Most overpowered magic item ever?

[Danzaver]

OK, so I was flicking through my "Sword and Fist" guide to Fighters and Monks... page 76: 'Bow of True Arrows'.

At a market price of 4000gp, it has an unlimited amount of 'true strike' spells stored in it (count for arrows from the bow of true arrows only), which can be activated as a spell trigger like a wand (I assume that means a standard action).

Robin Hood eat your heart out?

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

There will be a swath of replies saying "Candle of Invocation," likely ninja'ing my post.

Ignore them. A custom item of +10 to speak language which takes the cloak slot is the most overpowered item.

[Nebo_]

That still has nothing on the Thought Bottle.

[Talic]

There is a cloak from BoED that lets you make DC 15 Reflex saves whenever you're hit to negate them. That's up there.

[Tempest Fennac]

How much does the cloak cost? I can see why the Bow of True Arrows is ridculous, but the cloak would probably be okay if it cost a huge amount of money.

[Danzaver]

There is a cloak from BoED that lets you make DC 15 Reflex saves whenever you're hit to negate them. That's up there.

That's BS! Against most things, the chance at hitting you would go from 1 in 20 to 1 in 400.

I hereby ban this item from any game I run. You heard it here first, folks.

Out of curiosity, what is the market price?

[Spiryt]

There is a cloak from BoED that lets you make DC 15 Reflex saves whenever you're hit to negate them. That's up there.

If I said this sentence to my grandma, it's quite possible even she would ask: "but isn't 15 a bit too low? ".

You mean every hit? What's the price of it?

[Kurald Galain]

Scrolls of Embrace and Shun the Dark Chaos are pretty high up there as well, in that (more than any of these other items so far) they tend to find themselves used in highly maximized builds.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Scrolls of Embrace and Shun the Dark Chaos are pretty high up there as well, in that (more than any of these other items so far) they tend to find themselves used in highly maximized builds.

Eww, people actually use that? Anyway, the scrolls got me thinking - do crafted contingencies count as magic items?

Also, it seems I'm not exactly a prophet. I suppose CoI is more broken than it is overpowered. I'll throw my vote to the thought bottle as well.

[Nebo_]

There is a cloak from BoED that lets you make DC 15 Reflex saves whenever you're hit to negate them. That's up there.

It's actually for half damage, but evasion fixes that.

[Iku Rex]

OK, so I was flicking through my "Sword and Fist" guide to Fighters and Monks... page 76: 'Bow of True Arrows'.

At a market price of 4000gp, it has an unlimited amount of 'true strike' spells stored in it (count for arrows from the bow of true arrows only), which can be activated as a spell trigger like a wand (I assume that means a standard action).

How is it overpowered?

[shadow_archmagi]

Any monster that requires a roll of 11 or better to hit means that only 50% of your shots touch down anyway. Add in cover, or concealment and it goes lower. Then simply add True Strike, and suddenly each and every shot hits home.

Or perhaps, as with most bow enchantments, it applies to each and every shot. So you fire 1 arrow that hits every turn.

[Danzaver]

How is it overpowered?

1. It has unlimited charges
2. It is incredibly cheap
3. It lets a prepared archer start every combat with a true strike spell on them.
4. After only taking a move-equivalent in one round you can have it back up again.
5. True Strike can mean that you can shoot someone 1km away at your normal attack bonus, which if it is pretty high, you can effectively go "ok I raise my bow up into the sky and shoot upwards, aiming to make a called shot to pin that guy who is only a tiny speck on the horizon's foot to the ground, then I pause for one round, then I shoot his other foot". Or you can just shoot someone at +20 to hit to you know, called shot for shooting a flea off the top of his head or something. You could spoil so many DM plans with this.
6. Archery competitions - Robin Hood splitting the arrow anyone? You would win back the market price in no time.
7. It can be used to turn a level 1 commoner with no proficiency into a master archer.
8. Once again, it's only 4000g! Pocket change for high levels, an irresistable investment for low levels.

If you don't think this is overpowered, I shudder to think of what items you are used to playing with.

