Advice / Opinion wanted on Item Creation Cost question.

[KWScott]

I would like to create a pair of "Goggles of Gem Location."

This would use Locate Object, and the formulas straight up would be

Use-Activated Continuous: Spell level x caster level x 2,000 gp

Spell level for Locate Object is 2.
Minimum caster level for a 2nd level Wizard spell is 3.

2 x 3 x 2000 = 12,000gp

6000gp to construct.

However this would produce a very useful item, that could be used to locate any specific item or the nearest example of a general type of item within 520 feet, at will.

Limiting its use, immutably, to only the nearest gem should imply some divisor on the cost.

My question is: "What should, in your opinion, that divisor be?"

[The Mighty Khan]

Also the spell is min/lv. Is the suggested price based on rd/lv?

[KWScott]

Thanks... Missed that...

12,000 x 2 for the continuation of a minute/level spell makes the base cost 24,000gp.

What should the divisor be for the "Gems" limitation?

[KWScott]

So no one wants to offer an opinion, just correct my mistake.
Roight.

[Calth]

KWScott wrote:

So no one wants to offer an opinion, just correct my mistake.

Roight.

Wrong forum for asking for opinion/advice.

[That Crazy Alchemist]

I would check with the Advice or Homebrew forums were I you. Here in the Rules Questions forum we are all a just a bunch a rules lawyers and don't really answer advice, just rules.

[Amrel]

Above posters are right, this isn't an advice forum. That being said as a dm in this case you need to consider the value of an item in terms of its affect on player monetary wealth. If this is a thing that's going to really throw off the wealth by level estimates then, depending on how you are running the game you may want to disallow that item entirely.

I would guess the players are trying to be able to make lots of money really fast, which almost always leads to power creep, which in many cases can ruin a campaign.

I also admit that I am assuming that they are going to try to use this for mining or something like that. The use is going to change your ruling.

If OP is a player consider the above. If you plan on using this to increase your wealth understand that this will make a lot of work for your dm (when you consider the difficulty maintaining party balance). Its a very clever idea, but if used the wrong way or abused for money it has potential for a fair bit of harm.

Also, if this is going to be used for mining you may have difficulty. The rules say locate object can be blocked by even " a thin sheet of lead" so finding objects through 100s of feet of stone may prove difficult.

[StabbittyDoom]

The general rule seems to be 1 ft. of stone blocks detection magics, and I would apply that to this item even though Locate Object doesn't specify that explicitly (it hints at it with its lead limitation, though). This makes it a very poor wealth-gathering device, but good for scoping out those who might have moderately valuably jewelry (high value stuff would be in lead-lined boxes). For mining it might give you something like a 5-10% yield bonus, but nothing game-changing. I guess you could keep track of party guests at the ball, especially if you give out complementary (cheap) gemstones as a freebie at the door.

With the above restriction, and only working on gems, I would have a hard time charging more than about 6kgp for such an item due to its limited usefulness. If it were something like "Weapons" I would probably charge a lot more, but gems is a very narrow target with little-to-no combat applicability and takes some creative use to even get non-combat applicability.

Before making a final judgement I would want to hear from the player why they want it. They are often more creative than I am at coming up with usages that might change my pricing decision.