Please help me understand Homunculus

[Rezialn]

So I'm playing an Artificer. I'm a little confused on all of the costs related to making a homunculus. I'm trying to create a Dedicated Wright. I want to make the scrolls to emulate the spells myself.

Feat:
Extraordinary Artisan: When determining the gold piece cost in raw materials you need to craft any item, reduce the base price by 25%.

Scribe Scroll: You can create a scroll of any spell that you know. Scribing a scroll takes one day for each 1,000 gp in its base price. The base price of a scroll is its spell level x its caster level x 25 gp. To scribe a scroll, you must spend 1/25 of this base price in XP and use up raw materials costing one-half of this base price. Any scroll that stores a spell with a costly material component or an XP cost also carries a commensurate cost. In addition to the costs derived from the base price, you must expend the material component or pay the XP when scribing the scroll.

A dedicated wright is molded from clay, glazed with a
mixture of arcane unguents and the creator's blood, and
fired in a kiln. The materials cost 100 gp. Creating the
body requires a DC 14 Craft (pottery) check.
A dedicated wright with more than 1 Hit Die can be
created, but each additional Hit Die adds 2,000 gp to the
cost to create.
Craft Construct, arcane eye, fabricate; Price—(never sold);
Cost 2,100 gp+ 160 XP.


http://dndtools.eu/spells/players-handbook-v35--6/arcane-eye--2475/
http://dndtools.eu/spells/players-handbook-v35--6/fabricate--2812/

What ends up being the gold and exp costs?

[Nirhael]

Base price for Arcane Eye Scroll=700gp
-25% (Extraordinary Artisan)=525gp
50% (Scribe Scroll)=262gp 5sp
700/25=28 XP

Base price for Fabricate Scroll=1125gp
-25% (Extraordinary Artisan)=843gp 7sp 5cp
50% (Scribe Scroll)=421gp 8sp 7.5cp (8cp)
1125/25=45 XP

Base price for Dedicated Wright body=100gp
-25% (Extraordinary Artisan)=75gp
+160 XP
+2000gp*1 HD

Wizard emulation total=2759gp 3sp 8cp+233 XP

Base price for Arcane Eye Scroll=150gp
-25% (Extraordinary Artisan)=112gp 5sp
50% (Scribe Scroll)=56gp 2sp 5cp
150/25=6 XP

Base price for Fabricate Scroll=375gp
-25% (Extraordinary Artisan)=281gp 2sp 5cp
50% (Scribe Scroll)=140gp 6sp 2.5cp (3cp)
375/25=15 XP

Base price for Dedicated Wright body=100gp
-25% (Extraordinary Artisan)=75gp
+160 XP
+2000gp*1 HD

Trapsmith emulation total=2271gp 8sp 8cp+181 XP

Mind you, the 2000gp HD cost may or may not be material-related (it's not specified), ask your DM about it.

[Afgncaap5]

Well, first comes crafting the body. That'd likely take about a week depending (more or less depending on how awesome your craft check is), and if I understand the rules properly you'll be able to craft this for 75 gold.

Meanwhile, you don't actually need to create the scrolls unless you really want to. You can just roll a UMD check to emulate each of these spells. As a 2000 gp item (we can ignore the body cost in this part), it'll take you two days to craft. During each of these days, plus one more time as a last ditch effort if you need it, you can attempt to create emulate the spell, with a DC 24 for Fabricate and DC 25 for Arcane Eye. (Once you succeed for one of the spells, you don't have to keep trying. If you need every try, be sure to try to make it for your fourth and final attempt.)

To craft it, you'll need 2000 gp of raw materials (you've already made the body, don't worry about that), but you only need to pay 1500 gp of that thanks to your feat.

If you *really* want to make the scrolls instead, it'll cost you an extra two days, and more gold for each scroll.

Edit: Beaten to the punch (plus I forgot entirely that you wanted XP as well. Pathfinder has spoiled me.)

[Nirhael]

you can attempt to create emulate the spell, with a DC 24 for Fabricate and DC 25 for Arcane Eye.

You know, I knew something felt wrong when I was doing the math, I didn't bother re-reading the Artificer emulation ability and forgot the specifics.

So in other words, the math up there isn't worth anything, all you need is the body (75gp), the HD costs (2000gp or 1500gp) and 160 XP, no need to make scrolls if your UMD is high enough.

[Afgncaap5]

Now, if you *do* ever want scrolls for future purposes, that math still works. You could make a similar homunculus for someone else with those scrolls if you don't want to emulate them in the future for some reason.

Or if you just want to have an extra scroll of Fabricate or Arcane Eye. You really never know when things like that'll come in handy.

[Rezialn]

Oh, I see. I thought emulating the spell meant I needed to make scrolls or something else in place of the spells.

Thanks for the help!

[TuggyNE]

Oh, I see. I thought emulating the spell meant I needed to make scrolls or something else in place of the spells.

You can do that without being an Artificer, actually; using items that cast prerequisite spells for crafting is supported in Core.

[Afgncaap5]

True, though unfortunately, artificers are the only ones who can use UMD to emulate magic spells for the purposes of item creation. I actually had a long discussion with a friend about whether or not a very, very specialized rogue could use UMD to create magic items if desired in a fashion similar to artificers. We ultimately decided that it couldn't be done since UMD isn't written to work that way for most other characters, and since rogues don't have a "caster level" to work with.

Though I did decide that if ever a player wanted that to pretty much be the character's gimmick, I'd allow it as a one-time house rule.