Wow.. good job! The price you came up with seems perfectly reasonable to me.
The item you came up with is better than a +3, animated mithril buckler, for about the same price (36000).
Very nice job.
Edit: Also, yes, it's usually a good idea to make things priced that way 5/day.
Congratulations!
You followed the first, usually ignored, rule of custom item pricing: compare it to an item with a similar effect.
You ignored the second, often tried, rule of custom item pricing: (if the first rule doesn't work), look at the table and use the appropriate formulas.
When the player tries to make an item that casts Mage Armor for 1800, be sure to compare the cost to a Bracers of Armor +4.
You could just buy a mithral buckler. It has no spell failure chance and since its ACP is -0, you don't suffer any penalties for wielding it without proficiency. A +5 mithral buckler provides a +6 AC bonus for 26,015g, far cheaper and more effective than the shield item, though it doesn't offer the incorporeal touch attack or magic missile protection. I've always thought the ring of force shield was way overpriced.
Of course, if he's using a two-handed weapon or TWF, it still imposes a -1 penalty to attack, regardless of its ACP. Also, you lose the AC bonus whenever you use two hands, such as using a rod of metamagic and using the somatic component for the same spell.
(x2 since it's 1 minute/lvl duration) and came up with a total cost of 3600 gp, with it only being 1800 gp to make
The formula would be 1 (spell level) * 1 (caster level) * 2000 (continuous) * 2 (1 minute/level spell) = 4000GP cost (2000 GP crafting cost)
You wouldn't double the 1800 because continuous use has it's own line.As far as the number of uses per day look at the cape of the mountebank, a once per day effect of a 4th level spell. Price is 10,080. 4 (spell level) * 7 (Caster level) * 1,800 = 50,400 divide that by 5 (for one use a day) and you get the price so I would say that an item that is a command word should either have 5 uses per day. Because for example a cloak with 6 charges per day should be 60,480 (6/5 * 50,400) Although I can't find any items with more than 5 charges per day to compare against so maybe at 5 uses per day it just becomes unlimited.
I don't think a crafting cost of 2000 is all too bad for permanent spell. It is at caster level 1 so a rival spellcaster could easily negate it with a dispel, the immunity to magic missile should really only help at lower levels. Even though it is a staple spell there are just better things to spend your round casting than that. You can always look at a brooch of shielding to compare that ability. The brooch is 1500 GP, that is doubled from 750 because it does not take up an item slot. compare that 750 to 4000 and I would say that is an appropriate increase for the magic missile immunity to not have a damage limit on it.
The additional +4 to AC is a little much, balance wise, for only 4000 gold though. A ring of force shield uses a different craft item feat so remember he will be taking up an item slot for this item of shielding (likely bracers or neck since they are associated with protection although I don't remember if this got brought into Pathfinder so it might not matter what slot it is.) Meaning that he gives up bracers of armor or an amulet of natural armor later, unless he wants to pay more for it...
For items that take up a space on a
character’s body, each additional power not only has no
discount but instead has a 50% increase in price.
I think that 37600 might be a little high a price for a continous +4 to AC since it only duplicates a 1st level spell. Consider the permanency spell, no it does not allow for shield to be made permanent but other 1st level spells are only 2500 GP to make permanent. I think the ring of force shield is simply overpriced is the issue here, I would love to see the math behind it's pricing.
37600 GP is, according to the wealth by level tables, nearly all of a 9th level characters gold. Even crafted, taking up almost half of your resources at 9th level to get a +4 bonus to AC is not exactly my idea of a good investment.
The only thing that I really frown upon with my characters making magic items is when they try to pull something like "The reason the +5 longsword of speed is only a thousand gold is because it can only be used by fighters named Gerald who are lawful neutral, have 5 ranks in intimidate, and have red hair." Past that if they want to spend their feats to craft their own items then they can have at. I do it when I play mages. If they start to get out of hand just talk to them about it
alternatively...
Basically what I am trying to say is that 4000 is too low, and 37,000 is too high. By the time he wants to throw around 18,500 gold to craft the item (and spend a month doing the crafting) a +4 bonus to AC on the caster will not matter one bit and the magic missile immunity is basically defunct at that point. The math for both numbers works out so I would say that it is time for some DM magic to be applied to hit a middle ground, which means pick a number that you feel represents a good balance of cost/benefit. It's sloppy but if you explain your reasoning to the players hopefully they will understand.
|
I would go for about 26,000gp cost.
A shield bonus is about the same as an armor bonus: It can be done with a regular item and won't stack with it. Key difference: Bracers of Shield leave you with a free hand. So I put it at somewhere between armor and deflection modifiers to AC, or in other words bonus squared times 1500gp. I give no price increase for it being force armor because bracers of armor doesn't, so why should shield.
