Simple magic item creation help.

[Rockbeard]

I'm trying to make simple magic item and have been breaking my mind on the math. All i want to do is make a magic item like a weapon crystal or worn item that lets you cast Rhino's rush when you charge like 3/day or more or less but probs just 3/day.
Its for my 1/barbarain 6/warblade shock trooper.

Everything I've seen doing this always using some other spell and figures to advanced for my current understanding of magic item creation. I just need a simple low level example and i could probably work from there.
Mostly i just need to know the market cost.

All advice and help is appreciated. Thank you for your time.

[Saintheart]

Probably best to do this via creating a Custom Magic Item.
(http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm)
We start with: so you want to have Rhino's Rush active when you charge, 3 times per day. That means you want to grant the effect of a spell, three times per day. So we need to work out what the market price of such an item would be. When we look on the tables, that sets the cost at spell level x caster level x 2,000 gp:

- Spell Level is 1, because Rhino's Rush is a level 1 spell.
- Caster Level is 1, because if a cleric has the Wrath domain, they can cast that spell at first level. The rules tell us we calculate the market price of an item on the minimum possible caster level needed to cast the spell.
- 2,000 gp multiplier because you're creating an item that can be used either continuously or activated when you use it. That 2,000 gp multiplier may seem steep, but by creating such an item you're avoiding the normal control mechanism of a spell's utility being constrained by how many slots you've got to cast with. Anyway...

So, it seems our item should cost about 2000 gp to start with. But that's not the end of the process.

You're only looking to cast the spell 3 times per day, so you divide the price by 5/3 = 1.66, roughly. (The reason for that being that the 2,000 gp multiplier assumes you're going to be casting the spell at least 5 times per day. You're only casting it three times per day maximum, so the cost is accordingly less.)

But the item is not a body slot item either; if you make it a weapon crystal, it doesn't take up a body slot like a cloak, or a ring, or a vest, or whatnot. This doubles the price.

Thus, 2,000/1.66 x 2 = 2409 gp and some change.

If you make it a worn item where the body slot has an affinity with the spell, e.g. Bracers of Rhino's Rush, then it'd be a lot cheaper: 1204 gp or similar.


There are a bunch of tricks you can use to bring the price of the item down -- make it only usable by a certain class, or a certain alignment -- but if I understand the creation of magic item rules right, that's the guts of making a 3/day Bracers of Rhino's Rush. Frankly, if you wanted to make a set of Bracers of Rhino's Rush usable any time you charge, then the cost isn't that bad: 1 x 1 x 2,000 = 2,000 gp. As said, if you made it so the item can only be used by a Barbarian who coincidentally has precisely the same alignment as you, the price can be brought down to around the 1,000 gp mark.

In terms of what feat you'd need to make the thing: all these assume you're using Craft Wondrous Item. You'd only go with Craft Magic Arms and Armor if you absolutely wanted to duplicate the slotless nature of a weapon crystal, which basically doubles the cost.

Of course, all of this assumes your GM reads, understands, and then applies the magic item creation rules. Not all of them do, mainly because DMs tend to prefer having items around that the system already takes account of and which are therefore "balanced". (They aren't - witness the Healing Belt which at 750 gp makes potions of Cure Light Wounds essentially pointless, or indeed the spell Lesser Vigor which makes more or less the entire Cure X Wounds line obsolete. Comes down to the fact that a lot of level 1 spells are far more useful than their seemingly-puny nature would first suggest.)

[Rockbeard]

wow thanks this is a great help. pulling the math down to this base level really helps to understand it.
if i may follow up with just a few questions to make sure im getting this right.

first question: when you said "If you make it a worn item where the body slot has an affinity with the spell, e.g. Bracers of Rhino's Rush, then it'd be a lot cheaper: 1204 gp or similar." is that price the cost to make or the market. as from what i understand market is normally double. so to say buy said bracers would be 2408 gp or similar correct?

and second question: the bracers that are always when charge. that would be a constant effect right? is that really that cheap to make a constant? also i assume if thats cost to make then those are 4k to buy.

once again thank you for your time and effort on this question of mine your a great help.

[Saintheart]

wow thanks this is a great help. pulling the math down to this base level really helps to understand it.
if i may follow up with just a few questions to make sure im getting this right.

first question: when you said "If you make it a worn item where the body slot has an affinity with the spell, e.g. Bracers of Rhino's Rush, then it'd be a lot cheaper: 1204 gp or similar." is that price the cost to make or the market. as from what i understand market is normally double. so to say buy said bracers would be 2408 gp or similar correct?

