The Gaming Den

Per the DMG 3.0 (and I assume 3.5, but I don't know) wonderous item can actually be multiple magic items if you pay through the nose to have the second power tacked on.

Per the Arms and Equipment Guide, Bracers of Armor can actually be enchanted to a +13, provided the back +5 is used for powers and not Armor Bonus.

Therefore, is there anything to prevent you from making Bracers of Armor which are also Bracers of Armor? The first set of Bracers gives you a +8 Armor bonus and then +5 worth of abilities. The second set, which is built onto the first set, gives you a +1 Armor bonus and +12 worth of abilities.

If so, obviously the Armor Bonuses would not stack, but is there anything to prevent the abilities from stacking, so that you effectively have a +8 Armor bonus and +17 worth of abilities?

Game On,
fbmf

fbmf wrote:Therefore, is there anything to prevent you from making Bracers of Armor which are also Bracers of Armor?

Nope. In fact, if you want to get really tacky about the whole thing, remember that a +1 light fortification item and a +2 item are similar special abilities. According to the 3.5 DMG, you can get a cost discount if you don't take up a slot on the body. That is, you don't add the +1s together. Therefore, you get a price discount. The second "of armor" on a slotless item costs only 75% normal price and the third and subsequent iteration costs only 50% normal price. Meanwhile, a slotted item pays 50% more for each ability set-up after the first.

So if you have bracers of Armor and Armor you pay 100% for the first one and 150% for the second. This is a big savings over simply adding additional bonuses to the primary, in which you'd pay about 300% for the second set of powers. And if you have a slotless item - bracelets that can be worn with other bracers for example - you pay 200% for the first power set and 150% for the second. But you only pay 100% for the third and subsequent iterations!

So if you have Bracers of Armor and Armor and Armor and Armor, it's actually just as expensive to buy them as slotted or unslotted. If you have Bracers of Armor and Armor and Armor and Armor and Armor it's actually cheaper if they take up no slot.

That is, if you want a total of, say, +20 worth of special abilities, you can buy it as five sets of abilities of 4 each for 162,500 gp slotless. Or you could buy it for 200,000 gp if it took up a slot. Or you could buy it in 4 lumps of +5 worth of bonuses in a slotted or unslotted item for 198,000 gp (this might be worth i. Buying it in two lump sums of +10 worth of special abilities, btw, sets you back a hefty 302,500 gp (423,500 gp if you want it unslotted).

Of course, you probably don't want to have these bracers providing a meaningful armor bonus at all in 3.5. In 3.5, a lot of armor bonuses have been made cheaper and turned into flat cost adjustments. Most notably, celestial armor is now a +13,100 gp adjustment. I mean, Celestial Mithral Fullplate was ricoculously good in 3e, in 3.5 it is so much the best armor that other sources of armor bonus need not apply.

-Username17

I thought in 3.5 slotless costed 1.5x as much. And also, where is celestial? I've never even heard of it.

Deep Red Ioun Stones still cost double, perhaps you are thinking of the stupid "body slot affinities" which make things cost 50% more if they are in the wrong slot?

Celestial Armor is described in detail on page 220 of the 3.5 DMG. As per the standard rules of such things, the "Celestial Amor" can be made out of any other armor, in much the same way as a "Flame Tongue" can be any weapon. Check out what that does to Mithril Plate!

-Username17

Never noticed the named item trick before, next time I can pick items, gonna have to remember that one . But on page 285 the chart says that an item that doesn't take up a slot on the body costs double. And on 288 it says adding an ability to an item that is on the body is 50% more.

Right-o. If it's on the body, you pay 100% for the first one, 150% for the second, 150% for the third, and 150% for the fourth... If it's a slotless item, it costs 200% for the first, 150% for the second, 100% for the third, 100% for the fourth....

So if you have four abilities of equal cost, you pay 1 + 1.5 + 1.5 + 1.5 = 5.5 times the cost for one ability if it takes up a slot. But if it doesn't take up a slot you pay 2 + 1.5 + 1 + 1 = 5.5 times the cost for one ability. The same price! If you have five abilities, it's 7 times cost if it's slotted, and only 6.5 times cost if it's unslotted.

Absurd, but quite frankly I assume that they thought it would never come up. Interestingly, weapons are always slotless, as are staves and rods. The x2 cost is already included in their standard cost, so you can double up the crazy like nobody's business.

-Username17