Creating a magic item with two continuous effects I can pick between (or deactivate)

Question

I was working on a magic item belt in Pathfinder. The belt is going to provide the standard boosts to Str/Dex/Con.

However, I also want it to have a split property, and I'm struggling with how to pull it off: I want it to give me a continuous activation of reduce person or enlarge person or for neither one to be active.

It's simple to just add both enlarge and reduce to the belt as continuous costs, but that doesn't give me the effect I want. At the same point in time I can't just say that one effect is happening but not the other one. I don't want to go the route of x-activations.

Is there some way to work an activation and deactivation into the continuous item?

Answer 1

1. An item which is usable at-will is almost as good as a continuous effect for many users.

2. If the item can be made with a conditional requirement for activation (e.g. when the switch is in the 'Large' position) as per intermittent functioning for cursed items, this is trivial. Unfortunately no rules for price or prerequisite modification exist, which deters some GMs from allowing this powerful subsystem in play.

3. If you're allowed to break Wealth By Level guidelines (WBL), you can buy 2-3 belts and swap 'em as needed.

   • You can use additional magics (e.g. mage hand, swift girding, animate rope) to rotate between them handlessly and with ease. The three belts can then be themselves placed within a non-magical (I'm thinking woven lead) sleeve so as to form one cohesive item from the perspective of onlookers while remaining three items from the perspective of the world.

4. The most common rulings by far on what happens if you wear more magic items than you have slots is that none of the items of the type of slot you've exceeded function. The second most common ruling, in my experience, is that only the allowed number of items function, and you choose which ones are active and the others are inactive. If this latter ruling is in effect consider just wearing lots of belts:

   

5. Worst comes to worst, you can do this with continual Limited Wish, or a couple other spell-copying spells, but it's stupidly expensive. You could also use contingency in the crafting with similar problems.