Amulet of Health or Belt of Health

[Kershek]

For some unknown reason, the Amulet of Health, which gives +2 con, is shown as a 4,000 gp item, even though it doesn't follow its own body slot affinity guidelines (an amulet is for protection or discernment, not for physical improvement) and should be 6,000 gp. Was this an oversight?

I couldn't find an item of only +2 con for any other slot. I take it that it would be ok to create a Belt of Health +2 for 4,000 gp as well?

 

[UltimaGabe]

There are Bracers of Health, if I'm not mistaken.

I always thought the body slot affinities rule was a load of crap to begin with, but that's a different story.

 

[AuraSeer]

An Amulet of Health makes you more resistant to poison, disease, exhaustion, death spells, and many other dangerous conditions, plus it lets you survive more extensive physical damage. That sure sounds like a protection effect to me.

Crafting a Belt of Health would be perfectly fine in most campaigns, but your DM has final say on all new magic item creation.

 

[dcollins]

For some unknown reason, the Amulet of Health, which gives +2 con, is shown as a 4,000 gp item, even though it doesn't follow its own body slot affinity guidelines (an amulet is for protection or discernment, not for physical improvement) and should be 6,000 gp. Was this an oversight?

No.
(a) This price was established in 3.0, prior to the invention of the body-slot guidelines.
(b) Pricing guidelines are for new house-ruled items only, core items have no requirement to follow them.

A Belt of Health sounds fine to me.

 

[Kershek]

An Amulet of Health makes you more resistant to poison, disease, exhaustion, death spells, and many other dangerous conditions, plus it lets you survive more extensive physical damage. That sure sounds like a protection effect to me.

Crafting a Belt of Health would be perfectly fine in most campaigns, but your DM has final say on all new magic item creation.

That's not the amulet of health I saw in the 3.5 SRD:

Amulet of Health: This amulet is a golden disk on a chain. It usually bears the image of a lion or other powerful animal. The amulet grants the wearer an enhancement bonus to Constitution of +2, +4, or +6.
Moderate transmutation; CL 8th; Craft Wondrous Item, bear’s endurance; Price 4,000 gp (+2), 16,000 gp (+4), 36,000 gp (+6).

 

[LostSoul]

That's not the amulet of health I saw in the 3.5 SRD:

I think he's referring to the bonus you get from having a higher Con score - better Fort save and more hit points. (And the ability to suck up more Con damage from poisons or other effects.)

 

[Herpes Cineplex]

There are Bracers of Health, if I'm not mistaken.

You're not, but it's a weird situation. The 3.0 DMG listed Bracers of Health in the table of wondrous items, but only an Amulet of Health in the text descriptions of wondrous items. Then the 3.0 DMG Errata came out, and it advised you to change all instances of "Amulet of Health" to "Bracers of Health"...but only referenced the page numbers for the table, where it was ALREADY listed as "Bracers of Health." Then they released supplements with NPCs whose equipment included Bracers of Health (City of the Spider Queen, for example).

Throw in a few additional whiplash-inducing events like a general statement that text should always override tables (therefore, it should be an Amulet of Health rather than Bracers) and the 3.5 revision where there is only the Amulet of Health, and you get what we have now: it's an Amulet if you're in 3.5 or if you're paying attention to about half of the stuff they said about it for 3.0, it's Bracers if you're in 3.0 and paying attention to the other half of what they said. Or perhaps it's a belt, if the (seemingly incorrect) 3.5 pricing of the Amulet disturbs you. Or maybe it's still Bracers in 3.5 if you converted a character from the prior version.

So, uh, I guess it's whatever your GM says it is. Or if you're the GM, it's whatever you'd like it to be.

Slot-wise, having it as bracers tended to give wizards and sorcerors and a few monks a tough choice (higher Con or Bracers of Armor?), while an Amulet was more of a head-scratcher for clerics and monks (higher Con or higher Wis?). Making it a belt would push the tough choice more towards the fighter classes (higher Con or higher Str?), I suppose.

--
i guess we should be lucky they didn't decide to make it a ring at this point
ryan

 

[dcollins]

You're not, but it's a weird situation...

I can appreciate that.

 

[UltimaGabe]

Pricing guidelines are for new house-ruled items only, core items have no requirement to follow them.

Except that several of the items in the DMG already abide by these rules- specifically, the Helm of Teleportation.