Spells replicating feats/special abilities (or: the elusive ring of evasion)

[der_kluge]

My friends and I were discussing this the other day, and thought I'd get some feedback here.

The topic started with regard to the ring of evasion. The topic started with regard to the power of the item, but then moved into how to actually create such a thing.

There is no precedent for creating magic items that mimic the effect of class abilities. We then segued into discussions about whether you could mimic feats with a magic item. In other words, could have you a ring of mobility, or a hat of spell focus (enchantment)?

And, since magic items are typically based on spells, what kind of spell would be used to grant the ability, if you didn't already have it yourself? I mean, could a wizard without the blind-fighting feat, create goggles of blind-fighting?

And what of the original problem - evasion. Evasion isn't a feat at all, but rather a special ability. So, could it be reasoned then that you could gran the ability to summon a familiar to a fighter through a magic item, or give a rogue a Barbarian's rage ability, or a monk a druid's shapeshift ability? Where does it end?

 

[Crothian]

It ends with the commone sense of the DM. Allowing many class abilities to be put in magical items with blur the reasons to have certain classes. Why multi class into a rogue if you can get a sword that does +5d6 sneak attack?

As for feats, I have books that give feats, like the magical tomes that increase abilities. They are expensive as they need limited wish to make, but populiar.

 

[Jay Lofstead]

You also have the issue of intelligent items. They can grant feat-like abilities to the owner. How does one handle creating such an item? Do you force the PC to roll randomly as the rules suggest (since they are creating the item) or require some spells (give them some say into what the item has as a purpose). This is also a relevant question in my game. Any suggestions? The rules seem to be lacking here.

 

[der_kluge]

Actually, Crothian's suggestion of limited wish might really be workable. I mean, it could be used to replicate any feat and then that could be put into a magic item like any other spell. The second thing that my friends discussed was that putting things like 'evasion' into a ring means that the ability would have to be taken from someone - probably not willingly. For instance, an evil necromancer could capture a rogue and, through a dark ritual, "steal" his evasion ability and place it into a ring. So, for every ring of evasion out there, there's a rogue who can't dodge fireballs for crap.
But that basically makes rings of evasion evil, considering how they are made. Unless the rogue gives it up willingly for some reason.

 

[der_kluge]

I see intelligent items as a different thing altogether. I wouldn't allow PCs to create an intelligent item. To me, an intelligent item should occur as a result of the power of the item. It's a byproduct of powerful items, and may or may not happen. It's never come up in our games, since we've never gotten to any significant levels. Our party doesn't tend to make very many magic items, anyway. In our last game, we stopped at 13th, and the only thing we ever made were a few scrolls, and a hat of disguise, so that my gnome could infiltrate a complex as a Dwarf - which was more believable to the situation. That was it.

The rules for intelligent items don't make much sense to me.

 

[Jeph]

Uhnless the rogue gives it up willingly, or has it restored with a Limited Wish. Which brings us back to the beginning . . . And how does the evil nocrodude get it out of the rogue in the first place? I doubt he says, "gimme," and the rogue says "no," so the evil guy grabs. You'd need limited wish at least. So yeah, limited wish is a good added prereq.

 

[kreynolds]

There's a 2nd level spell called Mirror Move that let's you duplicate a number of feats equal to your Intelligence bonus (always at least one feat). You just watch somebody else use the feat and then copy it. It's from the WotC online spellbook.