From the SRD:

Price 35,000 gp (lesser), 75,500 gp (normal), 170,000 gp (greater);

How is this price arrived at?

normal does up to 6th level spells, but quicken is plus four levels, so am I now pricing a 10th level spell power? Modeling after pearl of power doesn't work, and if I price it as a command word item with charges a day, the price is lower than the price for the rod.

I am trying to figure out adding quicken to an item. I want it to function once or twice a day instead of three times, and I can't figure out the math.
Thanks
Prawn

If it normally functions 3/day and you want to make it 1/day or 2/day, can't you just divide the current cost by 3 and go from there?

1/day - 11,500 / 25,000 / 56,500
2/day - 23,000 / 50,000 / 113,000

I rounded the numbers off a little here and there, but still.

I tried pricing metamagic rods, but there was no linear or non-linear formula that I found. If anyone finds one please post as I am curious. Something with spell level, uses would be awesome.

You take a look at the items around that price point, and figure out if it's a nobrainer or not.

An item that grants quicken and that does not require it to be hold would probably be 33-50% more expensive, leaning towards 50%. It's a big handicap.

I agree that adding it to armor would up the cost, simply by freeing your hands. 33% seems reasonable to me, but I wouldn't object to 50% if my DM ruled that way.

Charge per day items used to be figured at 5ths. Unlimited was equal to 5 charges per day, and you divided by the number you wanted, so 3 charges would be 3/5 of the total cost.

From there, we can reverse engineer it. We multiply by 5/3 instead getting 58333 (or 58500 rounded). From there, you could mutliply by .2 to get 1 charges value of 11700. Multiply this by 1-4 to get your total cost, then multiple by 1.33 or 1.5 to get total cost, depending on what your DM feels a reasonable penalty is for it being basically slotless.

(Ozy's way works fine for the specific price you were looking for, but this will give you a way to reverse engineer any similar item as well)

I worked this out once before in 3.5 and the lesser quicken rod is overpriced based off the general progression whilst all other rods work out OK. Best I can work out at present (away from home and previous calculation) is:

Base price is 900 * 3 (charges per day) *

1 Lesser
2 Normal
3 Greater

* Spell level raise per type

+1 = 1/2/3
+2 = 3/6/9
+3 = 5/10/15
+4 = 7/14/21

Therefore:

Lesser Extend (+1) = 900*3*1*1 = 2700 (book 3000)
Lesser Empower (+2) = 900*3*1*3 = 8100 (9000)
Lesser Maximise (+3) = 900*3*1*5= 13500 (14000)
Lesser Quicken (+4) = 900*3*1*7 = 18900 (35000)

Extend (+1) = 900*3*2*2 = 10800 (11000)
Empower (+2) = 900*3*2*6 = 32400 (32500)
Maximise (+3) = 900*3*2*10= 54000 (54000)
Quicken (+4) = 900*3*2*14 = 75600 (75500)

G Extend (+1) = 900*3*3*3 = 24300 (24500)
G Empower (+2) = 900*3*3*9 = 72900 (73000)
G Maximise (+3) = 900*3*3*15= 121500 (121500)
G Quicken (+4) = 900*3*3*21 = 170100 (170000)

I don't recall if it is exactly the same as last time I did it apart from the 900 base, but it works.

I guess I don't understand what this means:

"* Spell level raise per type

+1 = 1/2/3
+2 = 3/6/9
+3 = 5/10/15
+4 = 7/14/21"

Is the plus how much it costs to apply the metamagic feat to a spell? What are the numbers in the slashes?

I am still trying to get to a price for 1x a day or 2x a day for a normal quicken (levels six or lower). Normal would be 75500 for three times a day.

Accoring to to your calulation
"Quicken (+4) = 900*3*2*14 = 75600 (75500)"

with the 3 being charges a day.

So 900*1*2*14= 25200 for 1x a day

900*2*2*14=50400 for 2x a day

This is almost the same as saying 25K for 1 a day, 50 for 2 a day and 75K for 3 a day.

Does that seem right?

I guess I don't understand what this means:

"* Spell level raise per type

+1 = 1/2/3
+2 = 3/6/9
+3 = 5/10/15
+4 = 7/14/21"

Is the plus how much it costs to apply the metamagic feat to a spell? What are the numbers in the slashes?

Lesser/normal/greater multipliers

I am still trying to get to a price for 1x a day or 2x a day for a normal quicken (levels six or lower). Normal would be 75500 for three times a day.

Accoring to to your calulation
"Quicken (+4) = 900*3*2*14 = 75600 (75500)"

with the 3 being charges a day.

So 900*1*2*14= 25200 for 1x a day

900*2*2*14=50400 for 2x a day

This is almost the same as saying 25K for 1 a day, 50 for 2 a day and 75K for 3 a day.

Does that seem right?

Yes

Thanks. It is what I wanted to do intuitively, but it is nice that it is almost the same as the formula.
Prawn.

You must also remember that the items in the core rulebook were not all created with a formula. You will not be able to replicate every item and get the same result.