Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - Sorceress Sally's Seaside Serpent Torc Shop

Anaraxes · 10-28-2018, 01:39 PM

I don't understand the question. The Rule of Five has to do with wearing magic items -- or more generally, having them active. Just owning magic items isn't limited, so all the ones sitting in a shop don't count. And I wouldn't think that turning a serpent torc into its snake form means that it stops counting as a magic item. It's just in a different form.

That leaves the aging of the snake. Personally, I wouldn't bother tracking the number of combat turns it was active. The persistence of damage suggests that it could be the same snake, so if you wanted to limit the item, you could track the age of the snake. Given that big snakes can live for 20 years (or even 50), you're talking about a hundred million turns of activity or more. Your players are probably going to die of old age in real life before you play out that many turns with their serpent torc active.

Or if you really want, you could have the snake grow old and die even if it's in torc form -- but then you ought to at least let the snake heal normally while it's in torc form. But that doesn't seem as much of a natural fit to the description of the item, or fit in with the usual magic item lifespan.

10-28-2018, 01:39 PM	#4
Anaraxes Join Date: Sep 2007	Re: Sorceress Sally's Seaside Serpent Torc Shop I don't understand the question. The Rule of Five has to do with wearing magic items -- or more generally, having them active. Just owning magic items isn't limited, so all the ones sitting in a shop don't count. And I wouldn't think that turning a serpent torc into its snake form means that it stops counting as a magic item. It's just in a different form. That leaves the aging of the snake. Personally, I wouldn't bother tracking the number of combat turns it was active. The persistence of damage suggests that it could be the same snake, so if you wanted to limit the item, you could track the age of the snake. Given that big snakes can live for 20 years (or even 50), you're talking about a hundred million turns of activity or more. Your players are probably going to die of old age in real life before you play out that many turns with their serpent torc active. Or if you really want, you could have the snake grow old and die even if it's in torc form -- but then you ought to at least let the snake heal normally while it's in torc form. But that doesn't seem as much of a natural fit to the description of the item, or fit in with the usual magic item lifespan.