Need help enchanting my armor

[Daven]

Hey everyone,

I could definitely use some help with crafting items and how much it costs to enchant items in pathfinder. Our party basically just accidentally started an undead apocalypse in our campaign and we are about as unprepared as it comes. Having no cleric or paladin is really kicking our butts. My character is pretty much the main tank right now as a barbarian, so that kind of sucks.

So, being the main tank, I’m trying to come up with ways to buff my defenses against undead. I have Mithral Breastplate right now that I’m using and figure it’s good enough to keep for a while, but I’d like to enhance/enchant it with something that would help me fight the undead. To me it seems like the scariest part of fighting undead creatures is their ability to energy/level drain while fighting. So, I was trying to come up with a price of adding either Deathless to the armor or going all out and enchanting it with a continuous Death Ward ability to ignore all energy drains. I’m just not sure what I’m doing with pricing though. I've never crafted items before.

In order to enchant armor you have to have at least a +1 enhancement bonus on the item first right? So for either enchantment, I’d have to at least make it a +1 piece of armor, adding +1,000 gold to the cost automatically. Then, if I wanted to add Deathless to it, it says it’s a +1 Bonus to price, would that just be an additional +1,000 gold? So to make my armor a +1 Deathless Mithral Breastplate, it would cost 2,000 and about 2 days to make? Does that sound right? I guess that’s not bad.

Now, while Deathless would be nice for the 25% chance to ignore energy drain effects, I would definitely rather have full immunity with the Death Ward enchantment. I’m just not sure how much that would cost. Of course, I’m guessing it’d be quiiite a bit of gold, but it’d be nice to have something to shoot for. So going by the equation for crafting magical items, this was kind of my line of thought:

I’d still need to make it a +1, so I’d add an extra 1,000 gold to it.

Base price = Spell level  x  caster level  x  2,000gp (because I want it to be continuous) and then multiply all that by 2 because Death Ward is a 1 minute/level spell.

Spell level is 4, which would mean it’s at least 4 x 2,000 x 2. I’m just not sure what they mean by caster level. Is that just lowest level the caster would need to be in order to cast that spell? So to cast a level 4 spell it would probably be a caster level of 7? Does that sound right? Any way I could lower that level?

So to make my armor a +1 Death Ward Mithral Breastplate it would cost me: (4 x 7 x 2,000)x2 + 1,000 = 113,000gp? And take 113 days to create? Ouch…the price isn't that bad, but that's a loooong time to wait for it. Oh well, I guess I could always just look for something like the Scarab of Protection. Haha! Any other ideas of equipment I could use against the undead? Thanks for the help! It's also the apocalypse right now, so who knows if I could even find someone that'd be able to craft the armor in the first place! Haha!

[Soft Insanity]

In order to enchant armor you have to have at least a +1 enhancement bonus on the item first right?

Yes, you need a +1 on it to start enchanting it further.  The initial +1 is bonus squared x 1000, or 1x1x1000.  So the cost is 1000.

Then, if I wanted to add Deathless to it, it says it’s a +1 Bonus to price, would that just be an additional +1,000 gold? So to make my armor a +1 Deathless Mithral

Nope.  First of all, let's ignore deathless for now and say you want to add a +1 non-enhancement based bonus.  The armor will now be +2 armor and cost 2 x 2 x 1000, or 4000 base.  Since you already spent 1000 on the +1, it costs you 3000 to upgrade to the +2 bonus.

Now, while Deathless would be nice for the 25% chance to ignore energy drain effects, I would definitely rather have full immunity with the Death Ward enchantment. I’m just not sure how much that would cost. Of course, I’m guessing it’d be quiiite a bit of gold, but it’d be nice to have something to shoot for. So going by the equation for crafting magical items, this was kind of my line of thought:

I’d still need to make it a +1, so I’d add an extra 1,000 gold to it.

Base price = Spell level  x  caster level  x  2,000gp (because I want it to be continuous) and then multiply all that by 2 because Death Ward is a 1 minute/level spell.

Spell level is 4, which would mean it’s at least 4 x 2,000 x 2. I’m just not sure what they mean by caster level. Is that just lowest level the caster would need to be in order to cast that spell? So to cast a level 4 spell it would probably be a caster level of 7? Does that sound right? Any way I could lower that level?

