Artificer Battery Pack (3.5e Equipment)
Artificer Battery Pack: This vest is covered in colored lines that focus on a single Khyber dragonshard in the center. As your hand passes over the crystal, your hair stands on end and your hand feels slightly cold and weaker, as if it drained you of your life energy.
Though it can be used by artificers, this vest was originally designed by wizards who wanted to imitate the ability of artificers to create items with less expenditure of personal energy than others. The artificer battery pack functions as a limited, replenishable Craft Reserve for anyone who wears it.
The artificer battery pack only works whenever a character wearing it bestows a negative level or levels on a living creature, through a spell, ability, magic item, or any other means, and the target dies before the negative level or levels are removed. The vest then automatically creates a number of Craft Reserve points equal to the target's Total Hit Dice x the number of negative levels bestowed. These points function just like the Craft Reserve of an artificer, with the exceptions below.
The points are stored within the artificer battery pack, and it can only hold a limited amount of points based on it's caster level (see below). Any points generated beyond this threshold are lost. The points are not added to the actual Craft Reserve pool of an artificer if an artificer is wearing the vest, and they cannot in any way be transferred out of the vest except when creating a magic item. However, if they so choose, a wearer of the vest can put their own XP (or Craft Reserve, if they are an artificer) into the vest as a full-round action. However, this still count's towards the vest's maximum capacity. Taking off the vest does not cause the Craft Reserve points to be lost, and another character can put the vest on and benefit from any Craft Reserve points in the vest.
The minimum Caster Level required to create an artificer battery pack is 7th, but it can be made at different effective Caster Levels for the purposes of determining the maximum amount of Craft Reserve points it can contain, even lower than 7th, but no higher than the creator's own Caster Level. However, for all other purposes, it is considered a Caster Level 7th item. To determine maximum Craft Reserve, consult the Artificer table on page 30 of the Eberron Campaign Setting. Choose the level you are making the artificer battery pack at, and find the amount of Craft Reserve given to the Artificer at that level. This is the effective caster level of the vest, and the maximum amount of Craft Reserve the vest can hold. Artificers can use their +2 Item Creation bonus to meet the Caster Level prerequisite to make the vest, but not to determine it's effective Caster Level for the purposes of determining maximum Craft Reserve.
The price and cost of the artificer battery pack are variable, partially based off of the maximum Craft Reserve of the vest. In addition, the vest requires a Khyber dragonshard worth in gold pieces an amount equal to the maximum Craft Reserve (see page 19 of Magic of Eberron for information on Khyber dragonshards). The artificer battery pack can be created as an attached warforged component that occupies space on the body as a vest.
Moderate (DC 18) Necromancy;CL 7th; Craft Wondrous Item, Vampiric Touch, Enervation; Cost 1/2 of price (not including dragonshard) in gp, plus dragonshard; 1/25 of price (not including dragonshard) in XP; Activation: Use Activated; Weight: 7 lb.; Market Price: 5,000 gp + (max Craft Reserve of vest x 40), plus price of dragonshard
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