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A campaign I am playing in at present has among the options for starting gear a weakened Ring of Regeneration, healing one HP/hour (I am unclear if it also does the restoration of lost bodily parts). This has led me to think critically about the SRD standard ring of regeneration and I have come to the conclusion that it is overpriced for what it does. Let's take a look....
I don't even know how they get that price and caster level, by my calculation it should be
7 (spell level) * 13 (minimum caster level) * 2000 = 182,000gp
or even
7 * 15 (given caster level) * 2000 = 210,000
Is it halved because of the "only while wearing the ring" limitation? Or because as discussed below the replacing limbs/organs never really comes into play?
First up how much healing is that? Using the rule of thumb that no item should be more than half a character's wealth and the recommended wealth table on page 135 of the DMG we can conclude that a Ring of Regeneration shouldn't be entering the game until the PCs are about 15th level. So 15-20 Hp/hour.
What other sort of damage-reducing items could we get for the same or less money?
A Minor Ring of Energy Resistance prevents 10 points of the appropriate damage per attack. Two attacks reduced and that's an hours worth of healing saved and more importantly you're that much more likely to live to see that hour (D&D3 RoR doesn't prevent you being killed, it only helps if you survive the fight). These rings have a more specific use case but you can collect the set for only 10,000 gp more than the RoR. Or be more selective and invest the rest in AC / FORT Save boosting items.
Also for 20,000gp: a Ring of Invisibility once activated effectively casts Invisibility as a 2nd level spell on the wearer once every 3 minutes. So we could equally create a ring which cast "Cure Moderate Wounds" on the wearer every 3 minutes, an average of (9+3)*(60/3) = 240 points of healing an hour. #munchkiningit
For only a little more (97,950 gp) - or actually a lot less as you only need one charge - a well worded wish from a Ring of Three Wishes could probably get you inherent Regeneration (or Fast Healing, which if you look at the two in the Monster Manual is actually a more rules-accurate description of what the RoR does. Actual regeneration converts all damage not of particular types into subdual and then heals that).
So what about the one unique thing it does do, restoring lost limbs and organs? Well it turns out that damage is so abstracted away in D&D3 that unless you are playing with some house rules around damage dealing / critical hits or it has been inflicted for story reasons you're never actually likely to lose either. This is reflected by the complete lack of rules about how to handle losing a limb and what effect it has on a character's capabilities in either the PHB or DMG. (I haven't checked the DMG II directly but I have googled and found only a few references to house-rules.)
Even then, I would expect this to be represented more by ability damage, which the RoR does nothing about. This seems something of an oversight given that there are feats in the official WOTC splatbooks which let you do ability damage on eg a successful sneak attack presumably by cutting tendons and such.
~~~
So, a more realistic cost? The type of ring we have access to in the game I am playing effectivly casts the Cure Minor Wounds orison 1/hour.
0.5 * 1 * 2000gp = 1000gp
15-20 points an hour is about the average of a Cure Serious Wounds (13.5 + 5).
3 * 5 * 2000gp = 30,000gp (slightly less than that ring with one wish remaining)
How much extra is the regrowth worth? That could be very campaign dependent but for most campaigns I'd add maybe 10%, and as the DM chuckle with evil glee at having the option of inflicting guilt-free limb loses on the PC/s.
~~~
As a side note the Magic Item Compendium has a Magic Bedroll which if you can manage to get a solid 8 hours rest in it doubles your natural healing rate for the period (presumably including ability damage). Cost: 500gp. Double that seems reasonable for a ring or other wonderous item which doubles your that as long as it is worn (remember that doubling a double is triple in D&D3, for purposes of also being looked after by a healer etc). This would be a relatively cheap item which would continue to be useful (scale) as the characters gain levels.
~~~
How about a real Ring of Trollish Regeneration?
