Starglim
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The GM might assume that you're getting the item for the usage you want and don't care about the bonus for the other uses of the skill, thus it's not a real limitation on the value of the item to you.
A restriction that limits the use of the item for its logical primary purpose could be worth about as much as a alignment or class restriction (up to 30% off).
| sk8r_dan_man |
If a magic item gives skill bonuses it costs (bonus squared)x100.
But what if the item only gives a bonus to part of the skill? Like a bonus to survival for tracking only but nothing else.
It sounds to me like what you're looking for isn't necessarily a magic item at all.
This tool is perfect for its intended job. It grants a +2 circumstance bonus on a related skill check (if any). The bonuses provided by multiple masterwork items do not stack.
Several common items already count as masterwork tools for particular skills. These are the alchemist's lab, climber's kit, disguise kit, healer's kit, masterwork musical instrument, and masterwork thieves' tools. Therefore, there is no masterwork climber's kit, masterwork healer's kit, and so on—those items are already the best available for general checks with the relevant skill.
Some skills have no appropriate tool or masterwork tool—no nonmagical item exists that grants a bonus for all uses of that skill. For example, just because a certain perfume is favored by local nobles (granting a +2 circumstance bonus on Diplomacy checks to influence them) doesn't mean that perfume has the same effect on a member of the thieves' guild, a foreign berserker, or a medusa. Likewise, just because a fake beard woven by dwarves out of the beards of famous dwarves may grant a +2 circumstance bonus on Use Magic Device checks to emulate the dwarven race doesn't mean the beard has any effect on using that skill to activate elven items or paladin items, or to decipher a written spell.
Individual GMs may want to allow masterwork tools for other skills at the listed cost. The circumstance bonus for such a tool should never be more than +2. The tool should either have a limited number of uses (such as the disguise and healer's kits) or only apply to certain aspects of the skill (such as the balancing pole's bonus on Acrobatics checks to traverse a narrow surface or the magnifying glass's bonus on Appraise checks for detailed items).
In this case, you could talk to your DM about getting some tool that specifically helps you with tracking creatures (get creative). You can only get a +2 with this, but it's much cheaper than a magic item and it doesn't consume a worn item slot.
For magic items though, skill bonus are quite cheap. A +2 survival, for example, would only cost 400 gold. Per the rules, you could even get skill bonuses added to any existing wondrous item for a 50% price increase, or (bonus squared)x150, which is still very cheap compared to other magic items. You should talk to your DM about this first though, because you'll probably have to have it specially made, and the function of the magic item should make sense. For example, it wouldn't make sense to get goggles of +5 jump.