Pricing a magic item that grants "See in Darkness"


Advice


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I am trying to determine a fair price for an item (likely goggles or a headband or something) that grants its wearer the See in Darkness ability. The first obvious comparison is with Goggles of Night:

Quote:

Goggles of Night

Aura faint transmutation; CL 3rd

Slot eyes; Price 12,000 gp; Weight —

Description

The lenses of this item are made of dark crystal. Even though the lenses are opaque, when placed over the eyes of the wearer, they enable him to see normally and also grant him 60-foot darkvision. Both lenses must be worn for the magic to be effective.

Construction

Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, darkvision; Cost 6,000 gp

The equipment I propose should be at least this expensive. A slightly less obvious comparison is with the Rod of Shadows:

Quote:

Rod of Shadows

Aura moderate abjuration; CL 8th

Slot none; Price 64,305 gp; Weight 5 lbs.

Description

This ebon rod is so dark it seems to absorb the light around it. The rod functions as a +2 light mace, and allows its wielder to see in darkness as if it had the see in darkness ability. Three times per day, the wielder can use it to create a deeper darkness effect (caster level 8th). To use this ability, the rod's wielder must touch the object affected, which is a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

Construction

Requirements Craft Rod, deeper darkness, true seeing; Cost 32,305 gp

Most likely, an item that only grants See in Darkness ought to be less expensive than this. I tried to reverse engineer the cost of the Rod of Shadows to determine how much See in Darkness is contributing to the cost:

Deeper Darkness ability cost = spell level X caster level X 2,000gp X 1.5 (use-activated) / (5/3) = 3 x 8 x 2,000 x 1.5 x 0.6 = 43,200gp

+2 Enhancement cost = enhancement^2 x 2,000gp = 4 x 2,000 = 8,000gp

See in Darkness cost ~ total cost - Deeper Darkness cost - Enhancement cost = 13,105gp

This is technically more than the Goggles of Night, but not by a lot. Is ~13,000gp too cheap for this?

Bonus question: is there any precedent for adding drawbacks to weapons to decrease their price, like there is for adding CP to animated objects? I'm thinking something like Light Blindness would be a good way to moderate the power of this item, in which case it looks a lot like an item that grants its wearer the Dark Sight / Gloom Sight / Improved Dark Sight trio of Fetchling racial feats.


Rainbow lenses


Grizzly the Archer wrote:
Rainbow lenses

Sorry... having a hard time seeing how this applies (from d20pfsrd):

Quote:


Lenses, Rainbow

Aura strong enchantment; CL 15th
Slot eye; Price 21,000 gp; Weight —

DESCRIPTION

These lenses interfere with the wearer’s ability to see color, and everything appears in shades of black and white, as if the wearer were using darkvision. Once per day the wearer can use color spray, hypnotic pattern, and rainbow pattern.

CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS

Craft Wondrous Item, color spray, hypnotic pattern, rainbow pattern; Cost 10,500 gp.


Please clarify: the goggles above let you see in darkness. What is it you wish to accomplish?


darkwarriorkarg wrote:
Please clarify: the goggles above let you see in darkness. What is it you wish to accomplish?

He's asking for help pricing a custom magic item that only grants See in Darkness.


Err, no. It should not be at least as expensive as the Goggles of Night.

It should be AT LEAST as expensive as the Darklands Goggles.

Now, you linked the Rod of Shadows, which gives a good baseline.

Magic item creation guidelines state that a spell effect costs:

Spell level (3) x Caster Level (8) x 1800 gold = 43, 200.

As it has only 3 charges a day, we divide that by 1.666 to equal 25, 930 gp.

Subtract that from the original price (64,305) and you get, just for See in Darkness, 38, 375 gp.

If you want it as something besides a +2 weapon (not a rod), subtract the extra 8k, for 30, 375 gp.

I think it actually adds a bit more for changing the slot of something like that though (no formula for that), so eyeball somewhere between 31k and 35k or so.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber

Did you folks factor in the 'multiple uses in one item' penalty?

I've wondered about this myself. Especially with the evil outsider theme of both Season 5 Society and Wrath of the Righteous AP.


