Crafting items and math fun.

[Dysjong]

Greetings!!

Once again, i am in need of some advice, expertise and whatever info you people would like to offer.

I am in the procces of making a item that i think would suite my epic charactor, a orb with some spells.

Having looked upon some sites, i am trying to understand how to make a item, in this case by using wonderous items and it really confuses me. When i try to do some calculations, sometimes i just seems to get some verrrry high numbers. It even gets more confusing when i try to calculated some of the items that has already been made.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#capeoftheMountebank

In my example, i tried to see if i could get the same GP price for a cape of the mountebank but somehow, i just get some reaaallly high numbers, spell level (4) x caster level (9) x 1800 = 64.800 gp... and the item lists as 10080 gp.

I dont mind math and doing some brainwork but sometimes, this system just confuses me and really discourages me, despite that i actually wanna learn this :/ If i can't understand the crafting system, then how can i rightly try and design my own magical item, atleast that is how i see it.

[Kudaku]

Your numbers are off for two reasons. First, because the Cape of the Mountebank has a bit of an informal discount in it (the item is priced as though it has CL 7, not 9) and secondly because you're skipping a step in the formula. Since the cape of the mountebank has a charge limitation, next you need to divide the price by the number of charges - the complete formula looks like this:

Spell Level (4) * Caster Level (7) * 1800 (command word) = 50 400.

50 400 / (5/1) = 10 080 GP.

That said, the most important rule when creating magic items is to take similar items into consideration and go with a price that "feels right". The magic item pricing system can be broken across your knee if you only rely on the formula system since it can't properly adjust for the variety of utility gained by having continuous or charged spells available.

The Pathfinder system uses the same formula system but has some really good advice on pricing items:


The correct way to price an item is by comparing its abilities to similar items (see Magic Item Gold Piece Values), and only if there are no similar items should you use the pricing formulas to determine an approximate price for the item. If you discover a loophole that allows an item to have an ability for a much lower price than is given for a comparable item, the GM should require using the price of the item, as that is the standard cost for such an effect. Most of these loopholes stem from trying to get unlimited uses per day of a spell effect from the "command word" or "use-activated or continuous" lines of Table: Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Values.

Example: Rob's cleric wants to create a heavy mace with a continuous true strike ability, granting its wielder a +20 insight bonus on attack rolls. The formula for a continuous spell effect is spell level × caster level × 2,000 gp, for a total of 2,000 gp (spell level 1, caster level 1). Jessica, the GM, points out that a +5 enhancement bonus on a weapon costs 50,000 gp, and the +20 bonus from true strike is much better than the +5 bonus from standard weapon enhancement, and suggests a price of 200,000 gp for the mace. Rob agrees that using the formula in this way is unreasonable and decides to craft a +1 heavy mace using the standard weapon pricing rules instead.

Example: Patrick's wizard wants to create bracers with a continuous mage armor ability, granting the wearer a +4 armor bonus to AC. The formula indicates this would cost 2,000 gp (spell level 1, caster level 1). Jessica reminds him that bracers of armor +4 are priced at 16,000 gp and Patrick's bracers should have that price as well. Patrick agrees, and because he only has 2,000 gp to spend, he decides to spend 1,000 gp of that to craft bracers of armor +1 using the standard bracer prices.

[Dysjong]

Okay, that helps me out a little, atleast with the understanding of how to work with it, thank you for that *Thumbs up*

Gonna try and see how i can make this orb of mine (reason for the orb is, why a staf? that is soo overused :P) I will be back for more.

[Kudaku]

Happy to help :smallsmile:.

If you come back and post the specifics of the orb once you've decided on what you want it to do we could probably help you find a decent price range. I haven't played 3.5 in a while though, so my advice might not be the most up to date, but I'm sure there are other posters here who will be happy to help.

[The Random NPC]

Don't forget, those are guidelines, not rules. Not every item will conform to them, and they might be adjusted in price to reflect their actual usability. For examples, a ring of Freedom of Movement should cost 56,000 gp, but costs 40,000. Another is the Boots of Speed, which should cost 60,000 gp, but cost 12,000.
Also things get wonky if you try to create an item that has 6 or more charges per day.

Math for item costs:
Freedom of Movement
4th level spell * 7th caster level * 2000 for continuous/use activated
Haste
3rd level spell * 5th caster level * 2000 for continuous/use activated / (5 for charged item / 10 charges per day)