Crafting Relics

[Yaitanos]

So it appears as if the pricing on the relics is a little.. well odd. I've attempted to do the math, but it seems to be all over the place, anywhere from being half the the normal item costs without being a relic, to just a third. Does anyone know the formula for the reduction of cost for these items. I've priced both the higher level versions in the complete divine, and the lesser versions in the magic item compendium.

I'm not looking for optimization techniques, but more so the formula to re-flavor some of the relics, and perhaps craft brand new ones.

[Troacctid]

There is no formula. Magic item prices are determined by general design principles (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dd/20070316a), not by formulas.

[Oracle71]

Complete Divine (p 92) suggests as a starting point, you craft a "normal" magic item and then discount by 400 x spell slot level x minimum cleric level, with the "Spell" being the spell that a cleric would sacrifice in order to use the relics powers. Bear in mind though, that is the STARTING POINT. Ultimately, the DM would have to decide what cost is appropriate.