[Raven Bloodmoon]

I say it is not cursed. Just a real pain in the butt if you get it locked on you. And yes, expensive is a good way to put it. I would also include something about what it takes to put it on a struggling unwiling person. I could so see someone trying to latch such a bracer on a troublesome lich.

[Keth Durgan]

Sorry about the long silence. I've been doing a lot of thinking about some of the questions and arguments posed here.

The way I see it, these are only likely to be used once a spellcaster is already in custody. For example, a powerful mage is ready to stand trial for crimes against humanity, so they slap these bracers on him. To keep him from putting up too much of a fight, there's a few dozen armed escorts ready to skewer him at the first hint of a spell. Or perhaps they force him into an antimagic field where they can manhandle him around until he cooperates.

Honestly, I hadn't thought much about somebody trying to put these onto another character in combat. Perhaps I should add something about how long it takes these to be attached.

On the subject of making the character invulnerable to magical attack, WoeTheSinner said exactly what I was thinking. These do not project an antimagic field, they act in a manner *similar* to a field in that they prevent the wearer from casting spells.

I think I'll up the price on these, as they should probably only be used by large cities or states with the necessary means to create and use them properly. I'm standing behind their potential, though.

[super sorcerer]

If what you realy want is something that take a long time to put on you could use the "Mark Of Justice" spell so he get -6 penalty to intelligence/charisma/wisdom (whatever his primary spellcasting ability is) if he try to cast spells. If you don't think it is enough then you could use also the 50% to loose an action with the first "Mark of Justice" spell and let see if that mage would even try to cast spells. Please remember there is no save against Mark of Justice so the powerfull mage can't realy resist.

[Ssri-Tel-Quessir Hitokiri]

Depending on how the cosmology of your world works, you could just say that the bracers remove the person wearing them from accessing the Weave of magic. That way it could still be considered a curse of sorts and leave the wearer from casting spells. There are problems with this idea too but it could be a little easier than dealing with the entire anti-magic field thing.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Actaully, either a greater curse or a wish should be capable of severing a person's ability to use magic. And it would make more sense as a curse and not an anti-magic feild. Then again, I believe that will rather increase the cost of these bracers.

[Fisban42]

If you are worried about your PC's using these after they escape you could always point out that the "Curse" is placed on the bracers prior to being used (perhaps by a mage under the employment of the city) and the ring that unlocks/disables them (also specially created and tuned to a certain pair) removes the "Curse" rendering the bracers nothing but a typical pair of manacles or what have you, worth next to nothing. (or you could NOT tell them that and let them figure it out later when they attempt to use them on a powerful sorcerer, or ask a shopkeep how much they are worth and he tells them 15 gold )

[Raven Bloodmoon]

But what if they don't break the enchantment and instead wait for someone to take them off for them and then nip out the window with a set?

[Vaskre]

Sorry if this was brought up before, (I didn't read everyone's reply), but since it functions like an anti-magic field specifically on the creature in question, technically couldn't these be put on a non-caster to prevent them from being affected by magic?

Just a thought.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

You actually have a good point, Vaskre. They could just as easily be Bracelets of Proof against Magic, so to speak. Just depends on how you view them...

[Vaskre]

If the bracers were also shackles that bound someone's hands behinds their back, then it wouldn't be so beneficial to a fighter. It'd still be very useful for a monk though. (Unarmed attacks can be made with any limb without penalty, so, even if his hands were bound by wearing these, he could still kick and essentially perform all of his attacks.0

[super sorcerer]

If all you want is a curse you could simply use "bestew curse" bracers to reduce the primary casting ability by 6. On low levels it means no more spellcasting and on higher levels it simply reduce the maximum spell level you can cast by 6. For example if you use the elite array then a 18th level wizard who have inteligence of 19 will not be able to cast even dimention door (of course when you arrest someone you take all his magic items so it mean no enhancement bonus). Of coure wizards have a problem to cast spells with hands behind their back unless they preapered still spell ahead of time.

[Raven Bloodmoon]

That is an idea, but as you said, you have the issue of no tnuking high-level wizards' power completely. Remember that most dnd NPCs are 1st level, so even a stilled 2nd level spell at caste rlevel 18 would hurt like all hell. Also, what if you have a sorcerer that is pretending to be a wizard? Or an FS mascarading as a cleric? Now you nuke hte wrong ability and woops....that's really bad.

[blacxthornE]

Sorry for digging this up, but hey, that's what I do, no?.. Okay.

I really have a problem with too much technicality. Ssri-Tel-Quessir-Hitokiri's theory about the Weave is a simple one, and the best yet as I see it.

One more thing... The unlockability is a good idea, but what do you think is the link between the ring and the bracers is? Anyone thought why would anyone know that the ring is for the bracers? I thought of a symbol carved on them, maybe... Or is just Identifying the items enough to know that?

And is it really possible to make people wear bracers during a grapple? How many hands does this grappling guy have?

[Raven Bloodmoon]

Well, if the grappler is a marilith.....

[Torap]

I'm sorry, but I had to gravedig this one with such a simple solution in mind. One bracer is a curse of %75 arcane failiure, and the other does %25 arcane failiure and silence. Option two would be Mind muddling, Where concentration dc 40(more or less if you want) overcomes but every failed attempt to cast deal 1d6 points of damage per spell level and 1d4 points of damage per caster level. Another option would be attribute damage 1d4 per failer to the used atribute. (i.e. wizard takes inteligence damage, sorcerer; charisma, ect.) This is actualy a pretty sweet item....