The only core spell off the top of my head and some quick searching which grants the extraordinary abilities such as regeneration of another creature is Shapechange, a 9th level spell. There's probably a splatbook spell which does it, but the closest that comes to mind is Greater Vigor, a 5th level spell which grants Fast Healing 4. I'm going to say it's probably about a 7th level effect, on par with the actual Regenerate spell and Limited Wish.
That still seems way high. Even if we halved it it brings us into the same range as the original. As anyone who has faced a fast-healing or regenerating opponent of appropriate CR knows beating them into unconscious isn't generally that difficult, especially given the damage we are talking in the mid-teen levels. 5 Hp per round is nothing.
Really useful for dealing with traps though. As long as they aren't fire or acid traps, but at this level you're not going to be hard-pressed to pair this with resistance against one or both of those.
Not much use against assassins because they are likely to be using a nasty CON poison or something else that bypasses your hit points to incapacitate you.
Let's halve and round the base price to 90,000 and quirk it up a bit:
Worth a 15% reduction? Slightly more than requiring a particular skill, less than requiring a specific race, class or alignment.
90,000 * 0.85 = 76,500gp
I dunno. My gut says I should just halve it again and make the cost 45,000gp. That feels about right.
It's been an entertaining exercise but ultimately I think it's just another example of how broken certain rules are in D&D3
~~~
Finally (for this post) another quirk which seems to me to be a good candidate for adding to an ongoing healing item (perhaps one which was a prototype or not quite made right) is a slight loss in Constitution (2 points, to make sure the bonus drops). Is the healing going to be worth the ongoing fragility? That might very well depend on the wearer's normal maximum hit points and level.
Ring of Regeneration
This white gold ring continually allows a living wearer to heal 1 point of damage per level every hour rather than every day. (This ability cannot be aided by the Heal skill.) Nonlethal damage heals at a rate of 1 point of damage per level every 5 minutes. If the wearer loses a limb, an organ, or any other body part while wearing this ring, the ring regenerates it as the spell [within a round - M]. In either case, only damage taken while wearing the ring is regenerated.
Strong conjuration; CL 15th; Forge Ring, regenerate; Price 90,000 gp
I don't even know how they get that price and caster level, by my calculation it should be
7 (spell level) * 13 (minimum caster level) * 2000 = 182,000gp
or even
7 * 15 (given caster level) * 2000 = 210,000
Is it halved because of the "only while wearing the ring" limitation? Or because as discussed below the replacing limbs/organs never really comes into play?
First up how much healing is that? Using the rule of thumb that no item should be more than half a character's wealth and the recommended wealth table on page 135 of the DMG we can conclude that a Ring of Regeneration shouldn't be entering the game until the PCs are about 15th level. So 15-20 Hp/hour.
What other sort of damage-reducing items could we get for the same or less money?
A Minor Ring of Energy Resistance prevents 10 points of the appropriate damage per attack. Two attacks reduced and that's an hours worth of healing saved and more importantly you're that much more likely to live to see that hour (D&D3 RoR doesn't prevent you being killed, it only helps if you survive the fight). These rings have a more specific use case but you can collect the set for only 10,000 gp more than the RoR. Or be more selective and invest the rest in AC / FORT Save boosting items.
Also for 20,000gp: a Ring of Invisibility once activated effectively casts Invisibility as a 2nd level spell on the wearer once every 3 minutes. So we could equally create a ring which cast "Cure Moderate Wounds" on the wearer every 3 minutes, an average of (9+3)*(60/3) = 240 points of healing an hour. #munchkiningit
For only a little more (97,950 gp) - or actually a lot less as you only need one charge - a well worded wish from a Ring of Three Wishes could probably get you inherent Regeneration (or Fast Healing, which if you look at the two in the Monster Manual is actually a more rules-accurate description of what the RoR does. Actual regeneration converts all damage not of particular types into subdual and then heals that).
So what about the one unique thing it does do, restoring lost limbs and organs? Well it turns out that damage is so abstracted away in D&D3 that unless you are playing with some house rules around damage dealing / critical hits or it has been inflicted for story reasons you're never actually likely to lose either. This is reflected by the complete lack of rules about how to handle losing a limb and what effect it has on a character's capabilities in either the PHB or DMG. (I haven't checked the DMG II directly but I have googled and found only a few references to house-rules.)
