[Magic Item] Thumb Ring of Might

[Tetsubo]

Thumb Ring of Might

This item appears to be a well crafted archery thumb ring, possibly made from an exotic horn or bone. When worn it allows the users Strength bonus (up to +5) to be applied to the damage of any arrow released. The strength of the actual bow is not a factor. The bow is unharmed by this action. This adds no magical bonus to the bow or
the missile.
Caster Level: ???; Prereq: Forge Ring, bull's strength; Market Price ???

Does this item seem reasonable? I'm considering it for a new campaign I started last
weekend.

 

[Ferret]

2000 gp(4000 MP), and I think a caster level of 1

 

[novyet]

2000 gp(4000 MP), and I think a caster level of 1

If he wanted bull's strength as a prerequisite, the caster level would have to be 3 (the minimum level to cast bull's strength)

 

[KarinsDad]

This is actually a fairly potent item which goes well beyond the Bull Strength spell required to craft it.

A +5 Arrow is +5 to hit, +5 damage and costs 1000 GP.

For a single use.

So, a single use +5 damage item should cost 500 GP.

Granted, this item does not necessarily give +5 damage every time, but with just normal Strength, Bull Strength, Empowered Bull Strength, and/or Magical Items, a lot of characters can get near or above the 20 Strength mark with little problem. Half Orcs, for example, can have this Strength at first level.

So, it is nearly equivalent to a +5 weapon where it just does the damage. Or, about 25,000 GP (50,000+ GP for +5 weapon, 25,000+ GP for +5 armor, 25,000+ GP for +5 to hit only weapon, 25,000+ GP for +5 damage only weapon).

So, maybe 20,000 GP since there is no guarantee that you will get to the +5 damage level.


And yes, a Mighty Bow could get you there for a lot less, but this little item can be used with any bow. So, you pick up a new Holy Bow and you can use your Strength modifier just like always. Have 3 bows on you depending on what you are fighting? No problem. Mighty Bows are not really part of the equation here.

 

[kreynolds]

So, maybe 20,000 GP since there is no guarantee that you will get to the +5 damage level.

Sounds good to me. Now it just needs True Strike (1/day, free action), or even worse, Hunter's Mercy (1/day, free action. Ah hell! How about both!

 

[Cloudgatherer]

20,000 GP for a mighty composite longbow?

That's all this item really does.... It turns a bow (should add the restriction the bow cannot be a crossbow) into a mighty composite bow (+5).

Caster Level: 3rd. You need to be high enough to cast bull's strength (as already mentioned).

Market Price: 2000 GP. Any more than this, is just a waste. A mighty composite longbow +4 costs 500 GP, so this price is reasonable for the extra (possible) strength bonus and portability from bow to bow.

Later!

 

[KarinsDad]

20,000 GP for a mighty composite longbow?

That's all this item really does.... It turns a bow (should add the restriction the bow cannot be a crossbow) into a mighty composite bow (+5).

Caster Level: 3rd. You need to be high enough to cast bull's strength (as already mentioned).

Market Price: 2000 GP. Any more than this, is just a waste. A mighty composite longbow +4 costs 500 GP, so this price is reasonable for the extra (possible) strength bonus and portability from bow to bow.

There is a major difference.

One is a specific mighty composite longbow.

The other is any bow, regardless of which magic is on it.

One is magic, the other is mundane.

Look at Damage Reduction. This item allows an archer with any bow (even if his favorite mighty bow is sundered or something) to penetrate 10/+X damage reduction since any long bow suddenly averages upwards of 9.5 points of damage without other magic. Damage Reduction is the bane of archers in 3E, forcing them to use up precious magical arrows.

And, most archers have to give up their Strength damage bonus when they start gaining Magical Bows unless they put in the effort themselves to craft them or have them crafted, or the DM is kind enough to allow them to find Magical Mighty Bows.

3E. Hard choices. Pros and Cons. This item totally bypasses that choice or that effort and is an archer's wet dream.

+5 damage is huge. It more than doubles average bow damage. Just because they added in broken rules for Mighty Bows (way too cheap), allowing a projectile weapon to add in Strength damage modifiers (as if ranged weapons do not have enough advantage already) does not mean that you should propagate that mistake to magical items.

Strength damage is supposed to be the main counter to attacking at range in 3E, regardless of the Mighty Bow rules. You want to sidestep it, you are supposed to put in an effort. Not buy a potent item for the cost of a magical trinket. Bracers of Armor +2 cost 4000 GP. Are you claiming that a potential +5 extra damage on any bow is worth less than a +2 AC which cannot be used with any armor?

 

[kreynolds]

Market Price: 2000 GP. Any more than this, is just a waste.

It's not like it really matters though, right? I mean, nobody actually uses the character wealth by level tables, do they?

 

[Astlin]

...
Look at Damage Reduction. This item allows an archer with any bow (even if his favorite mighty bow is sundered or something) to penetrate 10/+X damage reduction since any long bow suddenly averages upwards of 9.5 points of damage without other magic. Damage Reduction is the bane of archers in 3E, forcing them to use up precious magical arrows.
...

Ok, I am looking at DR.
Even if you do 9.5 point of damage, you are not getting past DR10/+x. Even at a max damage of 13 (1d8+5 at Str20+), you are only going to get 3 points through.


You are still going to be using magic arrows to damage folks with DR.

Astlin

 

[KarinsDad]

Ok, I am looking at DR.
Even if you do 9.5 point of damage, you are not getting past DR10/+x. Even at a max damage of 13 (1d8+5 at Str20+), you are only going to get 3 points through.

Or, maybe:

Point Blank Range: +1
Weapon Specialization: +2
Ring of Might: +5

where you have to roll a 3 on a D8 to do damage with the Ring of Might as opposed to rolling an 8 on a D8 without the Ring of Might.

If you are out of magic arrows, it very difficult to do any damage and then, typically a maximum of one (unless you have a feat outside of core rules or a magical mighty bow).

Granted, this feat set (which is fairly typical for archers) combined with a Ring of Might and some Strength boosting magic would result in at best 2.5 points of damage on average, 6 points of damage maximum as compared to 0.125 points of damage average, 1 point of damage maximum without the ring.

However, without the Ring of Might, a bow critical (with the feats above) averages 5 points of damage and has a maximum of 12 points of damage against a DR 10/+x opponent. With the Ring of Might (at full +5), a bow critical averages 15 points of damage and has a maximum of 22 points of damage against the same opponent.

Effectively, the ring (at full +5) more than triples average damage against DR 10/+X opponents.

You are still going to be using magic arrows to damage folks with DR.

We have two archers in my campaign, both of whom would rather use magical melee weapons against DR opponents as opposed to using up their magic arrows. Every archer-type character I've ever seen does this: use magic arrows only when extremely necessary. Maybe your experience is different and your archers use magic arrows every time they face a DR opponent, but I seriously doubt that this is the status quo for most players.

Even with a magic arrow, you are often coming close to doubling arrow damage with this item (even a +5 magic arrow increases damage on average by over 50%).

Side Note: Compare this to Bracers of Archery at +2 to hit, +1 damage and only within 30 feet at 5100 GP. Even Bracers of Archery does not help much (and not at all beyond 30 feet) against DR like the Ring of Might would. Nor does Bracers of Archery help out in general as much as the Ring of Might.