Ring of Mind Shielding - Magic Item Creation Question

[Nargrakhan]

Question about magic item creation. The Ring of Mind Shielding only costs 8000 gp. So that would mean the base price is 4000 gp, correct?

So how did they make it so cheap?

nondetection is a 3rd level spell. Minimal caster level for that (as a Wizard) is level 5. For a continuous spell effect: spell level X caster level X 2000 gp... so I'm adding up 3 x 5 x 2000 = 30000 gp

Thus the base cost is 30000 gp... but that can't be right... is it?

Where did I go wrong?

[tyckspoon]

Most likely whoever priced the ring didn't think it was worth 30,000 GP. It's the flip side of the 2,000 GP Item of Continuous True Strike: Certain effects will be wildly undercosted if the guidelines are treated as strict rules, and certain effects will be just as overpriced. The last step of the guidelines is always "Look at the actual value of the effect the item grants and adjust the price appropriately," which means they're not a lot of use for continuous effects since the real value of such a thing depends so heavily on what the effect is.

[Colmarr]

The 3.5e creation rules were always (at least before MiC):

1: Compare the item to other items of similar power.
2: If there's no good match, use this table...

You should only really go to step 2 after going through step 1.

Edit: Just noticed the last few sentences of Tyck's post. Maybe he's right and my step 1 was in fact step 2, but the outcome's the same

[PinkysBrain]

Non detection is only the prerequisite, the ring does not grant non detection ... so it's moot anyway.

The Amulet of Proof against Detection and Location grants non detection, and it costs 35K gp.