Even then, I would expect this to be represented more by ability damage, which the RoR does nothing about. This seems something of an oversight given that there are feats in the official WOTC splatbooks which let you do ability damage on eg a successful sneak attack presumably by cutting tendons and such.
~~~
So, a more realistic cost? The type of ring we have access to in the game I am playing effectivly casts the Cure Minor Wounds orison 1/hour.
0.5 * 1 * 2000gp = 1000gp
15-20 points an hour is about the average of a Cure Serious Wounds (13.5 + 5).
3 * 5 * 2000gp = 30,000gp (slightly less than that ring with one wish remaining)
How much extra is the regrowth worth? That could be very campaign dependent but for most campaigns I'd add maybe 10%, and as the DM chuckle with evil glee at having the option of inflicting guilt-free limb loses on the PC/s.
~~~
As a side note the Magic Item Compendium has a Magic Bedroll which if you can manage to get a solid 8 hours rest in it doubles your natural healing rate for the period (presumably including ability damage). Cost: 500gp. Double that seems reasonable for a ring or other wonderous item which doubles your that as long as it is worn (remember that doubling a double is triple in D&D3, for purposes of also being looked after by a healer etc). This would be a relatively cheap item which would continue to be useful (scale) as the characters gain levels.
~~~
How about a real Ring of Trollish Regeneration?
The only core spell off the top of my head and some quick searching which grants the extraordinary abilities such as regeneration of another creature is Shapechange, a 9th level spell. There's probably a splatbook spell which does it, but the closest that comes to mind is Greater Vigor, a 5th level spell which grants Fast Healing 4. I'm going to say it's probably about a 7th level effect, on par with the actual Regenerate spell and Limited Wish.
Ring of Trollish Regeneration
This item will convert all damage except fire and acid to subdual damage and heals the wearer of subdual damage at the rate of 5 hp per round. If the wearer loses a limb or body part, the lost portion regrows in 3d6 minutes. The wearer can reattach the severed member instantly by holding it to the stump. In either case, only damage taken while wearing the ring is regenerated.
Strong conjuration; CL 13th; Forge Ring, Regenerate or a more suitable spell if one exists somewhere;
Price: 7 * 13 * 2000 = 182,000
That still seems way high. Even if we halved it it brings us into the same range as the original. As anyone who has faced a fast-healing or regenerating opponent of appropriate CR knows beating them into unconscious isn't generally that difficult, especially given the damage we are talking in the mid-teen levels. 5 Hp per round is nothing.
Really useful for dealing with traps though. As long as they aren't fire or acid traps, but at this level you're not going to be hard-pressed to pair this with resistance against one or both of those.
Not much use against assassins because they are likely to be using a nasty CON poison or something else that bypasses your hit points to incapacitate you.
Let's halve and round the base price to 90,000 and quirk it up a bit:
Requirement: Wearer must eat twice as much as normal. If paired with a Ring of Sustenance the wearer will not need to eat but will still suffer cravings (especially for meat) and hunger pains. In extremis the wearer may need to make WILL saves or Concentration checks to prevent acting on or being distracted by these.
Worth a 15% reduction? Slightly more than requiring a particular skill, less than requiring a specific race, class or alignment.
90,000 * 0.85 = 76,500gp
I dunno. My gut says I should just halve it again and make the cost 45,000gp. That feels about right.
It's been an entertaining exercise but ultimately I think it's just another example of how broken certain rules are in D&D3
~~~
Finally (for this post) another quirk which seems to me to be a good candidate for adding to an ongoing healing item (perhaps one which was a prototype or not quite made right) is a slight loss in Constitution (2 points, to make sure the bonus drops). Is the healing going to be worth the ongoing fragility? That might very well depend on the wearer's normal maximum hit points and level.