Nope, the market price would be 1,204 gp. The cost to create it would be half that, 602 gp. The reason it seems so insanely cheap is because of the restriction you've originally mentioned that it can only be used 3 times per day. That justifies us using the "Charges per day" line.


and second question: the bracers that are always when charge. that would be a constant effect right? is that really that cheap to make a constant? also i assume if thats cost to make then those are 4k to buy.

Nope. Rhino's Rush is not a constant effect. Per the spell's own rules, you only get the benefit when you charge, and the spell itself is a swift action to activate, right ahead of a charge. It would be classed as a use-activated item, i.e. you only use it when you charge, and you'd only use it 3 times per day. And even better for our purposes, the spell lasts only 1 round.

Look on the examples line of the table where it refers to Boots of Teleportation, which are also usable 3 times per day. The only reason those boots are horrendously expensive -- 49,000 gp market price -- is mainly because you need to be a 9th level caster and it's a fifth level spell. If you wanted boots with unlimited charges, the market price would be a flat 5 [spell level] x 9 [Caster Level] x 2,000gp = 90,000 gp. Because you can only use the spell 3 times per day, the price comes down to around the 54,000 mark, which more or less matches the SRD item's market price of 49,000 gp.

The only question mark is this note on the SRD table:


If a continuous item has an effect based on a spell with a duration measured in rounds, multiply the cost by 4. If the duration of the spell is 1 minute/level, multiply the cost by 2, and if the duration is 10 minutes/level, multiply the cost by 1.5. If the spell has a 24-hour duration or greater, divide the cost in half.

Rhino's Rush does not have a duration measured in rounds. It lasts one round. And I'd argue that its effect is on your next charge in one round, it isn't a constant-buff that's applied like a Bull's Strength or something like that. That said, if you wanted to negotiate with your DM, you could easily say "Okay, I'll accept the cost should be x4", and your base market price is still about 4,800 gp (1,204 x 4) and change. Which you can then knock down by customising the item to only be used by barbarians and people of your character's alignment. If you wanted to remove all doubt, you'd look for a spell which adds bonus damage but which doesn't have a duration measured in rounds.

[Rockbeard]

awesome this is great. all this info is superb.
I also in all my years of playing did not know about that cost reducing restrictions you could apply to items. thank you for that one.

10 points to house Saintheart. may your crits be often and you treasure sack be heavy.

never did much item creation. i did years ago when i played a warforged artificer barbarian.
but at the time another player helped me with most of that.

thank you once again.

[Seerow]

Only thing I would disagree with here is calling a weapon crystal slotless. You get one crystal on a weapon, so it is a limited slot item. Or ignoring that if you look at weapon crystal properties themselves, their costs tend to be cheaper than normally worn items, not more expensive. Just for the simplest comparison lesser energy assault only costs 3,000gp for +1d6 energy damage, the cheapest way to get that normally is adding it to a +1 weapon, which costs 6,000gp.


But yeah if it is getting ruled as slotless, absolutely add it on a bracer or boots or something instead. Especially if you are crafting it, even if you have another item in the slot, doubling up an item in the same slot is +50% cost for the cheaper properties, still a better deal than doubling the cost in most situations.

[Rockbeard]

Only thing I would disagree with here is calling a weapon crystal slotless. You get one crystal on a weapon, so it is a limited slot item. Or ignoring that if you look at weapon crystal properties themselves, their costs tend to be cheaper than normally worn items, not more expensive. Just for the simplest comparison lesser energy assault only costs 3,000gp for +1d6 energy damage, the cheapest way to get that normally is adding it to a +1 weapon, which costs 6,000gp.


But yeah if it is getting ruled as slotless, absolutely add it on a bracer or boots or something instead. Especially if you are crafting it, even if you have another item in the slot, doubling up an item in the same slot is +50% cost for the cheaper properties, still a better deal than doubling the cost in most situations.

Isn't a + one weapon enchantment only 2000 GP?

[Crichton]

Isn't a + one weapon enchantment only 2000 GP?

Enchanting a weapon to +1 is 2000gp, but adding another effect that is priced as '+1' is another 6000, because the weapon has to be a +1 weapon before you can add an enhancement to it.