That effect specifically applies, by its wording, to the spells invoked by the item and nothing more. If it was otherwise, the note on Item CL vs character CL wouldn't be there.
There's also the matter of price. A Lesser Rod of Extend, also a +1 metamagic, costs 600 IM to do this 3/day to a restricted set of spell levels. It costs 4,900 IM to do that 3/day to any spell regardless of its level.
Saying you can apply a different and probably far more powerful +1 metamagic to all your spells all the time for 1600 IM is just nuts.
That effect specifically applies, by its wording, to the spells invoked by the item and nothing more. If it was otherwise, the note on Item CL vs character CL wouldn't be there.
There's also the matter of price. A Lesser Rod of Extend, also a +1 metamagic, costs 600 IM to do this 3/day to a restricted set of spell levels. It costs 4,900 IM to do that 3/day to any spell regardless of its level.
Saying you can apply a different and probably far more powerful +1 metamagic to all your spells all the time for 1600 IM is just nuts.
The wording is pretty clear that it grants the wearer a +5 bonus to pierce magical protections. That has nothing to do with Metamagic. There is simply a +1 level adjustment Metamagic feat which allows one to do the same thing in regards to SR.
EDIT: The Piercing Spell Metamagic is an add-on which can be applied to any spell, even one already affected by the monocle's effect, to push the bonus to +10.
@DragonParadox, I think this may be a mistake in the middle of our big confrontation with Melisandre :/
Are you sure that you didn't accidentally swap "first" and "second" here?
Still, I think it is on the "okay"-end of scale here.
See Goldfish's argument above.
If one wants to cheese, there are many an opportunity, and this is far from the worst of them.
Not a blank "all effects get +5CL", after all; specifically "magical protections", which doesn't apply to most SR even.
The wording is pretty clear that it grants the wearer a +5 bonus to pierce magical protections. That has nothing to do with Metamagic. There is simply a +1 level adjustment Metamagic feat which allows one to do the same thing in regards to SR.
You're cherrypicking a single section of a single sentence of description and taking it isolation when that's clearly not as intended. Look:
The wearer of this crystal monocle gains the ability to use detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, detect magic, or detect law, each at will for as long as he concentrates, but only one at a time. Any caster level checks to penetrate magical protections receive a +5 bonus, and use the higher of the item's caster level or the wearer's character level.
Let me do some math after I nap. But it should be in the same ballpark as a Greater Metamagic Rod even if you slap charges/day on it. 4,900 IM for that one at least.
Permanent? Working back as if it were a spell effect...8,200 IM. Again, minimum. More when I'm not exhausted from driving home through a snowstorm.
Like I mentioned earlier, 2/Day Silent Spell effect on Bracers of Arcane Freedom only costs 230 IM. Circlets of Rapid casting can Quicken low level spells multiple times per day but only cost 1400 or 1500 IM. Metamagic Rod pricing isn't the best metric to use for all Metamagic item pricing.
EDIT: And again, this is not a Metamagic effect, it merely resembles one in a certain aspect.
Mind that the very same phrasing also quite explicitly doesn't have this effect go through Spell Resistance unless it is granted via a "Magical Protection", nor other effects not under that line.
On the other hand I did make a very generous ruling and I don't think it is fair to walk it all the way back. How about for balance it can require some rare ingredient?
Like I mentioned earlier, 2/Day Silent Spell effect on Bracers of Arcane Freedom only costs 230 IM. Circlets of Rapid casting can Quicken low level spells multiple times per day but only cost 1400 or 1500 IM. Metamagic Rod pricing isn't the best metric to use for all Metamagic item pricing.
Except this does more than just apply vs SR. It applies on CL checks against all protective magic. Trying to get through a divination CL check, or needing some extra oomph on a Spellbane contest? This applies.
@DragonParadox, given that you already okayed the general idea, how strong of a sacrifice would Yss want to upgrade our Rod of Quickening into a Greater Rod of Quickening? CR 16?
Tom of Sevenstreams whistled cheerfully as he climbed up the steps of the Circle of Battle, plucking a glazed pear from one tray and flicking the fellow carrying it a copper before he could open his mouth to complain. He had seen enough these past few days to fill three lifetimes worth of tales, he'd eaten well, and found that even in such a place as Sorcerer's Deep the lasses were particularly friendly to a foreigner with a ready smile and deft way with words. Not to mention the shiny new ring on his finger and the bag of magic dust hanging from his belt. It was a weight off his shoulders to know that every damn spirit and hob wouldn't be able to steal his wits with a bit of luck. And if things got tricky while he gathering rumors with one hand and churning out more with the other why he'd be able to vanish in a puff of smoke. He'd almost been tempted to try it out like a child with a new toy, but the thought of old Ben's disappointed look when he found out held him back.
There he was now, Ser Benjicot Brown, looking stern and dutiful like a woodcut brought to life as he walked onto the sands. Knock about thirty years off him and he'd be a maiden's dream. Even so, there had been a few to try after his showing in the melee and the joust, much to the old knight's bewilderment and Tom's amusement. Beside him walked Ser Bonifer Hasty, another old tourney knight brought out of the woodwork by the Dragon's rise, and if the tales were true by the Dragon's mother brought back from the dead. There, his gaze went right to the royal box like iron to a lodestone. Some folk were just gluttons for punishment, he supposed.
By contrast Ser Balon Swann looked to be a practical fellow, the sort they didn't make songs about much, since instead of facing the foe sword in one hand and shield in the other he took out the bow he'd won in the archery competition, walking half a step behind the others, the better to stand and shoot. Or maybe he just didn't have room in the front for the Dornishman's ego, he thought.
