Fireball item 10/day pushes user back....Calculating Cost?

[fluffy32]

Rod of Randomness 10/day roll 1d4: 1-acid, 2-fire, 3-electricity, 4-cold
As fireball, 20ft burst 10d6 element damage.
Caster level: 10
So magic item value is: "Use-activated"(DMG 285)
spell level * caster level * 2,000gp divided by 'charges per day'
3*10*2,000 / (5/10) = 120,000gp

If anyone can explain to me how they get 49,000gp for Boots of Teleportation, 3,000gp for Metamagic enlarge(least) rod, or 10,080gp for Cape of the Mountebank; I'd like to know that too.

[AnonymousPepper]

Metamagic rods have their own separate formula. It's weird.

[Seerow]

Rod of Randomness 10/day roll 1d4: 1-acid, 2-fire, 3-electricity, 4-cold
As fireball, 20ft burst 10d6 element damage.
Caster level: 10
So magic item value is: "Use-activated"(DMG 285)
spell level * caster level * 2,000gp divided by 'charges per day'
3*10*2,000 / (5/10) = 120,000gp

If anyone can explain to me how they get 49,000gp for Boots of Teleportation, 3,000gp for Metamagic enlarge(least) rod, or 10,080gp for Cape of the Mountebank; I'd like to know that too.

The cost for charges per day is wonky. If you just made it at will you'd get 60,000gp, because the charges cost makes it so as soon as you hit 5 charges it is the same cost as at will. You basically paid more to limit yourself because yay broken guidelines.

Drop it to 3/day and that will drop to 36,000gp. If you really want to stick with the 10 charges you're going to have to wing it.

[fluffy32]

The cost for charges per day is wonky. If you just made it at will you'd get 60,000gp, because the charges cost makes it so as soon as you hit 5 charges it is the same cost as at will. You basically paid more to limit yourself because yay broken guidelines.

Drop it to 3/day and that will drop to 36,000gp. If you really want to stick with the 10 charges you're going to have to wing it.

36,000gp seems about right for 3/day. But 60k seems to high for 10/day. On the other hand, for my party making it 3/day and 36k will help keep their overwhelming gold value down(oopsie, I wonder whose fault that was)...

Anyways, don't comment/reply unless you feel you have a fair formula.

[Andezzar]

The cost for charges per day is wonky. If you just made it at will you'd get 60,000gp, because the charges cost makes it so as soon as you hit 5 charges it is the same cost as at will. You basically paid more to limit yourself because yay broken guidelines.

Drop it to 3/day and that will drop to 36,000gp. If you really want to stick with the 10 charges you're going to have to wing it.
The idea behind it is that you probably won't need one spell more than 5 times per day. So being able to use it more often should not be more expensive. Blasting spells are one of the few where you can reasonably assume that a caster would like to use them more often - if he is one of those who prefer not to use one of the encounter ending spells.

[Jack_Simth]

If anyone can explain to me how they get 49,000gp for Boots of Teleportation, 3,000gp for Metamagic enlarge(least) rod, or 10,080gp for Cape of the Mountebank; I'd like to know that too.

Cape of the Monteback: spell level 4 (Dimension Door), caster level 7, command word (1800), 1/day (1/5) = 4*7*1800*(1/5)=10,080
Boots of Teleportation: Spell level 5 (Teleport), caster level 9, command word (1800), 3/day (3/5) = 48,600 (rounded up to 49,000).
Guidelines for these are found Here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm#tableEstimatingMagicItemGol dPieceValues), but do be warned: It's called Estimating for a reason, it's from the DMG (not intended for player use), and don't forget:
Not all items adhere to these formulas directly. The reasons for this are several. First and foremost, these few formulas aren’t enough to truly gauge the exact differences between items. The price of a magic item may be modified based on its actual worth. The formulas only provide a starting point. The pricing of scrolls assumes that, whenever possible, a wizard or cleric created it. Potions and wands follow the formulas exactly. Staffs follow the formulas closely, and other items require at least some judgment calls.

Metamagic Rods: Unclear how they picked the values, but if you look at the numbers:
Metamagic adjustment:Lesser/Normal/Greater
+1:3k/11k/24.5k
+2:9k/32.5k/73k
+3:14k/54k/121.5k
+4:35k/75.5k/170k
Doesn't seem to be any readily identifiable pattern for the Lesser metamagic rods, however for the medium rods it's 11k base, +21.5k per spell level adjustment beyond the original +1. For the greater rods it's 24.5k base, +48.5k per spell level adjustment beyond +1.

As to the item in question:

Rod of Randomness 10/day roll 1d4: 1-acid, 2-fire, 3-electricity, 4-cold
As fireball, 20ft burst 10d6 element damage.
Caster level: 10
So magic item value is: "Use-activated"(DMG 285)
spell level * caster level * 2,000gp divided by 'charges per day'
3*10*2,000 / (5/10) = 120,000gp
If it were just an at-will fireball (to which 10/day is close enough, unless you regularly have 5+ encounters a day that last 2+ rounds), it'd be:
Spell Level (3) * caster level (10) * command-word base (1,800) = 54,000 gp market as the book-estimate. For a direct-damage reflex half with a save DC of 14. Theoretically within WBL at 11th, more practically 13th when it's less than 50% of WBL. Uses up the "held" virtual slot.

However, you're putting a variable element on it (which on the one hand means that it's usually at least slightly useful, but on the other means it's not predictable against any opponent with elemental resistance). Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on the campaign. "Pushes user back" is unclear on how much it's worth, likewise. So start at 54k market and push it up or down based on how useful you see it actually being in the campaign.

[SinsI]

So magic item value is: "Use-activated"(DMG 285)
I'm pretty sure it has to be "command word" istead of "Use-activated".

[Jack_Simth]

I'm pretty sure it has to be "command word" istead of "Use-activated".
Doesn't have to be, that's up to the DM... but you're going to want to figure out what you mean by use activated in this case. If, for instance, it's fired like a bow (and gets iterative usages like a bow would), then it's very useful (hand it to the fighter-13: 10d6 always save-for-half three times a round [four with Haste] is close to worth the 60k estimate expense in a low to mid op campaign).

[Crake]

However, you're putting a variable element on it (which on the one hand means that it's usually at least slightly useful, but on the other means it's not predictable against any opponent with elemental resistance). Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on the campaign. "Pushes user back" is unclear on how much it's worth, likewise. So start at 54k market and push it up or down based on how useful you see it actually being in the campaign.

It's worth noting that energy substitution is a +0 cost metamagic, so for the purposes of magic item creation, changing energy type to those that energy substitution is capable of has no bearing whatsoever.

If you were changing it to say, sonic or force, then that would be a different circumstance.

[atemu1234]

It's worth noting that energy substitution is a +0 cost metamagic, so for the purposes of magic item creation, changing energy type to those that energy substitution is capable of has no bearing whatsoever.

If you were changing it to say, sonic or force, then that would be a different circumstance.

I now want to see an invisible metamagic rod of Invisible spell.