The Price is Right - variant ring of wizardry

[blargney the second]

Welcome to The Price is Right!

I'm contemplating putting a variant magic item in a treasure hoard, but I'm not sure how much it is worth. I'm soliciting your opinions, please! The item is a ring of wizardry 1 that imposes a -2 penalty on caster level.

Come on down! You're the next contestant on The Price is Right.
-blarg

[Ashram]

Is this ring meant to be flawed or cursed? A -2 to caster level is pretty hefty. I'd say make it at least 3/4 to 1/2 cost (10-15k).

Also, this should probably be in the Advice section. :P

[darkwarriorkarg]

Why would anyone voluntarily wear that?

[chaoseffect]

I bid 1 gold piece!

That aside, a -2 CL is a pretty large penalty for getting double the first level spells, which aren't very strong as they are first level spells. If the -2 CL was centralized on first level spells it wouldn't be a big issue, but that's not the case... I'd say 10k sounds reasonable, though I'd probably not use it.