Custom item rules: Deathward is a 4th level spell.  The level you get this from cleric is 7th level.  That is your minimum caster level requirement for a custom item with that spell.  The cost is spell level x caster level x 2000 x ??? where ??? is a variable based on duration.  The duration of deathward is minutes, so it's gonna be 2x.  So we have 4 x 7 x 2000 x 2, or 112,000gp for a continuous item.  Sounds expensive, and it is considering 3.5 already has something that gives this.  Not to mention armor is 110% not a valid target for custom magic items due to having its own rules (based on flats and bonuses).

No, what you want is http://dndtools.eu/items/book-of-exalted-deeds--52/soulfire--40/.  It's 3.5, so you're gonna have to ask for it.  Notice how it's a +4 enhancement that requires a caster level 7 and having deathward as a spell?  Not a coincidence, it follows basic crafting.  A +1 soulward mithral breastplate costs 5 x 5 x 1000gp + base armor cost, or 25,000gp (24k if you already have the +1).

Now that I've told you all this, consider armor can never go over a magic value of 100k in a normal game.  Weapons are done the same way as armor, but cost 2x as much (2k instead of 1k multiplier).  Weapons can't have a magic value of 200k max in a normal game.  Basically, you can have  +1 weapon/armor with +9 worth of alternate abilities.  Optimization demands you use greater magic weapon/magic vestment to get the rest of the enhancement bonus, but it's not required.

So in closing:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items#Table-Estimating-Magic-Item-Gold-Piece-Values
That's your chart for Pathfinder.  3.5 uses the same rules except gives an xp cost.

[Daven]

Wow! Awesome! That was exactly what I was looking for! Thanks so much for the help! Soulfire sounds sweet! Hopefully my dm will allow it! Haha! 25,000 gold looks a hell of a lot better than +100,000 gold.

I'm guessing I could add soulfire to gloves or boots with the same costs too if I wanted to go that route instead of my armor? Maybe do like a +1 soulfire boots of speed. That'd be sweet! Thanks again for the help!

[Fredgerd]

As a basic measure, I'd highly recommend ghost touch as a starting point. If you are the main tank, and you aren't doing some weird mega dodge bonus build, I'm gonna assume most of your AC comes from your armor and incorporeal undead go straight through that. Ectoplasmic Feedback is also nice, especially if you can use the Goad feat to force them to hit you instead of your flimsy wizard buddy. I'd never use the latter normally, but if your campaign is about to take a serious turn toward having to fight undead all the time, then its pretty solid. Not sure what else you might use vs corporeal undead, but they are generally easier to deal with.

[Soft Insanity]

I'm guessing I could add soulfire to gloves or boots with the same costs too if I wanted to go that route instead of my armor? Maybe do like a +1 soulfire boots of speed. That'd be sweet! Thanks again for the help!

Unfortunately that is an armor bonus so wouldn't apply to other items.  There is no such thing as a +1 boot.  You have a bunch of slots, most of which use wondrous items.
I don't remember the pathfinder slots offhand, but 3.5 has: feet, arms, hands, body, torso, waist, ring x2, face, head, shoulders, and throat.  Ring uses forge ring, Weapon isn't slotted, and armor uses body (but you can use robes in it which are wondrous);  the rest use wondrous item.

A good idea is to find the most economical things and just fill your slots with them.  A Bunko's for Pathfinder would be nice, but I'm sure most of the items there are available in pathfinder in some form.

My loadout in 3.5 for items before level 10 looks something like:
head: circlet of persuasion
face: arty monocle
throat: amulet of tears
hands: gloves of the master strategist
Torso: tunic of steady spellcasting
shoulders: shadow cloak
waist: healing belt
arms: bracers of hunter or bracers of archery (depends on role)
feet: anklet of translocation or nothing (i'm in alot of gestalt games and use airstep sandals bound to this slot)
*I also use MiC common effects on these to boost stats, saves, and resistances.  Unfortunately everything here except the circlet is 3.5.

You probably want to look through Pathfinder's items for things to enhance your barbarian abilities before you sink money into soulfire armor.  The faster you can kill the threat, the less important immunity is.  Common effects are also good.  Those are stat boosts, save boosts, resistances, and typed AC boosters.  Pathfinder has a ton of vanilla items that give these, but 3.5 is superior in every way due to actually having rules that encourage using them.

