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I have a gnome PC in a game I'm running. He wanted a hat made with "eyeballs" on it. The shop owner agreed to "embroider" eyes, and he left saying he didn't really want that, he wanted something odd. I mean, he's a gnome, with a really off sense of humor.
Out of game, I wanted to make the player happy, so the shop owner ran over to the local wizard and got Silent Image cast on the hat, continuous use. Never mind that I now know she makes Masterwork stuff, which she hadn't charged for. I suppose she was simply a bit naive about that; I'd stressed how well-made her goods were in narrative description. The image in question is a pair of animated eyes on the hat ribbon. The eyes can close; wink; look far left or right; look straight ahead; look cross-eyed -- all at random. (The wearer has no control, and gets no benefit in terms of his vision -- although I'd be willing to let something like Dark Vision be added later, for normal cost.) The hat does take up the Head slot.
Now: how much does this cost? By the formula in the book, I think it's 4,000 gp plus the cost of the item (already paid for). It's a 1st-level spell, but continuous use. (I'm assuming that a spell with a duration of "Concentration" makes it cost double rather than quadruple.)
For a pure joke item, that's absurd! So how low should I cut it? 1,000 gp? 400? Say she did the spell for free?
For an item that takes a item slot, but provides no benefit, I would think a very low cost would be appropriate.
Your 400 gp cost seems more fair.
Unless the PC is planning on using the item for Item Mastery, it provides not benefit so it is just effectively decorative.
I'd probably go with 500 or 1k. It's not designed to give any advantage, but a clever player will find a way. (Like bluffing someone that they are blind and can only see with the hat, then volunteering to take it off so they won't see the solution to a puzzle door/hiding place of a treasure.)
Thanks for your answers. It's occurred to me that mechanically, it's the lack of control by the wearer that is significantly impacting the price.
At least, let me check an assumption. With a true Hat of Silent Image, the wearer would normally have the ability to mentally command the hat to display whatever he wanted, wouldn't he? Although I'd let adjusting it be a free action on his turn. He'd have a slowly adjusting TV screen on top of his head. (Refresh every 6 seconds.) In this case, the wearer won't even be able to control what the eyes do -- coded communication is not possible.
10% of function (400 gp) seems like the max I could call it in comparison, meaning that the crafting wizard is now out 200 gp in materials, no matter how nice she wants to be. And yes, if he wanted to sell it, he'd need to find a similar jokester looking for a fun hat to recover even 200 gp! Does my math hold up?
I would go with Prestidigitation as the activated spell.
Prestidigitations are minor tricks that novice spellcasters use for practice. Once cast, a prestidigitation spell enables you to perform simple magical effects for 1 hour... Prestidigitation can create small objects, but they look crude and artificial. The materials created by a prestidigitation spell are extremely fragile, and they cannot be used as tools, weapons, or spell components. Finally, prestidigitation lacks the power to duplicate any other spell effects. Any actual change to an object (beyond just moving, cleaning, or soiling it) persists only 1 hour.
A Hat with large "Cookie Monster Eyes" would fall under this spell nicely.
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I would charge at most 400gp, probably more in the 100-200gp range.
Even if the PC does use it as a prop in a clever bluff, he's not getting good tactical value. 400gp will buy you a permanent +2 competence bonus to Bluff by the item creation formulae - or 180gp gets you sleeves of many garments which could help out with a variety of deceptions.
Great! Now (with Prestidigitation) we've cut the cost in half. 200 gp market - 100 gp in materials costs to construct it - makes a lot more sense!
If your gnome pulls the hat over his real eyes, he can distract a creature with a gaze attack.
If your gnome pulls the hat over his real eyes, he can distract a creature with a gaze attack.
Or with a successful Bluff check, do you think he could pull the hat over the creature's eyes? <giggle>
You need to be careful here.
Charging what it is worth over what it would cost to make sets you up to exploitation, can you think of anything that is basically the same thing, only can be useful?
If you were being really silly, a Medusa might use the hat to block their curse. A mask is cheaper.