Though Tom couldn't place man beyond his kingdom, anyone with eyes in their head could see he had a chip on his shoulder the size of a mountain. Still, credit where it was due, 'he wasn't the sort to sneer at hedge knights,' Benjicot had said even while he refused to give the fellow's name 'for honor's sake'.
From the other side of the Circle walked out not a bull-headed man, a walking tree, a talking snake, or any other oddity, just a man dressed in plain robes as red as the hair on his head. The wizard's face, for what else could be be walking up boldly bearing no weapon, looked as bland as week-old oatmeal, but something about him still caught the eye and held it.
He didn't look like a villain or a hero, great or vicious, he just looked red.
With a shiver going down his spine he remembered who else had just looked red and hadn't bothered to fill out their side of the fight. Even she had brought along one more priest. Who was this man?
And then the man became flame, and the flame became a dragon, scales glistening red as blood, its eyes two blazing sparks of ruin, its wings like the shadow of sudden death.
The part of Tom that was just a man, and one who'd lived a long life wandering from place to place and always knowing when he had overstayed his welcome, wanted to hide under his seat, but the part of him that was a singer and a storyteller itched to put ink to parchment, to consign verses to memory.
"Thou may proffer thine surrender and depart in peace, mortals," the dragon said in perfect if deliberately archaic Common, as though conferring some imperial boon, his dreadful gaze passing from one knight to the next.
Somehow, and Tom would never know what madness possessed them, none of the knights took him up on his offer. Old Benjicot spoke first in reply: "Generous as your offer is, it would be a poor showing before the people and the King alike."
The monster tilted its head, perhaps considering if he would be worth eating. "Well spoken, warrior. Thou art fools, but brave fools at least."
There was silence then as the horns were late to call, as though perhaps the ones who should have been blowing them had forgotten their place. Maybe they were pissing themselves in fear, Tom thought. He certainly wouldn't blame them.
Finally the mark was given, and so charged three knights afoot—a Dornishman, a Riverlander, and a Stormlander side by side. Blades struck scales harder than steel, throwing sparks in their wake. Spiked shields struck and rebounded as though against a mountain. An arrow hissed through the air aimed true and sure from a longbow of dragonbone fit to pierce the creature through the wing, but then another pair of wings, of smoke and shadow woven, rose up and caught it.
Of course it's a bloody sorcerer, too...
Tom never got to finish his thought, for the dragon fell upon Bonifer with claws and fangs rending, wings buffeting and tail lashing, the claws parted enchanted steel as though it were silk, but carefully all saw so as not to kill the knight within so as to make a point about the futility of fighting it.
Again the remaining knights struck with desperate strength and to seemingly as little avail, but Tom was sharp of eye and saw that where Benjicot had struck a single scale had been bent and twisted askew. The dragon must have noticed it too, for ignoring the arrows that glanced harmlessly off its scales it battered the knight aside like the fury of a fiery gale, but as he fell his hand went to his belt, something dark flashed between him and the Dornishman—the dagger he'd won in the joust.
The other knight lunged for it, seemingly beneath the dragon's notice. Then the burning eyes turned to him again...
Just as he was about to be divested of his armor, another arrow flew true, and once more the ghost wings flashed, turning it aside. Seeing his chance, the Dornishman slammed the Valyrian Steel blade between the dragon's scales, the movement so sudden it dislodged his helm.
A trickle of burning blood fell upon the sands.
The great beast battered him aside with less consideration than it had shown his fellows. From the looks of things one of his legs and both his arms were broken, but the bastard was still smiling through it somehow.
Ser Balon shot one final time, both arrows glancing off the dragon's snout when they had been aiming for the eyes, and then he too was briefly flung about like mouse in a cat's claws.
With a final snort of smoke and flame the dragon took human form again and departed whence he came.
As the crowd cheered and clapped with renewed vigor, Tom doubted there was anyone among them who had missed the fact that only weapons given from the Dragon King's own hands actually seemed to be able to harm the dragon... the other dragon, for the singer now believed the tales with all his heart. Nothing beyond another of its kind could have compelled that thing to fight by the rules.
OOC: For anyone wondering why Amrelath did not just use his breath, it's because unlike spells he can't tone it down. It's 12d10 or nothing, and he was concerned that he would reduce the knights to ash and then have to pay for the resurrection.
On the other hand I did make a very generous ruling and I don't think it is fair to walk it all the way back. How about for balance it can require some rare ingredient?
It's a pretty cheap item, but for a fairly low level Metamagic, too.
Hell, the Bracers of Arcane Freedom from the Magic Item Compendium only cost 230 IM and let you Still any two Arcane spells per day as a Swift Action. Needless to say, we've been equipping everyone who is eligible for them as quickly as possible.
EDIT: And a constant True Casting effect would only cost 400 IM by RAW. 800 IM for half that effectiveness is fair, IMO.
On the other hand I did make a very generous ruling and I don't think it is fair to walk it all the way back. How about for balance it can require some rare ingredient?
We have Empire grade WBL, Plane Shift, massive Divination support and Greater Teleport. Ingredient restrictions are kinda...less than effective at this point unless the ingredients you need have protections/counters to those things.
We have Empire grade WBL, Plane Shift, massive Divination support and Greater Teleport. Ingredient restrictions are kinda...less than effective at this point unless the ingredients you need have protections/counters to those things.
Even with divination it will still cost time and that is a valuable resource all on its own. On the other hand it is another mini-adventure potential for interludes.