25k + base armor cost represents a huge investment before level 10.  Soulfire is worth it, however.

[Daven]

If you are the main tank, and you aren't doing some weird mega dodge bonus build, I'm gonna assume most of your AC comes from your armor and incorporeal undead go straight through that.

Haha! Yeaaaa my guy was actually supposed to be more of a comic relief character with our inquisitor being the tank, but he decided he doesn't like melee and is building pure range now. So I kind of got thrown into the tank role. Basically the idea behind my guy is this:

Poot the Wizard(Barbarian)
He's a half-orc barbarian who's clan was caught in the middle of a mage war. Almost getting wiped out, they managed to escape and rebuild. But, instead of hating magic, they saw the true power of it! They decided to become wizards themselves. Only problem, they're pretty stupid. So while they THINK they're practicing magic, they're really not. So now he thinks he's a wizard on a quest to find powerful magic. His main magic attacks so far are Magic Missile: He throws a javelin yelling magic missile. Fireball: He lights a flask of oil on fire and throws it yelling fireball. Currently he's using a heavy mace as his wand and beats people with it. And every once in a while he can use elemental rage to light them on fire! If one of his magic spells miss he automatically goes into rage for at least one round.

So because of this he has high Dex from all his throwing, decent Con and decent Str. Currently we're level 5 and I have 18 Dex, 17 Str, and 15 Con. (7 Int Haha!) I'm pumping Str up every ability increase now to boost my damage. Plus with our campaign, we just released an unknown and powerful evil that's causing the undead problems, but in doing so we just gained 1 tier of Mythic.

I'm looking for a longsword right now cause of the undead resistance to blunt weapons, but with my str, power attack feat, mythic power attack feat and using two hands for attacking, I'm doing 1d8 + 13 damage a hit without rage and have an AC of 23. I've been able to one shot most zombies so far, so I think I'm doing alright on damage for now. Could be better if i hadn't made my guy as a joke. Haha! Once I get Mythic Titans Rage, vital strike, and mythic vital strike I'll be doing crazy damage with lots of attack of opportunities and still decent AC.

And yea I'm still working on what equipment would help me the most. So far I have an ioun stone dusty rose, my mithral breastplate armor, a cloak of resistance +3, and a ring of protection +2.

What I was thinking about going for eventually is:
Head: Jingasa of the fortunate soldier
Neck: amulet of natural armor +X
Shoulders: cape of free will +X
Waist: belt of strength +X
Wrist: vambraces of defense
Boots: boots of speed
Hands: gloves of storing (for instant magic missiles!!! XD)

So yea, I think I've got pretty good AC for level 5 and decent resistances. A lot of the items are just a little boost to AC, Str, or just for flair. So instead I figured why not spend a little extra to make me immune to drain effects? Thought that might be a bit more useful. Sucks I can't throw it on boots or gloves, but I guess armor wouldn't be a horrible choice. Although, doing ghost touch sounds like a really good idea too. I'll have to think about it some more. Thanks for all the great ideas!!

[Fredgerd]

So while they THINK they're practicing magic, they're really not. So now he thinks he's a wizard on a quest to find powerful magic. His main magic attacks so far are Magic Missile: He throws a javelin yelling magic missile. Fireball: He lights a flask of oil on fire and throws it yelling fireball. Currently he's using a heavy mace as his wand and beats people with it. And every once in a while he can use elemental rage to light them on fire! If one of his magic spells miss he automatically goes into rage for at least one round.

So basically he's just a wizard with higher health actually following the RAW for spell components?

[Daven]

So while they THINK they're practicing magic, they're really not. So now he thinks he's a wizard on a quest to find powerful magic. His main magic attacks so far are Magic Missile: He throws a javelin yelling magic missile. Fireball: He lights a flask of oil on fire and throws it yelling fireball. Currently he's using a heavy mace as his wand and beats people with it. And every once in a while he can use elemental rage to light them on fire! If one of his magic spells miss he automatically goes into rage for at least one round.

So basically he's just a wizard with higher health actually following the RAW for spell components?

Haha! Exactly!

[faeryn]

if you take Ghost Touched to add your Armor bonus to AC vs incorporeal, then you might want to pick up Ghost Ward as well so you can also add your enhancement bonus to your AC vs incorporeal as well