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So I was browsing magic items and had a thought. Magic Items are generally designed for combat or adventuring. Yet the majority of the world's inhabitants are non-adventurers. Shouldn't there be magic items for the every day person in the world?
So I was wondering what kinds of magic items would you craft to make every day life easier on the average worker?
Perhaps a skillet that cooks without needing fire, and cleans itself when done...
a hoe that makes cleaning up the yard faster and easier...
sewing needles that do the sewing for you...
a towel that wipes up spills automatically when they happen...
a bucket that washes clothes automatically for you...
these seem like things that Prestidigitation could do... so how would use Prestidigitation or other 0-level or low level spells to make magic items for the every day person?
Also, how much would you charge for something like this? Browsing the magic item creation rules, wondrous items, it would seem prices would be around 2700gp. (Using .5 modifier for 0-level spell and cast at minimum caster level 3 to craft wondrous items, a command word activated skillet of cooking and cleaning would cost .5 x 3 x 1,800gp for a total of 2700gp! That seems very expensive.)
You're wrong: you can make the item with a cl 1. It isn't required to create items at minimum level needed for the feat. If you have the feat you can create an item with a cl between the min cl needed to cast the spell and the max cl you can achieve.
When the average person earns 10 gp a week and probably has to spend half if not most of it on living expenses, an ioun stone would take nearly 2 months of starvation to purchase.
Well I always thought there are thousends of small items that are never seen. Like a clasp that never opens or reveals a special badge if a command word is spoken. Never-dirt-Windows. A lot of things are possible with prestidigation. Just it stays rather expensive and only the rich and well to do are able to afford it. Or it is done in big cities. I guess it´s en vogue to have 2-3 minor magic trinkets as a noble. Just you never see them in a book
Basically all of these items are variations on prestidigitation. A prestidigitation at will item is 1000gp. Minor uses that only do one thing would probably cost half or a quarter of that. Still expensive, but not absurd for a wealthy family or merchant house.
Flavor the specifics I the item to taste.
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Basically all of these items are variations on prestidigitation. A prestidigitation at will item is 1000gp. Minor uses that only do one thing would probably cost half or a quarter of that. Still expensive, but not absurd for a wealthy family or merchant house.
Flavor the specifics I the item to taste.
If the equivalence we use in our Group of 1 gp = 50 € in purchasing power is right that is equivalent to 50.000 €. The cost of a pricey car but not one of the top models or costly telephoto lens.
All stuff that has a market in our world.
If you look the expenses of real medieval/renaissance nobles and rich people you will see something similar. The objects change, but they had money for luxuries. It is almost sure that Golarion rich people has some magic item that has non adventurer related effects.
Probably most rich hoses have continual flames spells for illumination. In the long run they are less costly and less dangerous than torches or candles and give off a better illumination.
I think that we will not see a large number of those items in a single house, but a few are very reasonable.
I think most of the day to day business stuff can be handled by servants -easier and less expensive.
But - I do see a market for "novelties" - a music box that plays on it's own (and maybe shows a small illusion?), a necklace that shines in the dark, a key that can open/close all the windows at once (or just one at a time), a ring of permanent mage hand, a trinket that allows you to clean yourself or your clothes, an earring that allows you to cast message, etc.
Technically, prestidigitation can only warm (or chill, or flavor) food, not heat it enough to cook it. But so long as it can't damage anything else, I don't see a reason why a 0-level spell couldn't cook food without a flame. I'd still require the time, though. So, yeah, by the table it'd be 1,250 gp for a frying pan of cooking--pretty expensive, but then it's also pretty useful. (In a higher-magic setting where mundane magical oddities are more common, I'd probably price it much more cheaply.)
There are tons of neat magical mundane items to be had. Borrowing from The Sims 3, how about a "shower-in-a-can"? It's a one-off spray that cleans you and your clothing when applied as a full-round action (25gp). Great for emergencies, like diplomatic situations, or when a passing noble's coach splashes mud on your best outfit on your way to a date.
Summon a lantern archon, they can Create Continual Flame at will.
No excuse for every person not to have illumination in their house.
==Aelryinth
Er, Call it, then. Still cheap, easy. ANd it's Lesser Planar Binding...one 5th level caster, and you're set!
==Aelryinth
A few off the top of my head using 0 level spells:
Every-Flavor Pipeweed: just like the children of Hogwarts, now your grown up wizards can have tobacco infused with prestidigitations to go smokeless, blow pink rings that smell like bubble gum or have the puffs of smoke come out square and sideways!
The Potable Portable: a watersack that can purify any watery liquid to make it drinkable. A larger version could be a cooking pot hung in a hearth. Since in real life "pottage" was just leftovers in the pot from the night before re-imagined the next morning, this cauldron would keep ANY foodstuff cooked within it from spoiling indefinitely so that you could just keep adding more and different things to the broth.
One I actually used in a game: The Directional Arrow!
This arrow is flightless; if shot from a bow it will auto-fail. However if jammed forcefully by hand it will wedge into any surface. Sure, it might still be used as a weapon, but it's TRUE purpose is revealed when the "surface" is natural stone or the ground. At that point four lights as bright as torches appear and swirl out to a 10' distance from one another lighting a good area of space. What's more, while three of these glimmer like firebrands the fourth radiates a greenish luminescence. The green light always marks true north and grants a +2 Circumstance bonus to Survival checks to avoid getting lost or gaining one's bearings.
I don't see Ashiel here so I'll add this. Basically, the way a town's economy works is that magic items become viable when you evaluate the economy of the town on a whole. A village can afford a decanter of endless water within a couple months time, for example. This would free up hands to other tasks and becomes a revolving system of upgrading the settlement. There is a point with consistent growth where personal magic items become more viable and new settlers can bring their own items as well. On the macro scale it actually works with the system economic rules.
If you want barely magical mundane items, I believe a heatstone is only 20 gp.