Adding magic together: what's the cost?

[graeylin]

Okay, let's say I want to combine a belt of healing with a belt of giant's strength.

Belt of healing, 750
Belt of Giant's strength, 16000

Per the SRD, I multiply one of the items by 1.5 to determine the cost of adding it.

Adding New Abilities: If the item is one that occupies a specific place on a character’s body the cost of adding any additional ability to that item increases by 50%. For example, if a character adds the power to confer invisibility to her ring of protection +2, the cost of adding this ability is the same as for creating a ring of invisibility multiplied by 1.5.

But it really doesn't say which one I apply the 1.5 increase too. Do I get to choose? Do I assume one is "original" and the other "additive"?

The MIC implies that I should apply the 1.5 to the more added item, implying that order is important (but then confuses me in parenthesis)...

"the cost of adding any additional ability to that item is 1.5 times the value of the added power (or the value of the added power plus 1/2 the value of the existing item, if the added power normally costs more than the existing item)"

So, does that mean adding healing to a belt of giant's strength costs an additional 8750 (half the giant strength plus the healing)? Or only an additional 1125(1.5 * 750)?

[Zanos]

The MIC over complicated the wording. IIRC the cost of creating a combined magic item is just the price of the more expensive one plus the price of the cheaper one *1.5:

(Expensive Property) + (Cheaper Property*1.5) = Cost

[MesiDoomstalker]

Zanos is correct. However in he case of [generic bonus] item, like Belt of Giant Strength, there is no price modifier for stacking onto another magic item. So your belt would be 16,750.

[graeylin]

thank you both!