. Though... if you cannot ever remove the cursed version, hygiene will become an issue...

[GuyFawkes]

If Dr Manhattan wore this, would his Diplomacy bonus go up instead?

Definitely!

Also, consider that you could apply spells to raise your AC, and illusions to clothe yourself. For a spellcaster, this seems like an interesting option. Though... if you cannot ever remove the cursed version, hygiene will become an issue...

For the cursed item, I think hygiene is the least of your worries if you didn't know something was cursed.

A girl wearing only a thong will be seem as a slut and not be taken seriously when needed, like a diplomatic meeting (umm.. eyes are up here) or intimidating someone (I like it rough...), I believe. Bluffs could work though, since the distraction would help her "arguments".

What makes one a slut is not the clothes she wears (or more appropriately, not wear) but the demeanor. But it would be hard to translate ingame so let's just forget about it.

Barbarians can only wear thongs of might made from fur.

How about tropical barbarians? Wouldn't that be hot for them? Plus the non removable clause from thongs of pride. The horrors!!

What material are thongs of might made from?

Threads of Might? Hmm. Maybe it could change depending on the climate, kinda like how the size of magical items change to suit the wearer.

For the sense motive part, you made the choice to wear the thongs anyway, so I don't quite see the embarrassment part beng a factor, so yeah, Debihuman's version looks more fitting.

[Deepbluediver]

What if the Charisma penalty was situational?

For example, if your base Charisma is 13 or higher, you get a +2 bonus when interacting with some one of the opposite gender instead of the -2 penalty.

[Debihuman]

What if the Charisma penalty was situational?

For example, if your base Charisma is 13 or higher, you get a +2 bonus when interacting with some one of the opposite gender instead of the -2 penalty.

Not necessarily. There would be very few situations where a PC wearing nothing but a thong would be appropriately dressed. That bonus is promptly negated by the clothing.

Here is the final version of the thong of might.

Thong of Might
Aura Moderate Enchantment; CL 13th
Slot Belt; Price 75,000 gp; Weight –

Description
Thongs of might are made of fur or leather, much like a barbarian’s loincloth.

Any humanoid character that wears a thong of might while not carrying a shield, not wearing any armor, and not wearing any other clothing (including other magic items; jewelry excluded) gains +6 enhancement bonuses to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution ability scores, but takes a -2 penalty to all Charisma related skill checks made while in a social setting, in addition to any normal penalties caused by not wearing appropriate clothes. If you have Profession (Streetwalker) or Profession (Gigolo), you only take -1 penalty to Charisma related skill checks.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, bull’s strength, cat’s grace, bear’s endurance, feeblemind; Cost 37,700 gp

Debby