I know the magic item cost formula isn't supposed to be exact, but I would expect it to be in the ballpark. Even re-creating some items from the Core rules is impossible. For example:
Decanter of Endless Water
Spell Level (4) X Caster Level (9) X Command Word (1,800) = 64,800
Duration is 10 min/level: 64,800 X 1.5 = 97,200
No Space Limitation: 97,200 X 2 = 194,400 gp
Actual cost: 9,000 gp
I don't get it. I can understand if it was off by a thousand or two, but not by a factor of over 20!
I know the magic item cost formula isn't supposed to be exact, but I would expect it to be in the ballpark. Even re-creating some items from the Core rules is impossible. For example:
Decanter of Endless Water
Spell Level (4) X Caster Level (9) X Command Word (1,800) = 64,800
Duration is 10 min/level: 64,800 X 1.5 = 97,200
No Space Limitation: 97,200 X 2 = 194,400 gpActual cost: 9,000 gp
I don't get it. I can understand if it was off by a thousand or two, but not by a factor of over 20!
Those are really guidelines, not rules. You have to go by the actual value of what you think a player will pay for the finished product. Using true strike to get a sword that gives you a +20
spell level (1) X Caster Level (5-minimum for craft armor and weapons) X 1500(continuous=2 X 50 charges)=7500+mwk weapon+2000 for it being a +1 weapon= 9800ish.
I don't think a sane DM will give you a sword with a +20 to hit for 9800 though.
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I know the magic item cost formula isn't supposed to be exact, but I would expect it to be in the ballpark. Even re-creating some items from the Core rules is impossible. For example:
Decanter of Endless Water
Spell Level (4) X Caster Level (9) X Command Word (1,800) = 64,800
Duration is 10 min/level: 64,800 X 1.5 = 97,200
No Space Limitation: 97,200 X 2 = 194,400 gp
That's because a decanter of endless water isn't a command word activated control water "spell in a can." while control water is the prerequisite spell for the decanter, the item actually does something very different. The pricing rules are a guideline based on what the item does, not what spells a character needs to create it.
Creative Director
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The magic item price cost formula is a starting point. It exists to give you a place to begin pricing an item, and to get it roughly into the right zone. The more weird and complex your item is, and the further it deviates from typical spells or magic items, the less exact the pricing will be. In the end, determining the price for a new magic item should be equal parts following the formula and comparing the price to similar items in the core rules—your goal as the designer of a magic item is to set the price as competitively as possible with existing similar items. And if the item is NOT similar to any existing item, then your goal is to figure out at what point that item should be something that a PC can be expected to afford, based on the expected PC wealth levels. It's not easy, it's not simple, and it's absolutely open to a lot of different types of interpretation. If you're designing an item for your home game, you only have to satisfy your own interpretation. If you're designing it for publication, you have to satisfy or at least justify your interpretation with those of the editors you're working with. And if you're pricing an item for RPG Superstar, you're also trying to impress the Judges and the voting public that you know what you're doing as well. It's part of what makes it a hard contest, after all. If it were simple, anyone could do it and we wouldn't need to hold RPG Superstar at all, right? :)
Duration is 10 min/level: 64,800 X 1.5 = 97,200
That's only if it's a continuous effect.