I've found a couple threads touching on this subject, but nothing that actually gets answered. It seems that the magic item pricing on anything other than a straight +N sword or +N armor doesn't even come close to explaining actual item costs.
You can find the information I'm working off of here:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/magicItems/magicItemCreation.html
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/magicItems/wondrousItems.html#cape-of-th e-mountebank
According to the rules, a command-word activated item should cost:
spell-level x caster-level x 1800.
The Cape of the Mountebank is given by the chart itself as the example item of this pricing. The cape is a dimension door in-a-can, 1/day use, a perfect example
Dimension door is a 4th level spell, the minimum caster level required is 7 so
4 x 7 x 1800 = 50400 GP
The actual cost of item?
10800 GP
I've seen lots of people commenting on this topic saying that the rules are just guidelines and that complex or odd items will mess with the system, but neither of those are true in this case. We're talking about as basic an example as you can get, AND the very example given by the rules, and it's not even in the ballpark. That's not a guideline at all.
I must be making a mistake here, something just doesn't jive. Can anyone comment on what has gone wrong with magic item pricing?
I must be making a mistake here, something just doesn't jive. Can anyone comment on what has gone wrong with magic item pricing?
Yup. The other component is "charges per day". In this case, divide by 5.
50400 / 5 = 10080, which is the price of the cape (not 10800).
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There's a step you're missing in the creation process. Under special, there's a line starting with "Charges per Day." You divide the number you have by (charges per day divided by 5). Since the item in question has 1/day usage, 4*7*1800gp/5=10,080gp, the list price of the item.
-Edit-
Ninjaed by FarmerBob
Also, there are listed cases where the price is very close, but not exact. I don't remember the good one I found when I was looking this up, but they are Guidelines. Rules 9.5 times out of 10, excellent Guidelines the last 0.5 times.
(*EDIT*) double ninja'd
Sweet! Thank you very much
I KNEW something was missing, thanks for the help. The other threads I found would just suddenly end after a couple replies of "they're guidelines."
Creative Director
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It's a legitimate question. They aren't always clear about what's applying where and how. The organization of the chart, and all the sub-notes, makes it easy to overlook things.
True... but pricing magic items is one of the most complicated parts of the game. It's not easy, in other words.
The best way to finalize magic item prices is to take the item you've created and look at the price you've arrived at and then compare it to similar items in the core rulebook. If you'd never buy your new item because the similar items is less expensive, your item costs too much. If you'd never buy the core rulebook item because your new item is better for a cheaper price, your new item doesn't cost enough.
You want to hit that butter zone where the choice between buying the new item and the similar Core Rulebook item is a hard choice.
AKA: Pricing items isn't 100% math. There's a certain degree of art and ad-hoc decisioning as well.
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True... but pricing magic items is one of the most complicated parts of the game. It's not easy, in other words.
The best way to finalize magic item prices is to take the item you've created and look at the price you've arrived at and then compare it to similar items in the core rulebook. If you'd never buy your new item because the similar items is less expensive, your item costs too much. If you'd never buy the core rulebook item because your new item is better for a cheaper price, your new item doesn't cost enough.
You want to hit that butter zone where the choice between buying the new item and the similar Core Rulebook item is a hard choice.
AKA: Pricing items isn't 100% math. There's a certain degree of art and ad-hoc decisioning as well.
True that.