That puts the price at 24,000gp for the AC.
The "Immunity to Magic Missile" effect is relatively weak, and only a portion of the effect of the "4000gp continuous" cost, so I halved that to represent that the AC was taken out and priced separately. Brooch of Shielding (sans multiplier for not taking an item slot) is 1500gp, which isn't far behind, but is equivalent to 5-6 charges of "immune to 9th level+ magic missile" on average. I think it's appropriate, personally.
Add 2,000gp to the price, for a total of 26,000gp.
There's my version of a random DM-fu.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32
|
This is actaully an item that I've been toying with for a little while now. I've tried a few different things, such as:
* Pricing it around the 16,000 area (18,000 was what I went with) to keep it in line with Bracers of Armour +4.
* Using Table 15-29 to add up an AC Bonus Item (which got me 4 squared x 2,500 = 40,000 + 2,000 for the MM immunity and I came up with 42,000) This seemed a little steep compared with the Bracers.
* Pricing it in line with a +3 Mithril Buckler (which is 10,165 + 2,000 = around 12,000). This seemed a little cheap.
So far, I had 3 vastly different figures (12,000, 18,000 & 42,000) so I ended up taking the lowest figure from the highest figure and got 30,000 which I thought was a fair price and is what I ended up going with.
So to sum up: My very similar item I priced at 30,000gp
|
|
How would people quote the price on an item that did Alter self as a continuous effect
spell level x caster lvl x 2000gp x 2 = 4000gp
If a continuous item has an effect based on a spell with a duration measured in rounds, multiply the cost by 4. If the duration of the spell is 1 minute/level, multiply the cost by 2, and if the duration is 10 minutes/level, multiply the cost by 1.5. If the spell as a 24-hour duration or greater, divide the cost in half.
Is this too cheap???
Alter self is a different case. As far as I know, a continuous version of a spell that normally has options on casting (such as which creature to turn into) has to be crafted with one particular option. Same goes for anything that isn't spell trigger/completion (since you would need spellcasting knowledge to change the spell).
I would probably map the alter self effect by first considering the ability bonus. It gives a +2 size bonus to either strength or dexterity (depending on the size of the form). A +2 enhancement bonus would normally cost 4000gp by itself. However, a bonus of an uncommon type (such as size) is usually double the cost of the common type, so I'd double the cost at this juncture to make it 8000gp.This ability can also grant darkvision, low-light vision, scent or possibly even a swim speed. I would consider which of these the player gets on a case-by-case basis, adjusting the cost based on which of these abilities the form gets. I'd probably add about 1-2 thousand for darkvision or low-light vision (each), around 3-4 thousand for scent and about 5 thousand for swim speed (would be more, but swim doesn't usually come up much).
Everything past the ability modifier cost, though, is all "ad hoc" done by thinking "if I were a player, how much would I be generally be willing to pay for this". The ad hoc figures I listed above are erred on the cheap side.
Basically you try to match what benefits you get out of the item to similar benefits from other items, then add an arbitrary amount that seems fair for the other features (possibly extrapolating from other items that are in the ball-park).
As an example of this item, I'd probably have a continuous "I'm a dwarf" alter self cost about 10,000gp as it would provide a +2 to strength and darkvision.
Oh, and don't forget to increase the price if the effect is on an "out of place" item slot and other, similar factors that aren't much related to the effect itself.
Let me guess he's using create wondrous item... that's my personal favorite when aiming to break the system.
the way i calculate it is:
Caster Level x Spell Level x 2000 (continuous) x 2 for min duration = 4000gp and 2000 to make.
Things to watch out for:
- Alignment and class limited items. I wouldn't allow it.
- Lower Caster level items, again I would say no unless it has a direct effect on the number of damage dice.
- limit the number of spell services rendered per week as this is the fastest way to make money other than adventuring. And have consequences for loitering in a town performing spell services.
Basically what its all going to have to boil down to is weighing how much loot you are going to grant your players with how fast you want them to increase in power other than that follow the formulas in the book and never be afraid to say no.
An understanding player will accept that their skills may offset the balance of the game.
I recommend you read the magic item creation rules in depth and set your limits to what can be made. there is no reason you have to allow continuous items to be created... command word items are just as useful for the sake of practicality, even if they really aren't as useful. Another thing I like to do is place the mandatory 1-5 charges per day on created items, "to represent the untried nature of a new recipe".
Best of luck and remember its your world. If things get out of hand don't be afraid to introduce anti-magic crystals... 5' radius per square inch... such as the head of a bolt or arrow.
Be creative and have fun.