logalog's page

So I have been thinking a lot about alchemy. So I wanted to look at the math behind it and pondering. First some ideas then we'll get into the math.

• First my math takes into account the base crafting rules and I'm using the basics of what I assume is economic theory material + labor + markup = Total cost of item. Now the current crafting rules in the playtest assume no value in labor costs which I felt needed to be added.

• Second I just wanted to start this conversation looking at the multi-levels items because they all follow the same pattern.
  levels| Dice #| Cost in SP
  1 | 1 | 30
  4 | 2 | 12
  8 | 3 | 60
  12 | 4 | 250
  16 | 5 | 1,200
  20 | 6 | 9,000

• Third I assumed that cost for labor is the same as a skilled hireling of 5 sp for a days worth of work.
  

Changes
Okay so first this I proposed to trade was the amount of time each thing cost. It seems that it was weird that everything only took 4 days no matter how complex. So I changed it to level of item = days of crafting.

I just went with a basic 20% markup and material cost of 1/2 the final cost.

Maths
Level Mark-up Material Cost Cost of labor per. day
1 6sp 15sp 9sp
4 9sp 60sp 12.75sp
8 120sp 300sp 22.5sp
12 500sp 1,250sp 62.5sp
16 2,400sp 6,000sp 237.5sp
20 18,000sp 45,000sp 1,350sp

As far as I can tell there is not pattern or equation behind the cost of material and how much a specific level alchemist would charge for his work.

Thoughts
So we are presented with two different creation/item methods, magic and alchemy.

Now the only real cost for magic seems to be time. By this I mean if you have 4 first lvl spell slots and you use one then it basically cost you 1/4 a day or 6 hours. So the cost of casting these are the amount you can use in a day.

So with magic items costing time then I would suggest that alchemy cost should come from material. Plus there should be some value in the days it takes to craft. Because as it stands I don't see any value in "wasting" a feat for it unless you play as an alchemist. But by decreasing the cost of creating an item through labor time then their is a reason to use it.

Also why is the difference from 16th level to 20th so much larger than any other step? Even following a exponential curve it doesn't work.

If someone knows the math equation to calculate value of items I'd love to look into it and mess around with it.