[Gorbash]

But... Sword and Fist is outdated

[Mr. Friendly]

Belt of Battle is badly broken. Booya.

[Chosen_of_Vecna]

If you don't think this is overpowered, I shudder to think of what items you are used to playing with.

But what can you do with it without making up called shot mechanics that don't exist in the game? A Candle of Invocation can turn me into a God. A Thought Bottle allows me to cast Wish 5 times a day for 250XP. A bow of True strike allows you to hit more often on fewer attacks, even though competent archery builds hit on almost every arrow but can't do enough damage.

So in other words, you are weaker for using this item then for not using it. Wow, not impressed.

[Azerian Kelimon]

Wouldn't something like greater manyshot let you apply the true strike to all your arrows? Then you could do the ranged PA to reap the bonus.

[Chosen_of_Vecna]

Wouldn't something like greater manyshot let you apply the true strike to all your arrows? Then you could do the ranged PA to reap the bonus.

No it wouldn't. Also, the ranged PA, last I recalled doesn't work on bows, though I could be wrong and it could just work poorly on bows.

[Orran]

In the example of your creature that you need an 11+ to hit:

If you have one shot a round, statistically you'll hit it once every 2 rounds, and if you were to use true strike it would take one standard action to use true strike and one to shoot the creature, meaning that you hit it once in 2 rounds. You're on par.

If you have 2 shots a round thanks to rapid shot you now need 13+ to hit, you hit it just under once per round, statistically. However if you use true strike, you don't get your shot on the first turn and you get one hit on the second round, from true strike, and a (slightly under) 50% chance with your second shot. You've wasted a turn.

This means that this item is useless when fighting weak(ish) monsters, and only slightly useful when fighting tough monsters. When you are a low-level you're unlikely to find creatures that hard to hit, so the 4k is a fair price for an item that won't be used that much. When you're a high level, using the bow wastes so many iterative attacks that it's useless.

This item's main use would be to level the playing field for low level PC's when fighting an enemy with a decent armor class, so 4k is a fair price in my opinion.

[FinalJustice]

There is a cloak from BoED that lets you make DC 15 Reflex saves whenever you're hit to negate them. That's up there.

The infamous Starmantle Cloak, price is a bout 170k gp. Actually, there's a 7th level spell with exactly the same effect, that costs the bargain of 25 gp per cast. Cheese in its finest form.

[Kurald Galain]

Wouldn't something like greater manyshot let you apply the true strike to all your arrows? Then you could do the ranged PA to reap the bonus.

Hm, isn't there something like Power Attack for ranged weapons? If so, +20 to hit may well translate into +40 to damage. Ouch.

[Burley]

There's that one item in the Magic Item Compendium. The one that doesn't exist. Vest of the Archmage? Something like that?
There's a reason why it doesn't exist...

[Dhavaer]

There is a cloak from BoED that lets you make DC 15 Reflex saves whenever you're hit to negate them. That's up there.

It actually lets you make DC 15 saves to take half damage. You need Evasion to negate them, and that's been argued quite a lot.

Still overpowered, though.

[FinalJustice]

Custom Item of Owl's Insight, CL 20. I've seen 20th clerics spend half their WBL in it. It's scary.

[its_all_ogre]

hat of disguise specifically for NPC's rather than PC's though.
although a whole party with them would rock too!

[Azerian Kelimon]

Owl's insight? What does it do?

[Chosen_of_Vecna]

There's that one item in the Magic Item Compendium. The one that doesn't exist. Vest of the Archmage? Something like that?
There's a reason why it doesn't exist...

Meh, Vest of the Archmage is pretty average. I know I could find a lot better things to spend 200,000gp on.

[Tsotha-lanti]

Owl's insight? What does it do?

Bonus equal to ½ caster level to Wisdom, I believe. Not sure about the bonus type.

[BRC]

Decanter of Endless Water, get a couple of them and you can flood the world.

[Nebo_]

Owl's insight? What does it do?

It gives an enhancement bonus to wisdom equal to half your CL. It lasts for an hour.