Rerednaw wrote:

Did you folks factor in the 'multiple uses in one item' penalty?

I've wondered about this myself. Especially with the evil outsider theme of both Season 5 Society and Wrath of the Righteous AP.

I didn't, because it doesn't seem quite right. A lot of Paizo released items "break the rules". Like, watch:

Assume the +2 rod is the main effect (since it's listed first).

So, 8k.

Then add the Deeper Darkness effect (25, 930x1.5=38,895). Total 46, 895.

So that's that.

So technically, I should have subtracted 38, 895 from the original thing to get the See In Darkness effect, which is an extra 12, 965 off.

So the See In Darkness comes out to ~20k gp...which is the price of an item that grants Darkvision 120 ft.

Which breaks the general rule that a custom magic item shouldn't give a greater benefit than an existing item for the same price.


Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
Rynjin wrote:
Rerednaw wrote:

Did you folks factor in the 'multiple uses in one item' penalty?

I've wondered about this myself. Especially with the evil outsider theme of both Season 5 Society and Wrath of the Righteous AP.

I didn't, because it doesn't seem quite right. A lot of Paizo released items "break the rules". Like, watch:

Assume the +2 rod is the main effect (since it's listed first).

So, 8k.

Then add the Deeper Darkness effect (25, 930x1.5=38,895). Total 46, 895.

So that's that.

So technically, I should have subtracted 38, 895 from the original thing to get the See In Darkness effect, which is an extra 12, 965 off.

So the See In Darkness comes out to ~20k gp...which is the price of an item that grants Darkvision 120 ft.

Which breaks the general rule that a custom magic item shouldn't give a greater benefit than an existing item for the same price.

Good point I don't know how they figured it out. Given True Seeing is the base spell and that one comes in at a whopping 5 x 9 x 2000 plus 100 x 250 = 90000 + 25000 = 115,000 or 106,000 if command-word activated. Not sure how they modified it to see in darkness only.


Rynjin wrote:

Err, no. It should not be at least as expensive as the Goggles of Night.

It should be AT LEAST as expensive as the Darklands Goggles.

Not sure how you figure that; the Darkland goggles give you bonuses that you wouldn't get with with the See in Darkness ability, but they only give you Darkvision. It's a different set of benefits, but I'm not sure it's clear that See in Darkness is superior (outside of magical darkness).

Rynjin wrote:


Now, you linked the Rod of Shadows, which gives a good baseline.

Magic item creation guidelines state that a spell effect costs:

Spell level (3) x Caster Level (8) x 1800 gold = 43, 200.

As it has only 3 charges a day, we divide that by 1.666 to equal 25, 930 gp.

Subtract that from the original price (64,305) and you get, just for See in Darkness, 38, 375 gp.

If you want it as something besides a +2 weapon (not a rod), subtract the extra 8k, for 30, 375 gp.

Ah, I think I was mistaking "use-activated" for "command word". I guess "use-activated" means whenever you're holding it, in this context? Makes sense. Anyway, this makes sense.

Rynjin wrote:


I think it actually adds a bit more for changing the slot of something like that though (no formula for that), so eyeball somewhere between 31k and 35k or so.

Somewhere in the low 30s does seem like a better number. It looks like the basic technique was right, just mixed up "use-activated" with "command word". Thanks :)


Heightened continual flame gives similar benefits for a fraction of the cost.


Rynjin wrote:

So the See In Darkness comes out to ~20k gp...which is the price of an item that grants Darkvision 120 ft.

Which breaks the general rule that a custom magic item shouldn't give a greater benefit than an existing item for the same price.

Well, the Darklands Goggles add some extra stuff on top of Darkvision 120ft. The Darkvision would come out to a bit less than that, right? Let's see... with +4 bonuses to two skills, we're looking at between 3,200gp and 4,800gp for those, meaning that 120ft Darkvision would come out to something more like 15,000gp - 18,000gp.

Still, I'd say that See in Darkness spanks this item, hence 30,000gp not being outrageous.


David_Bross wrote:
Heightened continual flame gives similar benefits for a fraction of the cost.

Only if you want other people to be able to see, too :)

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