Pricing a Magic Item

[Morof Stonehands]

So my DM gave me permission to craft some custom magic items for a character I might build. He will be an artificer crossbow user. The magic items in question are a set of repeating crossbow clips, that bestow the bane (DMG) and fiercebane (MiC) properties upon the bolts, as well as supply infinite ammo, like the Quiver of Plenty (Dragon Compendium), minus the special materials, they will all be wooden.

Looking at the creation for all of these, I will have to emulate the following spells: major creation and summon monster I. I will have to be at least caster level 9 for the infinite ammo part, and 8 for the bane/fiercebane.

I am curious to the price though. Would it be 26k gp for it? (18k from quiver of plenty, +2 bonus price from enhancements)

What would you guys price this at?

[Mnemnosyne]

I would not allow you to create a quiver of plenty that can produce infinite magical arrows for only an increase of 8000 gp. First off, the arrows would have to be +1 Fiercebane, because +1 is always needed before adding any more enchantments. That gives them a total of +3 value. Second, the 18000 gp that the +3 equivalent arrows would cost only gets you 50 of them. And the bane type must be specified ahead of time, you can't select it when drawing the arrow.

I would have to consider an item that gives a similar effect: producing infinite magical arrows with a strong ability on them. The Bow of the Solars (114 Exalted Deeds) turns any arrow it fires into a slaying arrow, selected at the time of firing. Its cost is 100,100 gp. Slaying arrows instantly kill on a failed DC 20 saving throw, which makes them better than Fiercebane in some ways, but slightly worse in other ways (since they allow a saving throw). When taking into account the price of the Bow of the Solars, I would consider your item to be worth a little less, because the bow also includes a +2 bonus for the bow itself (so, 8,000 gp less) which makes the price of the infinite arrows of slaying ability 92,000 or so. However, the Bow of the Solars doesn't produce its own ammo, it requires you to supply it with arrows which are then turned into slaying arrows, so if we added the Quiver of Plenty's 'create infinite ammo' ability, the price would go up by 18,000, making the total price 110,000. Then we can knock off about 20,000, maybe 25,000 for +1 fiercebane arrows being inferior to slaying arrows, giving us a total ballpark price of 85,000 to 90,000 gp or thereabouts. If I was really DMing you and you were asking to make this item, I would put more effort into researching similar abilities and considering the potential value, but 85k to 90k is a reasonable starting place.

[Gildedragon]

I don't see a cheap way to get around the fact that changing the name property around is expensive. I would advise +1 weapon and a number of 20k bane-fell bane dragonshards you attach and remove at convenience.

[Morof Stonehands]

Sorry if there was any confusion on this, it is not a generic bane weapon that works against all types, it will be keyed to a specific type of monster. That type is irrelevant as of right now, since it has no effect on the price. The idea is that I will be making a bunch of these, since fiercebane makes them glow, I can swap them out of my bandoleer when they light up.

I am assuming that my crossbow will be +1 at least, so normal ammunition can be used with it. My thinking is that the repeating bolt clip is part of the weapon, which will allow me to enhance the bolts with the properties.

[NoACWarrior]

I think we were talking about the cost of indestructible returning arrows (raptor arrows) in another thread but it died due to lack of interest.

I'll try to raise the prices again for the indestructable returning factor.

So its a +1 bane vs everything, returning, and indestructable arrow.

There are 31 types to be bane against, meaning each arrow might require a +32 enhancement bonus. This pricing comes out to nearly 41k per arrow.

If you instead simply go with a 5 variety = all bane, the arrow should be at +6. This would make the pricing around 1440 per arrow without returning, or +7 and 1960 with returning. The cost per arrow would be 4040 gold for the indestructible quality. You should instead apply a +bonus modifier to get a little better pricing to apply to your bolts, with a +12 arrow costing 5760 - very near the 6006 that they give us for the raptor arrows. This is an increase of +5 over the all bane returning arrows.

I'd price the indestructable element at a +5 bonus making your fierce bane indestructable returning bolt cost 3240 gp. Just refluff that the bolts simply reappear in the repeating cartridge at the beginning of the next turn.

I'll remind you that you don't actually need to toss bane on the bolts, as fierce bane has no requirements.

[Gildedragon]

Hmmm. So that's what it was. I remembered there were bane against everything arrows; that's the raptor arrows. So the cost of the ability can be divined by taking into account the class restriction of the relic...

