Creating a Belt of Priestly Might

[ericp07]

Hello,

 

D&D's book Magic of Faerun presents many attractive magic items, one of which is the Belt of Priestly Might. This is a broad leather belt, stamped on the front with the holy symbol of the deity to whom it is dedicated. A follower of that deity, or anyone with the deity's alignment, may wear it. In BGII, this item would function as the Belt of Fire Giant Strength (+4 to STR while worn), with the added benefit of a bonus of 2 points to the wearer's AC (I'm guessing this is a bonus to base AC). I'd like to get some feedback as to whether such an item would be reasonable to add to the game, especially since it would serve my joinable NPC very well. Due to the power of this item, I imagine it would be best limited to ToB, and given as a specific reward of sorts, rather than gained as random treasure (or several of these could be created, each dedicated to a different Realms deity, and randomly distributed as treasure).

 

If the Belt of Priestly Might is made as an upgradeable item, the added powers would be to allow the wearer to cast Cure Moderate Wounds and Neutralize Poison Protection from Evil 10' r and Wondrous Recall, each once per day.

 

The sourcebook describes how anyone of an alignment other than that of the deity to whom the belt is dedicated would suffer "one negative level" (a 3.x edition concept that gives penalties as though the victim suffered a level drain, but not including actual level loss), incurring certain penalties while wearing the belt. [Edit] Instead of this, perhaps setting the Unusable By parameters will suffice.[/Edit]

 

May we kick this idea around a bit, and see if it can be made into a relatively balanced BGII item? If it's determined that this is a worthwhile effort, I'd use the Belt of Fire Giant Strength as a base, since the STR bonus is identical. Then I'd simply add the effect of a bonus to AC of 2, instant/while equipped.

 

Thanks and happy modding,

Eric

[Aion]

In my opinion, +4 strength is quite a lot, even in ToB. A potion I can understand, but a belt is rather permanent. A character with low strength (Aerie, Viconia, Edwin) would benefit from this. But give it to Mazzy and her strength is suddenly 19 from that item alone. Give it to Sarevok or Minsc, and their strength is 22. All until they take it off. I'd say make the restrictions tighter, if you must include it. But as I see it, it's quite overpowered...especially if it can be upgraded as well.

[Demivrgvs]

Quoting myself from here.

 

Girdle of Priestly Might

I've renamed v2's "Girdle of Stone Giant Strength", reduced STR bonus from +3 to +2 but added +1 bonus to AC.

 

Should I add a once/day use of Draw Upon Divine Might?

 

As Aion says we're talking about a fixed stat bonus, and +4 within AD&D rules is really outstanding. Remember that the book you're reading is from 3rd edition, where +4 STR means +2 to hit/dmg, whereas within BG rules +4 STR is a highly variable bonus, but almost always much higher than that +2 (e.g. a character with STR 15 would get STR 19, thus +3 hit and +7 dmg!).

[ericp07]

I do like the idea of reducing the STR bonus to +2 (that was the first change I considered), and the item could be upgradeable or not. It's not supposed to be on an artifact or relic power scale, by any means.

 

Would this adjustment bring the item more into line with what's reasonable in the game?

 

It's also probably a good idea to make sure only one such belt exists for a given deity, and that a short list of deities be included.

 

Thanks, and please keep the feedback coming!

Eric