So... bracers of armor +8 cost 64000 gold. according to the rules for creating magic items in the back of the book bracers that give BOTH continual shield and continual mage armor cost a mere 21000 gold for +8 AC and protection from magic missiles.
post responses if I misentermpreted the rules and similar magic item anomalies that you have noticed.
It is true that you can craft items that do exactly the same thing for cheaper, using the presented formulas. But remember, the formula is the LAST step reccomended for pricing an item. Comparing it to existing items is the FIRST step. So the item you list, is somewhat more powerful than standard bracers, so should cost a bit more. Immunity to magic missles is a perk; add the cost of a brooch of shielding x4 or maybe 5, for the 1.5 of "extra power" and technically infinite absorption.
Some things to consider though, the above is for an item that does all of this continuously. I haven't done the reverse engineer, but did you item have continueous, or simply umlimited charges? If the latter, that means 2 activations, and they are probably off of the minimum caster level, which means 1 hour and 1 minute respectively for durations. Also, the check to dispel them is also going to be rather low.
But yeah, in the end, compare to existing, DMG tried and true magic items. Bracers of Armor, Ring of Protection, Necklace of Natural Armor, Cloak of Resistance, Various Stat Booster. If it is different from these, try to figure out what a character would be willing to give up for it, and price it just a smidgin above that.
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So... bracers of armor +8 cost 64000 gold. according to the rules for creating magic items in the back of the book bracers that give BOTH continual shield and continual mage armor cost a mere 21000 gold for +8 AC and protection from magic missiles.
post responses if I misentermpreted the rules and similar magic item anomalies that you have noticed.
It is very easy to get conflicting results of value when you treat items as spells or as bonuses.
I would be curious on the breakdown on how you came to 21,000 gp.
The mage armor spell is the same as bracers of armor, so I feel that you should default to that item for its base cost -- 16,000 gp.
Shield is a bit trickier. While at first glance it looks like it should be 1 x 1 x 2,000 x 2 (spell level x caster level x 2,000 x 2 for spell's normal duration) I would highly warn against that. I feel that it is closer to an "AC bonus (other)" type of enhancement making the cost of the item 40,000 gp (bonus squared x 2,500). This still seems a bit high to me as it is technically a shield bonus, but since we are saying that it also blocks all magic missiles, it is probably pretty close to accurate.
Now when you combine the two into one item, one of the abilities you are supposed to take the lesser gp value and multiply it by 1.5. So now you have 40,000 + 24,000 = 64,000.
Actually, I am kind of surprised to have come up with the same value as bracers of armor +8...
That is at least my take on it. Hope that helps.
I was using the "continuosly active" features also assuming a base CL of 3 for the craft wondrous items feat
I was ... assuming a base CL of 3 for the craft wondrous items feat
While it is true that you need a caster level of 3 to get the Craft Wondrous Items feat, items are typically made at the lowest possible caster level for the spells in question.
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I was using the "continuosly active" features also assuming a base CL of 3 for the craft wondrous items feat
You really need to be careful with the "continuously active" feature when creating magic items.
Consider a "continuously active" ring (or amulet, or bracers, or whatever) of true strike. Since the duration of the spell is technically only one round it sounds logical to put the cost of this item at 1 x 1 x 2,000 x 4 or for a total of 8,000 gp. Hopefully there isn't a DM out there that would allow this.
For items that supply a very specific bonus type, you should usually use the guidelines at the top of the table.
I don't think an item that grants a +8 bonus as Mage Armor + Shield and immunity to Magic Missile should be any more expensive then an item that grants a +8 AC bonus to armor.
Afterall; the former item uses up both your shield AC and armor AC modifiers, while the second can be stacked with a self-cast Shield spell for a total +12 modifier.
Then again; full immunity to Magic Missiles adds a little, so same price seems fair.
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I don't think an item that grants a +8 bonus as Mage Armor + Shield and immunity to Magic Missile should be any more expensive then an item that grants a +8 AC bonus to armor.
When mixing bonus types, it gets a bit fuzzy.
Think about a ring that provides a +2 deflection bonus and a +2 natural armor bonus. Both add to AC for a total of +4. The cost should be (2 x 2 x 2,000) + (2 x 2 x 2,000 x 1.5) for a total of 20,000 gp.
A ring of protection +4 or an amulet of natural armor +4 is 32,000 gp a piece and they also only provide a +4 total bonus to AC, yet cost 12,000 gp more.
True, but the ring of protection would protect against touch attacks, while the prot/natural armor one would only get half its bonus, yes?
I'm not sure how I feel about the item in the OP. Can it be argued that since shield is usually used for broach of shielding, that bracers are an out of normal slot space for an item? Or demand that since the spell duration is so much shorter for shield that it be command word activated, with only the armor bonus always active? Also, niether bonus works against regular touch attacks, and bracers only against incorporeal touch attacks. So you're +8 v physical attacks, +4 vs incorporeal attacks, and pretty much hosed v the monk thats tripping your dumb ass. Thats how I read it anyway.
Bella Sara Charter Superscriber
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Magic items should be modeled after those with similar effects first and foremost, the continuous spell stuff is merely a set of guidelines. You should always take care when applying said guideslines, particularly if the spell is of short duration, has a range of personal, or otherwise has a severe effect on game play when available on an infinite basis.
I'm not sure if anyone has brought it up yet, but using the reasoning in the original post, you get clearly broken items like the bow of continuous true strike or the ring of continuous clw. Both are stupidly cheap, stupidly broken, and entirely within the item creation rules read literally.
It gets really annoying when a wizard PC wants to craft his own staff, however. The formulae for this endeavor can be a bit arcane (pun intended)* to begin with, and only gets worse when you try to compare it with existing staffs. While making your own staff sounds really cool, the "paper work" can truly be a nightmare. Anyone have some suggestions on this?
*Sorry, I have the racial weakness of automatically failing all Will saves to avoid making puns.
EDIT- Now I see there is another thread already dedicated to staff creation. So, I guess ignoring my post is a good idea. Lots of magic item creation threads around at the moment; what's going on?