On a related note: might as well make the x-bow out of serrenwood

[John Longarrow]

Shawnspl

A different approach would be to make your crossbow, give it ghost reload and a creat bolt feature.

Then make weaon crystals for each of the Bane effects you want.

Would that meet your desire?

[Mnemnosyne]

I'll remind you that you don't actually need to toss bane on the bolts, as fierce bane has no requirements.
This is incorrect. Fiercebane has a synergy prerequisite of Bane, which means the weapon must have Bane enchanted on it before Fiercebane can be added.

As for the rest... If you're not planning to make it adjust the bane upon drawing the arrow and each quiver will be locked to a single bane target, then I think pricing out 18000 for the quiver and another 18000 for +3 arrows is somewhat reasonable, making it 36,000 total. A melee weapon doesn't exhaust itself after 50 strikes, and I see no reason to make ranged weapons more expensive than melee as far as enchantments go, really, even though they technically are by the rules. There's already an 18k gp surcharge for the quiver, no reason to increase that further.

However, that 36,000 total is more than a third of the 85k to 90k I found reasonable for one that can select type on drawing, so it's pretty expensive to do it that way. This price would be better saved for something that doesn't require individual choice per target.

[Morof Stonehands]

Shawnspl

A different approach would be to make your crossbow, give it ghost reload and a creat bolt feature.

Then make weaon crystals for each of the Bane effects you want.

Would that meet your desire?

What are the rules (or guidelines most likely) on making weapon crystals? Because that might actually be better, depending on how I can go about making them.

[NoACWarrior]

This is incorrect. Fiercebane has a synergy prerequisite of Bane, which means the weapon must have Bane enchanted on it before Fiercebane can be added.

As for the rest... If you're not planning to make it adjust the bane upon drawing the arrow and each quiver will be locked to a single bane target, then I think pricing out 18000 for the quiver and another 18000 for +3 arrows is somewhat reasonable, making it 36,000 total. A melee weapon doesn't exhaust itself after 50 strikes, and I see no reason to make ranged weapons more expensive than melee as far as enchantments go, really, even though they technically are by the rules. There's already an 18k gp surcharge for the quiver, no reason to increase that further.

However, that 36,000 total is more than a third of the 85k to 90k I found reasonable for one that can select type on drawing, so it's pretty expensive to do it that way. This price would be better saved for something that doesn't require individual choice per target.

The entry title has the [Synergy] tag, but there is no instance of prerequisites, or entry regarding that the weapon is required to have bane before being enchanted. I just read it as a typo for the tag.

[Gildedragon]

What are the rules (or guidelines most likely) on making weapon crystals? Because that might actually be better, depending on how I can go about making them.

Dragonshard Pommel Stones: Forge of War (Eberron)

[Morof Stonehands]

The entry title has the [Synergy] tag, but there is no instance of prerequisites, or entry regarding that the weapon is required to have bane before being enchanted. I just read it as a typo for the tag.

Not sure where you are reading it, but my copy of the MiC has it all, the synergy tag, the prerequisite in the stat block, and written details about having to choose the same type of enemy as the prerequisite property.


Dragonshard Pommel Stones: Forge of War (Eberron)

While these are neat, they are more expensive than an actual weapon, take an entire minute to attune, and apply to melee weapons. I will keep these in mind though.

[ericgrau]

So my DM gave me permission to craft some custom magic items for a character I might build. He will be an artificer crossbow user. The magic items in question are a set of repeating crossbow clips, that bestow the bane (DMG) and fiercebane (MiC) properties upon the bolts, as well as supply infinite ammo, like the Quiver of Plenty (Dragon Compendium), minus the special materials, they will all be wooden.

Looking at the creation for all of these, I will have to emulate the following spells: major creation and summon monster I. I will have to be at least caster level 9 for the infinite ammo part, and 8 for the bane/fiercebane.

I am curious to the price though. Would it be 26k gp for it? (18k from quiver of plenty, +2 bonus price from enhancements)

What would you guys price this at?
There is a minimum of +1 enhancement bonus so you're at a total of +3 with the two +1 equivalent enchantments. Then 18k + (3*3*2k) = 36k. I would call the two enchantments related and so there would be no cost increase for combining them.