Item with spell ability buying / crafting question - confused

[Sanjay Shanbhag]

Hello,

confused on item cost that has 3 uses/day (based on a spell effect on the item):

Player wants to buy an item that has 3 uses of a 3rd level spell. Since it's a high level campaign, i let them (in specific cities in the planes) buy some magic items.
This is a sword that has a 3rd level spell on it with 3 uses/day.

Confused as to how to price this out:

magic item creation rules says this: Charges per day Divide by (5 divided by charges per day)

that seems off; if an item has 10 charges, the price is lower than if it had 2? (ie. 5/10 vs 5/2)

Also, would the power of the spell be @ the min caster level needed to cast it (ie.as if the sword was a level 5 caster?) or should that part be a variable based on what I allow and what party can pay for?

Regards,

Sanjay

[Claxon]

Charges per day Divide by (5 divided by number fo charges) means

If the base price is 2000 and it has 3 charges per day then you tak2 2000 and divide by (5/3) which is the same as 2000*(3/5) which is 1200. If it has 5 charges per day then it is 2000*(5/5) which is 2000. Once you get to more than 5 charges there is a weird caveat in the rules where you treat it like a 5 charge per day item for pricing, so it is essentially unlimited use if you pay for 5 charges per day.

As far as the caster level bit is concerned, base price for a continuous item is (IIRC) 2000*spell level*caster level. Then you can apply the rules from the special section of magic item creation rules, which includes the price of charges per day.

As well, these rules generally apply to wondrous items, not adding spell abilities to weapons, though it is not against the rules by any means. There are many unique weapons that have abilities that function like spells already so there is a precedent for it. Just let the player know that it doesn't need to have this ability on a weapon, he could have it added to any item he is wearing (with the proper adjustment for additional abilities that are not similar, 1,5 for cheaper ability) or to an item that doesn't count against his space limitation (X2).

[darkwarriorkarg]

1) What is the spell
2) Does it need to be a sword?
3) Does this effect duplicate or resemble an existing item?
4) You must use judgement when adjudicating custom items. The rules are guidelines. So anything with5+ charges per day should be full price, as that is essentially unlimited uses.

[DM_Blake]

OP, I think your math is off.

Specifically, a level 3 spell requires a level 5 caster, so the price for unlimited charges is: 3 x 5 x 2000 = 15,000.

1 charge is 15,000 /(5/1) = 3,000
2 charges is 15,000/(5/2) = 6,000
3 charges is 15,000/(5/3) = 9,000
4 charges is 15,000/(5/4) = 12,000
5 charges is 15,000/(5/5) = 15,000 - same price as Unlimited charges.
6 charges is 15,000/(5/6) = 18,000
10 charges is 15,000/(5/10) = 30,000 - this is clearly more than two charges. 5x more, to be exact.

What Claxon said is correct.

More specifically, if they want more than 4/day, they just make it unlimited, since unlimited is the exact same price as 5/day. Nobody would make a charged item with more than 4 charges.

Don't forget to mark the price up by 50% for putting a second ability on a sword (extra abilities on anything always cost 50% more, but you apply the markup to the cheapest ability, not the most expensive).

For example, if it's a +3 sword that casts Haste 3/day, it would be
18,000 for the sword
9,000 x 1.5 = 13,500 for the haste
300 for Masterwork
plus whatever the basic sword cost is.

[Claxon]

DM_Blake wrote:

OP, I think your math is off.

Specifically, a level 3 spell requires a level 5 caster, so the price for unlimited charges is: 3 x 5 x 2000 = 15,000.

1 charge is 15,000 /(5/1) = 3,000
2 charges is 15,000/(5/2) = 6,000
3 charges is 15,000/(5/3) = 9,000
4 charges is 15,000/(5/4) = 12,000
5 charges is 15,000/(5/5) = 15,000 - same price as Unlimited charges.
6 charges is 15,000/(5/6) = 18,000
10 charges is 15,000/(5/10) = 30,000 - this is clearly more than two charges. 5x more, to be exact.

What Claxon said is correct.

More specifically, if they want more than 4/day, they just make it unlimited, since unlimited is the exact same price as 5/day. Nobody would make a charged item with more than 4 charges.

Don't forget to mark the price up by 50% for putting a second ability on a sword (extra abilities on anything always cost 50% more, but you apply the markup to the cheapest ability, not the most expensive).

For example, if it's a +3 sword that casts Haste 3/day, it would be
18,000 for the sword
9,000 x 1.5 = 13,500 for the haste
300 for Masterwork
plus whatever the basic sword cost is.

HIGH FIVE!