Item pricing. How do I judge it?


RPG Superstar™ General Discussion


I've decided to try voting on some entries for fun, and I believe that anything worth doing at all is worth doing well, but I immediately found that I have no idea how to price magic items. I just never needed to learn it before, since I've never made my own items.

I've been tempted. RPG Superstar appeals to my competitive instincts; but at this time, I have no desire to be a professional writer. If anything, I'm averse to the thought of having a deadline on producing something good enough for other people to read. ;)

So anyway, while I consider other factors between the first two items -- coolness, bugginess/exploitability, grammar, formatting, etc. -- I'd also like to know how to figure out how well-priced they are. But I have no idea where to begin. Any tips?

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka motteditor

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I would look at the rules for creating magic items, which gives you some guidelines, but it's not an exact science. (I think my item last year was a quarter of the cost of what it "should" be based on the book, cut down in part because I felt there were limited circumstances where you could use it.)

Another useful way to do it is look at the caster level and general abilities to figure out at what level your character might get such an item. Does the price/cost line up with that? If so, it's probably priced close to correct.

Comparing with published magic items is another way to judge how accurate the pricing is.

Silver Crusade Dedicated Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9

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Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Yeah, I use pricing as one of my last points of data, and I don't bother checking their math I just compare the price of the item to the price of the nearest item Here. If it seems much better or worse than an item of the same price then I avoid voting for that item. If it seems in the same ball-park then I'm not too concerned.

It'll become more of an issue for the top 32, than the initial ordering.

Star Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9

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three tips:
1) Don't. It is pretty far down the list and other things will jump out. There is almost as much art as science in this. Clark (or was it RD? SKR?) has told us, you don't have to get it right. Just don't get it wrong. :)
2) take a gander at magic item creation
3) compare this item to the list of wondrous items by price, if it is waaay cooler (or waaay worse) than similar priced items, tis probably off.
4) is it 10-15% of a character's wealth? Maybe a little less for consumables.

EDIT: ninja'ed by Jacob (shouldnae have added the links I guess :)

Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

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I find those three methods to be the best (but in reversed order of that listed by Jacob)

First compare to other items with similar abilities or usefulness, second look at caster level of the item and what level of character the item might be fore, finally look at the crafting 'formulas' in the CRB.

It is a little different to determine if an item you are looking at is priced well rather than pricing your own though, for determining if pricing on an item you are voting on is correct, look at the price given and compare it to other items with the same price point, if it is about as powerful as those items it is probably pried well, if it is slightly lees or more powerful or useful than those items it is probably still okay, if it is way more/less powerful or useful than those items you know it was priced poorly.

Of course the ability to price an item correctly is, while important, not a make or break quality of a RPG Superstar candidate, and item price is quite frankly one of the last things I consider when voting.


Thanks all! With that feedback, I've decided to ignore pricing unless it's ca-raazy, and focus on the things that I know how to judge. :)


Speaking of crazy, how about this construction requirement: "any [X number of] spells from the [Y] school". Is that a thing? Seems to me like they should be able to figure out which spells are appropriate. (I think I could.) I've already voted based on other factors (and I won't say which way), but I'm a learner, so I love finding out things that contradict my beliefs. Seriously, tell me about all of the published magic items with a requirement like that.

Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

seems lazy... It wouldn't automatically make me vote for the other item, but I could see a requirement line like that pushing it over the edge in an otherwise close call situation.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Dedicated Voter Season 9 aka motteditor

I believe there are feats that have requirements of that sort (or maybe prestige classes?). That's probably where the designer got the idea.


Ah, that makes sense. And it seems that this thread is turning into, "Magic item design. How does a non-designer judge it?"

So, how about a public-domain quote at the beginning of the description? It's not in-character, and it isn't an IP violation. Just an appropriate quote from an old fairy tale.

My instinct is that inspiration should be subtext, not text. I once again already voted based on other factors (and won't say how); but in a tie-breaking situation, I'd be inclined to count that against a submission. What do you think?

ETA: Also, tell me if I'm starting to brush up too closely against the rules against discussing specific submissions. I'm just trying to get better at what I'm doing, not ruffle any feathers.

Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

you might be close to the line... especially if only one or two submissions fit the criteria you are talking about.

In cases such as this, I look to existing magic items... do any magic items existing in a paizo product start off with a bit unrelated flavor text culled from another source? much like extensive backstory naming names and locations and such, this will not cause me to autovote for the other item, but is taken into account in close call situations.

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan

Fredrik wrote:
Thanks all! With that feedback, I've decided to ignore pricing unless it's ca-raazy, and focus on the things that I know how to judge. :)

On a number of items it IS crazy.

Things over a quarter million gps?
Things that cost more to make than to buy?
Things that cost more than half to make than to buy?
Things that are SIAC but cost less than the scroll, potion, or wand they replace?


I am most strict when it comes to pricing for spells-in-a-can because for them the pricing rules are the easiest to follow and adjust.

Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Star Voter Season 8

I typically don't vote for spells in a can anyway, unless the other item is truly horrendous... in which case pricing might not matter. :)


I got two spells in a can paired multiple times so it often boils down to picking the one who follows the rules better.

The Exchange RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16, Contributor

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In most of the judging I've done on this so far pricing has been a non-issue. Other things have been far more glaring. When I am judging pricing or pricing items myself, the first thing I look at is how useful the item is compared to the other items the same price. For example, if it's a 12,000gp item (and FWIW commas in numbers are nice!) that would be useful for a fighter, it shouldn't be vastly better than boots of speed.


I've had a few pairs where pricing came into consideration. Mainly because nothing else was there to really separate the two, but one item's pricing would be really wonky. What would probably be relegated to the minor item list in the CRB should not have a five digit price tag. Still, it's a consideration lower on the list of what I look at on an item.


Equally, an item should not be one-tenth of the price of its near identical prd cousin...


Generally speaking when things are correctly priced and otherwise equal, it's the more affordable one that wins out.

Star Voter Season 6, Star Voter Season 9

HerosBackpack wrote:
Equally, an item should not be one-tenth of the price of its near identical prd cousin...

Also, Items should not cost ten times what the mundane item that serves the same purpose.

Scarab Sages

Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan wrote:
Fredrik wrote:
Thanks all! With that feedback, I've decided to ignore pricing unless it's ca-raazy, and focus on the things that I know how to judge. :)

On a number of items it IS crazy.

Things over a quarter million gps?
Things that cost more to make than to buy?
Things that cost more than half to make than to buy?
Things that are SIAC but cost less than the scroll, potion, or wand they replace?

Some of those aren't necessarily mistakes.

Some items have costly materials or focus components, so their build price is over half the sale price.

And wondrous item spellinacans will cost more than scrolls/potion/wand spellinacans, as part of their utility you're paying for, is being able to be used by non-casters, and/or being use-activated rather than costing actions to do so.

Silver Crusade RPG Superstar 2014 Top 16 , Dedicated Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan

Snorter wrote:
Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan wrote:
Fredrik wrote:
Thanks all! With that feedback, I've decided to ignore pricing unless it's ca-raazy, and focus on the things that I know how to judge. :)

On a number of items it IS crazy.

Things over a quarter million gps?
Things that cost more to make than to buy?
Things that cost more than half to make than to buy?
Things that are SIAC but cost less than the scroll, potion, or wand they replace?

Some of those aren't necessarily mistakes.

Some items have costly materials or focus components, so their build price is over half the sale price.

And wondrous item spellinacans will cost more than scrolls/potion/wand spellinacans, as part of their utility you're paying for, is being able to be used by non-casters, and/or being use-activated rather than costing actions to do so.

Per the CRB, "An item is only worth two times what the caster of the lowest possible level can make it for." The need to use "eye of newt" should be figured into the cost to make, and then doubled.

Please note, I stated the items are costing LESS than the Wands they replace, which is wrong, they SHOULD cost more.

Star Voter Season 6

Fleshgrinder's Totally Subjective Method of Price Consideration:

Is it so cheap that there is no way I wouldn't buy it? Then it's probably too cheap.

Is it so expensive I'd never, ever consider buying or building it? It's probably too expensive.

You gotta find that middle ground where a player goes "Ehhhhhhhhhh... maybe."

Marathon Voter Season 6, Dedicated Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Star Voter Season 9 aka Clouds Without Water

There's one item I've seen a couple of times...

I thought it was pretty silly at first. Barely of any use at all, literally.

This time I looked at the price. I think it would pay for itself in approximately 74 years of gaming sessions.

RPG Superstar 2009 Top 16, 2012 Top 32 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Marathon Voter Season 8, Marathon Voter Season 9 aka Epic Meepo

Zahir ibn Mahmoud ibn Jothan wrote:
Per the CRB, "An item is only worth two times what the caster of the lowest possible level can make it for." The need to use "eye of newt" should be figured into the cost to make, and then doubled.

Per the CRB, "some items cast or replicate spells with costly material components. For these items, the market price equals the base price plus an extra price for the spell component costs. The cost to create these items is the magic supplies cost plus the costs for the components."

See the ring of three wishes for an example. That item has a price of 120,000 gp and a cost of 97,500 gp, due to the material component cost being added directly to both the base price and the magic supplies cost.

(If cost always equaled one-half price, regardless of material components, there would be no reason to list the cost, because you would always know the cost of an item by looking at its price.)

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16 , Marathon Voter Season 6, Marathon Voter Season 7, Dedicated Voter Season 8

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The rule of thumb for pricing is pretty much "You don't have to get it right, just don't get it too much wrong".

However, plenty of people have a completely unrealistic approach to pricing. Looks like many stick to the pricing table religiously, and forget to do a reality check.

For instance, 165,000 gp and change buys me a +3 flaming, vorpal adamantine longsword. Your item had better be pretty amazing for me to spend my gold on it instead (or keep it and not sell it). Most aren't.

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