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View Full Version : [3.5]Magic Item Pricing?



arguskos
2008-11-29, 11:32 PM
Hello all! How much would a magic item like the following cost?


The Book of Pages
This large tome is the size of a wizards spellbook, but when opened, every one of the hundred pages is blank.

Each page may be used to store a single spell, as per a magic scroll. When the "scroll" is used, the page is simply wiped clean, ready to be rescribed upon, and used again.

I ballpark this item at around 1,000-2,000 gp, since it's just a useful shortcut, not a powerful item on it's own.

arguskos
2008-11-30, 05:26 AM
Big hugs for anyone who could just give me a better ballpark? Big hugs, I promise! :smallsmile:

Luean
2008-11-30, 05:41 AM
Do you have to pay the material cost for writing a spell in it?

arguskos
2008-11-30, 05:42 AM
Yuppers! It's just like a scroll, but the pages are reusable, so it can be an alterable sort of "Swiss Army Book".

Zeful
2008-11-30, 05:49 AM
Well the Major Ring of spell storing (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/rings.htm#spellStoringMajor) holds up to ten spell levels for 200,000gp that makes it roughly 20,000 per spell level so with that makes the up to 900 spell levels this book can hold worth 18,000,000gp. Since it's treated as a class restricted (due to the scroll rules) we can pull 30% off. 30% of 18,000,000 is roughly 5,400,000 for 12,600,000. Since the scroll crafting rules are in place, I feel justified in taking 60% off. So 7,560,000gp.

Working from the other direction this is a limited version of Baccob's Blessed Book (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#blessedBook) with less pages. BBB costs 12,500 (way too low in my opinion). So take 10% off for 11,150gp.

Based on the wording it removes the crafting needs for scrolls (which is bad). So I'd price it a thrice my second figure, for 33,550gp.

arguskos
2008-11-30, 05:56 AM
Well the Major Ring of spell storing (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/rings.htm#spellStoringMajor) holds up to ten spell levels for 200,000gp that makes it roughly 20,000 per spell level so with that makes the up to 900 spell levels this book can hold worth 18,000,000gp. Since it's treated as a class restricted (due to the scroll rules) we can pull 30% off. 30% of 18,000,000 is roughly 5,400,000 for 12,600,000. Since the scroll crafting rules are in place, I feel justified in taking 60% off. So 7,560,000gp.

Working from the other direction this is a limited version of Baccob's Blessed Book (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#blessedBook) with less pages. BBB costs 12,500 (way too low in my opinion). So take 10% off for 11,150gp.

Based on the wording it removes the crafting needs for scrolls (which is bad). So I'd price it a thrice my second figure, for 33,550gp.
Urr... ok, my description is clearly bad. Here is what I wanted it to do.

1. It has 100 pages.
2. Each page functions as a reusable scroll page, and can hold one spell.
3. It merely HOLDS the spells until cast from them (exactly like scrolls)
4. It does not waive the crafting needs, nor can the wizard prepare from the book.

Is that a better description (since 33,000 gp seems... a little high o.O)?

Zeful
2008-11-30, 05:59 AM
Then use 11,150 (10% of a BBB). But the book technically does nothing (scrolls are consumed in the process of casting one, but have no mundane components, and such can be conjured out of thin air. Like quarterstaves), so you could price it at 6gp and it'd be balanced.

arguskos
2008-11-30, 06:01 AM
Hmm. Okies then. If the book didn't expend the spell permanently, but only for one day, would it still be balanced at 11,000 gp? Basically, I have 100 slots in the book to use, ever. Once I put a spell in a slot, I can't remove it, and can use it once per day. Would that be fair?

Zeful
2008-11-30, 06:04 AM
Hmm. Okies then. If the book didn't expend the spell permanently, but only for one day, would it still be balanced at 11,000 gp? Basically, I have 100 slots in the book to use, ever. Once I put a spell in a slot, I can't remove it, and can use it once per day. Would that be fair?

That sounds a little much for 11,000. 12,000-15,000 sounds like it would be a good range for it.

arguskos
2008-11-30, 06:38 AM
Ah. Alrighty then. This gives me a rough level for when I can re-create my old character that had this item (the DM just gave it to me at level 5 at the time, but I wanted to do it right).

Thanks Zeful! /bighug :smallwink:

zugschef
2008-11-30, 12:47 PM
Hmm. Okies then. If the book didn't expend the spell permanently, but only for one day, would it still be balanced at 11,000 gp? Basically, I have 100 slots in the book to use, ever. Once I put a spell in a slot, I can't remove it, and can use it once per day. Would that be fair?
no way! suppose you put in a ninth level spell... from now on you can cast that spell every day without using a slot and without paying anything (except the gold and xp for one scroll). such an item would be called an artifact [edit] and should never end up in players' hands.
i must have completely missunderstood the op.

Neithan
2008-11-30, 01:40 PM
Once a spell from a scroll is cast, it's just a piece of parchment with ink on it. To make it reuseable again, you just have to cast Erase. Making a book of 50 of those parchments wouldn't be a problem.

Erase is a 1st level spell, so you just need to have a normal empty tome that can cast Erase. Having an item cast a spell every time it's used costs 2,000 gp x spell level x caster level. But you would have to go through the whole scribe scroll process for each spell added to the book.

So that's 2,000 gp.

plus 15 gp for an empty spell book.

Is that a better description (since 33,000 gp seems... a little high o.O)?
Yes, a bit. :smallbiggrin:
You can make it even cheeper if it clears less than 5 pages per day.

A 100 charges wand that can be programmed to cast any spell you feed it with, and recharges completely every day, would be insanely expensive.

Zeful
2008-11-30, 02:07 PM
no way! suppose you put in a ninth level spell... from now on you can cast that spell every day without using a slot and without paying anything (except the gold and xp for one scroll). such an item would be called an artifact [edit] and should never and up in players' hands.

By lowering it's cost, you make this situation far less likely. The easier it is for a cleric or wizard to get at lower levels, the less likely it is to have every 9th level spell in existence in it. If the book were 10 or 30 pages, it would be far less abuseable.

zugschef
2008-12-01, 09:29 AM
By lowering it's cost, you make this situation far less likely. The easier it is for a cleric or wizard to get at lower levels, the less likely it is to have every 9th level spell in existence in it. If the book were 10 or 30 pages, it would be far less abuseable.
i would never ever allow such an item. and it's vastly underpriced.
as said: i've read something, that's not there.

herbe
2010-03-29, 10:31 AM
May be i can help:

Ring of spell storing can be used by anyone while this book can be used someone who has that spell in his spell list (as a scroll). Its has a hard-hard lowering effect.

Boccob blessed book which works like a wizards spellbook with 1000 page. Spellcasters cant cast from it but wizards can prepare from it. So its completely different from this.

Its a book of blank scrolls. A wizard can scribe(with all cost) into this book as onto scrolls then he can cast these spells (which earlier scribed into the book) once (then a page again blank and can be scribed onto as scrolls with all cost) as from a scroll. Is it clear? Its works like a Infinite scrollcase(2800 gp +4 concentration to cast defensively) from Magic of Eberron pg 109 but its Infinite scrollbook or something.