Magic Item Creation XP cost

[RhymarJared]

There doesn't seem to be any official RAW rules for this, but I may be wrong.

I play a level 24 artificer which is interested in magic item creation (duh) and just got the Craft Epic Wondrous Item feat. The costs in XP are pretty expensive, but I have a couple ways to compensate for it (as in generating enough riches to buy the magic items in a capital and draining the XP out of them), but I'm kinda impatient and wish to start now instead of "in several weeks" because the other playes are not stuck in time in the process. I currently am at 276,975/300,000XP and was interrested in knowing if I could use that whole 276,975XP or if spending all of it would get me level penalties.

Basically, my question is: if I spend that whole XP, am I still considered level 24 but will have to regain all the XP lost to gain the 25th level (or use a thought bottle), or will the XP cost reduce my effective level?

[ExLibrisMortis]

You can't spend XP if that would put you below the total required for your current level.

You need at least 276.000 XP to be level 24, so you can currently spend - at most - 975 XP.

If you lose a level, you are put halfway your current level and the next, which would be 264.500 XP for you. You would be able to spend 11.500 XP. If you then cure the lost level... well, that's how book-throwing gets started.

[RhymarJared]

You can't spend XP if that would put you below the total required for your current level.

You need at least 276.000 XP to be level 24, so you can currently spend - at most - 975 XP.

If you lose a level, you are put halfway your current level and the next, which would be 264.500 XP for you. You would be able to spend 11.500 XP. If you then cure the lost level... well, that's how book-throwing gets started.

I do understand this logic well. But could I ask of where you got the source? I tried to get a chapter of any book or errata to tell me this, but I couldn't find it. My DM is kinda influenced by RAW and wish to have a definitive answer with this method.

[KillianHawkeye]

I do understand this logic well. But could I ask of where you got the source? I tried to get a chapter of any book or errata to tell me this, but I couldn't find it. My DM is kinda influenced by RAW and wish to have a definitive answer with this method.

In the beginning of the Feats chapter where it explains how Item Creation feats work. Player's Handbook 3.5, page 88.

[RhymarJared]

In the beginning of the Feats chapter where it explains how Item Creation feats work. Player's Handbook 3.5, page 88.

Thanks a lot for the pointer. That way, I won't thouroughly break my DM's game balance. But since it's a gestalt, optimizing-based game, the game balance is already thrown out the window.

[Doctor Despair]

If I remember correctly, there is a trick using a ton of people (take leadership or just pay them), nipple rings of exquisite pain, symbols of pain, and a spell clock with... a spell that turns happiness into ambrosia that churns out infinite XP for crafting. Could avoid the whole issue. :p

[Zanos]

If I remember correctly, there is a trick using a ton of people (take leadership or just pay them), nipple rings of exquisite pain, symbols of pain, and a spell clock with... a spell that turns happiness into ambrosia that churns out infinite XP for crafting. Could avoid the whole issue. :p
Distilled Joy, BoED, and Extract Pain, BoVD.
The symbol induces pain, the nipple clamps(seriously, why?) turn that into pleasure. Extract Pain/Distilled Joy then farm Liquid Agony/Ambrosia from the subjects, making them crafting XP farms. Spell clocks bypass the 24 hour cast times on those spells.

OP might want to look at the cost reduction handbook (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=1000.0).