Help me price this magic item


Homebrew and House Rules


Just a quick right up for a tattoo I'm thinking of allowing a player to use. The problem I'm having is coming up with a reasonable cost using the item creation rules.

traveler's tattoo:

Traveler's tattoo
Price: ? Aura: moderate conjuration
CL 9 weight -

This tattoo allows the bearer to create a mundane piece of equipment as a standard action.The item created must be one that can be easily carried, weigh no more than 5 lbs, and be made of stone, basic metals, or vegetable matter. The created item appears in the bearers hand and is outlined in a faint shimmering light. It is otherwise of masterwork quality and lasts for 1 hour before dissappearing. This power can be activated 3 times per day.

Construction requirements
Inscribe magical tattoo, major creation

Pricing formula below
Command word: 5th level spell X 9th level caster X 1800gp = 81,000gp

Charges per day: 81,000/5 X 3 = 48,600gp
Slotless item: 48,600gp X 2 = 97,200gp

It seems way excessive. Even if I make the item 1/day usage I still end up with 32,400gp. Thoughts?

Also feedback on the quickly generated item is welcome.


I'll add that I'm leaning toward making it a1/day item and disregarding the slotless item adjustment. Which would put it around 16,000gp. Still seems a little high but maybe not too far off. I'm using the robe of useful items as a reference for pricing.

Scarab Sages

Major creation items last for at least hours/lvl, 9 hours for your item, and as the item created by this item lasts for only 1 hour I would reduce the cost by a factor of 9. Making it 10,800 gp. Presumably it could cost more because it only makes masterwork items without a craft check, but I think because the object is obviously magically created (outlined in light) the increase in quality is a fair trade-off.

Honestly it seems overpriced at 10k, even 5k. Because instead of basing it off the robe of useful items you could be basing it off the Traveler's Any-Tool (250 gp).

Since it can make masterwork weapons (light ones) I would price it higher than the any-tool, probably 3k-5k ish. Though this cost is mainly because I don't see much possible abuse outside ease-of-life stuff with 5 lb of mundane equipment and because I feel this item incentivises player creativity, which I greatly enjoy.


Since it can't be looted (at least I'm pretty sure you can't loot a tattoo, but I've been wrong before >.>) that means players would have to actively seek this out and pay for it. I don't know any player who would pay 3k+ gold for a small tool. They could just a handy haversack, fill it with masterwork tools, and call it day with some extra gold jingling in their pocket. This has to be affordable.

Streamline the process. Make it cost roughly double the listed price of the mundane tool they want. And even then don't be surprised if they don't want it. At five pounds you can't even get a rope tattoo. Unless you're one of those DMs that constantly steals all their gear through one means or another, players aren't going to shell out their precious gold on something they can get cheaper with unlimited use.

I could however, see a rogue, or rogue-like character, enjoying this because he could hide the tattoos on his body and be ready to roll where ever he goes.

Remember the rules for magic items aren't so much rules as they are guidelines. In cases of such low power items I'd say your safe making these cheap.

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