Complete Champion's 350gp Deity-Specific Holy Symbols.

[Craiconn]

The deity-specific holy symbols in the Complete Champion book are really terrific little bargains for many spellcaster types.  Especially since they all come at a very reasonable cost of 350gp.  And to note, these holy symbols represent Greyhawk gods - and only a small percentage of them to boot.  Which leads me to think this small sampling it meant to show that similar holy symbols could be created for the other Greyhawk gods ... or for Forgotten Realms, Eberron and homebrew pantheonic gods. 

Has anyone reverse-engineered the costing foundation of these cost-effective pieces of magical gear? 

Also, have any of you created similar customized 350gp holy symbols for deities in your campaign world?  I'm especially interested in holy symbols for the various Forgotten Realms gods.

[Nunkuruji]

Pretty easy to just map them to Portfolio/Domain for other campaign setting deities.

Don't forget it must be held in hand to gain the benefit

[linklord231]

Don't forget it must be held in hand to gain the benefit

This is not always the case. 

To wield a holy symbol, the user must hold it in one hand and brandish it openly. Although some holy symbols can be worn, the wielder must always touch his symbol with at least one hand and display it prominently to use it as a focus for spellcasting, turning checks, and other related uses.

So you could wear it on a chain around your neck, but you still need a free hand to touch it if you intend to use it for spellcasting/Turning.  My question is, would the Sanctified Armor/Shield property from Dungeonscape let you get around that restriction? 

[TuggyNE]

Don't forget it must be held in hand to gain the benefit

This is not always the case. 

To wield a holy symbol, the user must hold it in one hand and brandish it openly. Although some holy symbols can be worn, the wielder must always touch his symbol with at least one hand and display it prominently to use it as a focus for spellcasting, turning checks, and other related uses.

So you could wear it on a chain around your neck, but you still need a free hand to touch it if you intend to use it for spellcasting/Turning.  My question is, would the Sanctified Armor/Shield property from Dungeonscape let you get around that restriction?

Wait a second. You have to be able to touch the symbol, but who says your hand must be empty? If you're wielding a sufficiently compact weapon, holding a scroll, or perhaps even a smallish shield it would be perfectly practical to touch the symbol with the outside of your hand or with your thumb or whatever.

Interesting.

[Craiconn]

Pretty easy to just map them to Portfolio/Domain for other campaign setting deities.

...

Well, I wouldn't say it's easy.  I've had 4 separate DMs over the years who've I've seen either engage in lengthy arguments/debates on customized deity-specific holy symbols ..... or spent an extraordinary amount of time collaboratively helping tweak the final useable version of said symbol.  Players will naturally want to squeak as much benefit as possible into this 350gp item.  And there are some rather quirky or unorthodox deities out there that don't neccessarily convert easily from their closest Greyhawk corollary.

That's why I'm wondering if other MinMax Boards folks would be interested in posting their version of customized holy symbols for review and/or showing off.  :-)

[Jackinthegreen]

Wait a second. You have to be able to touch the symbol, but who says your hand must be empty? If you're wielding a sufficiently compact weapon, holding a scroll, or perhaps even a smallish shield it would be perfectly practical to touch the symbol with the outside of your hand or with your thumb or whatever.

Interesting.

My first thought for a cleric using a shield would be the Shield Gauntlet from Races of Stone.  It's a heavy shield, but it allows one's hand to be free for everything but wielding a weapon.  Make it out of mithril to ignore the non-proficiency problems since it's an exotic shield.

Alternately one could have the holy symbol on a chain held in hand and it goes on the back of the person's hand so that it shows and the person doesn't even have to drop their held item or weapon.

As far as the holy symbols themselves go, it looks like each one gives a minor bonus to something concerning the deity's portfolio and domains.  It's very common for them to simply increase the caster level of certain spells by 1.  The easiest way to make them for other deities wold simply be choose the most iconic domain for them as well as some sort of spell descriptor linked to them and then give a +1 to caster levels for those spells.

[Craiconn]

I'm AFB right now ... but I believe a lot of those aren't actual CL boosts ... but instead Caster Level Check  boosts.  Which are significantly lesser in value.

[Jackinthegreen]

I'm AFB right now ... but I believe a lot of those aren't actual CL boosts ... but instead Caster Level Check  boosts.  Which are significantly lesser in value.

You're remembering incorrectly.  Only one of the symbols (Boccob's) mentions caster level checks.  The rest have wording along the lines of:

When used to cast any spell from the Knowledge or Magic domain, Vecna’s hand and eye increases your effective caster level and the save DCs by 1.

Emphasis mine.