Need help estimating magic item gold value. (also any balancing issues)

[Ten'shun the Tengu]

Sounding Lantern wonderous item
Aura faint evocation CL 2nd
Slot None Price ??? Weight 2 lbs.

This lantern functions as a normal hooded lantern. While it is lit, but no more than three times per day, a sounding lantern can be commanded to send a pulse of magical bluish light racing across all surfaces within 60ft, momentarily highlighting any secret doors, snares and pits, or creatures in a reddish glow. The pulse and it's effects dissipate within a single round, but it otherwise functions as if the spells faerie fire, detect secret doors, and detect snares and pits were cast and the caster had studied the area for 2 rounds.

So my calculations for GP value are as follows, correct me if I'm wrong

Command Word (faerie fire) 1*2*1800= 3600
Command Word (detect secret doors) 1*2*1800= 3600
Command Word (detect snares and pits) 1*2*1800= 3600
3*3600=10800
No Space Limitation 10800*2= 21600
3 Charges per day 5/3= 1.66... 21600/1.66...= 12960 approx
Hooded Lantern 7+12960= 12967

Possible item comparisons
Lantern of Revealing CRB
Rod of Alertness UE
Rod of Enemy Detection UE

In addition to my qualms about pricing I'm worried about the effect the item will have on my 3rd level party, and if this is mechanically better than other means of enemy detection.

Notable things:
none of the spells listed allow saving throws.
there are no trap finding rogues or people with disable device in the party. (my reasoning for the items creation.)

[Rogar Valertis]

Price could be fine (for a 3rd lvl party it's a lot), but probably it does too much stuff. If I were in you I'd consider taking away one of the powers between faerie fire and detect secret doors AND/OR reduce the number of uses per day.

[Ten'shun the Tengu]

Thanks for the advice, I could easily remove faerie fire and still keep to the theme of the item. The idea of adding it was actually spurred by a brainstorm on how to do a future reveal of a key invisible baddie. thought it might be fun to have the pulse outline it's figure as they try to use it to find a door or something (#OMGmoment)

Sounding Lantern wonderous item
Aura faint divination CL 2nd
Slot None Price 8647 gp Weight 2 lbs.

This lantern functions as a normal hooded lantern. While it is lit, but no more than three times per day, a sounding lantern can be commanded to send a pulse of magical bluish light racing across all surfaces within 60ft, momentarily highlighting any secret doors, snares, and pits in a reddish glow. The pulse and it's effects dissipate within a single round, but it otherwise functions as if the spells detect secret doors, and detect snares and pits were cast and the caster had studied the area for 2 rounds.

Command Word (faerie fire) 1*2*1800= 3600
Command Word (detect secret doors) 1*2*1800= 3600
Command Word (detect snares and pits) 1*2*1800= 3600
2*3600=7200
No Space Limitation 7200*2= 14400
3 Charges per day 5/3= 1.66... 14400/1.66...= 8640 approx
Hooded Lantern 7+8640= 8647

that's a pretty item, useful for any spelunker. And the removal of faerie fire clears up a lot of issues that might have come up from using this in combat, so great. XD

Brainstorm:
what if I added in a passive, something like the dwarf's stonecunning racial ability? Is there an item comparison for that?

Come to think of it, I wonder what a dwarfs price would be if valued according to the magic item creation rules? This thought train went dark really fast. :/

[J4RH34D]

A dwarf with what levels in what class :p

A dwarf with max perception and trapspotting would basically be permanent detect secret doors and snares and pits within a stone dungeon

[Bob Bob Bob]

I hunted a few magic items and wrote up a post, but gave up because of the Faerie Fire effect. Without it this is pretty easy though.

Say hello to the Lantern of Auras. It's an at-will Detect Magic bullseye lantern. The price for 3/day is 3/5th the price of at-will so 1,200. A 1st level spell is worth twice a cantrip so 2,400. Doubled to 4,800 for two spells (no cost increase for slotless items). Probably no cost change for changing from bullseye to hooded, detect Snares and Pits is way more useful as a cone than a circle ("We just walked over a pit trap." "WE KNOW!"), Detect Secret Doors is probably the reverse.

Goods snd Services wrote:

Slave, common 75 gp 175 lbs. PC:AA

Slave, hard labor 100 gp 200 lbs. PC:AA
Slave, household 50 gp 130 lbs. PC:AA
Slave, slip (halfling) 100 gp 39 lbs. PC:AA
Slave, specialized 500 gp 160 lbs. PC:AA
Slave, skeleton 45 gp + 50-100 additional gp for body* PPC:BM
Slave, zombie 90 gp + 50-100 additional gp for body* PPC:BM

Dwarf male is probably hard labor? Dwarf female can probably be common, maybe specialized. The weights don't work out otherwise (females are 134-176, males are 164-206). Of course, now I'm treating this like a literal meat market.

Honestly, if you want it to be more useful then just make it at-will. It'd only be 8k for an at-will version. That already exists for Secret Doors with Treasure Hunter's Goggles at 6,400, which comes with 1/day Locate Object (coin stash only) and 3/day identify.

[Ten'shun the Tengu]

Bob Bob Bob wrote:

Goods snd Services wrote:

Slave, common 75 gp 175 lbs. PC:AA

Slave, hard labor 100 gp 200 lbs. PC:AA
Slave, household 50 gp 130 lbs. PC:AA
Slave, slip (halfling) 100 gp 39 lbs. PC:AA
Slave, specialized 500 gp 160 lbs. PC:AA
Slave, skeleton 45 gp + 50-100 additional gp for body* PPC:BM
Slave, zombie 90 gp + 50-100 additional gp for body* PPC:BM

Dwarf male is probably hard labor? Dwarf female can probably be common, maybe specialized. The weights don't work out otherwise (females are 134-176, males are 164-206). Of course, now I'm treating this like a literal meat market.

It's not good enough! (Oh well, Time to wade in) What if we took the racial stats of the dwarf and estimated what it would cost to make an equivalent magic item?

According to the ARG a dwarf rod would have:

+2 Con, +2 Wis, -2 Cha
Medium (there are no stats here... move along)
Slow and Steady (shall we break this down into a 20 foot move speed and then encumberance negation?)
Darkvision
A +4 dodge bonus to AC against Giants
A +2 bonus to appraisal of metallic objects
A +1 bonus to Attack rolls against orcs and goblinoids
A +2 bonus to Saves against poison, spells, spell-like abilities
A +4 bonus to CMD when resisting a bull-rush or trip while on ground
STONECUNNING
Grants weapon proficiencies...
Languages Common, Dwarven

First off, I must say, Dwarf Rods are OP. look at those boons. booooons. (I may be sleep deprived)

The question now is, do we classify this item as an intelligent item or not? very important moving forward!

[Bob Bob Bob]

Depends. Is it a suppository? If so, definitely not intelligent. Pretty sure that's capital E Evil. Otherwise, depends on what you want. Stick that turns you into a dwarf? Not intelligent. Stick that is a dwarf? Definitely intelligent.