Hi,
I'm left a bit puzzled by the cost of improving an item for which I added new ability. The rule says that:
"If the item is one that occupies a specific place on a character's body, the cost of adding any additional ability to that item increases by 50%. For example, if a character adds the power to confer invisibility to her ring of protection 2, the cost of adding this ability is the same as for creating a ring of invisibility multiplied by 1.5."
And we all know the rule for upgrading items.
So for the sake of argument let's say I have an amulet of natural armor +1. I want to add the amulet of mighty fists +1 ability on it with my create wondrous item feat, so I pay 3 000 gold (4 000 * 1.5, then divided by 2 because it's crafted).
Now let's say I want to improve my amulet so that natural armor is now +2, my understanding is that I should only have to pay the gold to improve an amulet of natural armor without any extra ability on it.
And if I want to improve my amulet of mighty fists, I would HAVE to pay the extra 50%, right ?
This reasoning seems to be confirmed by all the headbands and belt of multiple attributes, which indeed follow that pattern of "one bonus at regular price, the other at 1.5 the price", but I'd like to be sure...
Which means that it requires tracking which abilities were here first, and which came here second or more, am I right in my understanding ?
It also means that, by RAW, I should be able to create, say, a headband of intelligence +2 and Wisdow + 6 by paying 42 000, correct ? (assuming it was originally only a headband of wisdom, and not intelligence, otherwise it would cost 58000 gold)
Thanks for anyone who read this, and apologies in advance if I'm not always very clear, English not being my first language.
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We are speaking of custom magic items, so it is always GM territory and the GM decision.
Most GM follow the rule that you look what would be the cost of the item after applying the 2 enchantments in the most efficient way and then you pay the difference between the current price and the price of the enhanced version.
Example:
an Amulet of Natural Armor +1 cost 1.000 gp
an amulet of Mighty fist +1 cost 2.000 gp
an amulet of Mighty fist +1 and Natural armor +1 made from scratch would cost 2.000 gp (more costly ability) + 1.000gp (less costly ability) *150% = 3.500 gp.
(the abilities are applied in that order on the basis of this rule: Multiple different abilities Multiply lower item cost by 1.5)
With this interpretation if you already have an Amulet of Natural Armor +1 and you want to add the Mighty fist +1 ability to it you would only cost 2.500 gp (the difference between the initial item price and the final item price) and not 3.000 (adding a 2.000 gp ability *1.5).
It seem a reasonable way to do that. doing it the other way would require you to keep a record of all the thins that have been done to your equipment. Generally the rules in Pathfinder are made in way that will not require that kind of bookkeeping, so it seem a bit counter intuitive to require that for magic items.
That's more or less what I figured, without the indeed tedious bookkeeping that I was hoping to avoid ;)
Thank you !