Magic Item Creation - Cost Calculations

[Muckles]

Thanks to anyone taking time to answer an aspect of the game I find most don't want to bother with.

I'm a DM that likes to utilize any and all aspects of the game, it makes for crazy out of the box solutions and incredible power that comes from players creativity and personal investment and work into a game I greatly enjoy. I have a full party of 6 that have really gotten into creating unique magic items that fit their need, I'm also a hard RAW DM, but if they can show me the references and I confirm it through my own research, I always allow it.

Table: Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Values
Use-activated or continuous Spell
level x caster level x 2,000 gp2

Haste to be made into a permanent
3rd level spell x 5th level wizard x 2,000 = 30,000 gp

"If a continuous item has an effect based on a spell with a duration measured in rounds, multiply the cost by 4. If the duration of the spell is 1 minute/level, multiply the cost by 2, and if the duration is 10 minutes/level, multiply the cost by 1.5. If the spell has a 24-hour duration or greater, divide the cost in half."

Haste:

School transmutation; Level alchemist 3, bard 3, bloodrager 3, magus 3, medium 2, occultist 3, psychic 3, sorcerer/wizard 3, spiritualist 3, summoner 2, unchained summoner 3

CASTING

Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, M (a shaving of licorice root)

EFFECT

Range close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Targets one creature/level, no two of which can be more than 30 ft. apart
Duration 1 round/level
Saving Throw Fortitude negates (harmless); Spell Resistance yes (harmless)

30,000 gp x 4 = 120,000 gp for a continual effect of the spell haste.

Boots of Speed:

Boots of Speed
Aura moderate transmutation; CL 10th; Slot feet; Price 12,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.

DESCRIPTION

As a free action, the wearer of boots of speed can click her heels together, letting her act as though affected by a haste spell for up to 10 rounds each day. The haste effect’s duration need not be consecutive rounds.

CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS

Feats Craft Wondrous Item, haste; Cost 6,000 gp.

It seems a little insane to me that this effect would cost so much to be made permanent when you look at some of the other items you could get for 120k gold, you could get you could get a

Tome of Understanding +4:

Book, Tome of Understanding
Aura strong evocation (if miracle is used); CL 17th; Slot —; Price 27,500 gp (+1), 55,000 gp (+2), 82,500 gp (+3), 110,000 gp (+4), 137,500 gp (+5); Weight 5 lbs.

DESCRIPTION

This thick book contains tips for improving instinct and perception, but entwined within the words is a powerful magical effect. If anyone reads this book, which takes a total of 48 hours over a minimum of 6 days, she gains an inherent bonus from +1 to +5 (depending on the type of tome) to her Wisdom score. Once the book is read, the magic disappears from the pages and it becomes a normal book.

CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS

Craft Wondrous Item, miracle or wish; Cost 26,250 gp (+1), 52,500 gp (+2), 78,750 gp (+3), 105,000 gp (+4), 131,250 gp (+5)

and still have 10k left over to spare!

So I looked into their own formula to craft boots of speed, since it's just an item based on a number of activations from a given spell.

Charges per day | Base Price ---> Divide by (5 divided by charges per day)
Single use, use-activated | Spell level x caster level x 50 gp

Quickened haste lvl 7 spell x wizard level 13 x 50 gp = 4550 gp
4550 gp / (5/10 charges) = 9,100 gp still a good margin below the 12,000 to make them, albeit Boots of Speed are activated as a free, not as a swift spell. Although it should count as 13 rounds per use considering it's a 13th lvl wizard putting the spell into the item, which would be significantly better than boots of speed imo at a lower cost.

I know, I know!

https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-item-creation/ wrote:

The correct way to price an item is by comparing its abilities to similar items (see Magic Item Gold Piece Values), and only if there are no similar items should you use the pricing formulas to determine an approximate price for the item. If you discover a loophole that allows an item to have an ability for a much lower price than is given for a comparable item, the GM should require using the price of the item, as that is the standard cost for such an effect

so put your pitch forks down. But the same table gives a long list of examples that should illustrate their points on how magic items are made, and when I tried to replicate it, I could never get the math to work.

TL:DR How are you supposed to craft magic items and determine their cost, when the examples they give in the "Table: Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Values" on Magic Item Creation are unable to be replicated? I want to feel confident in letting my players make unique items, but I can't follow pathfinders calculations to ensure any degree of fairness.

[Lelomenia]

Haste affects multiple players; an item that potentially gives Haste to your whole party the entire day should cost much more than something that gives Haste to one player for a few rounds each day.

Probably most published items can’t be created directly from item creation rules because they have unique aspects, but in general the recommendation is:
(1) Follow item creation rules to make item/find cost
(2) Check existing items to make sure the new item isnt dramatically better/cheaper than the most similar existing items.

Not really a problem if following rules results in a more expensive approach than using a published item; can always just use the published version.

I wouldnt try to reverse engineer published items.

[OmniMage]

Making magic items is expensive. If you tried to make the best magic item you could of your level, it would likely consume all of your wealth. You can see it happening with your boots of haste.

For example, a wand of haste is 3 * 5 * 750 = 11250‬ gp. A 5th level character should have 10500 gp. As you can see, a 5th level character shouldn't be able to afford the wand. And this is before you try to make permanent magic items instead of consumables. Permanent is more expensive.

If you are designing magic items, sometimes you will need to "adjust" the equation to get a more fair result. As mentioned above, haste affects multiple creatures with each casting. A boots of haste would then be over priced because it affects only 1 creature. You could argue that since a 5th level caster can affect 5 creatures with this spell, yet its only affecting 1 creature as an item, then the shoes should be worth 1/5th the price because it affects 1/5th the number of creatures. So now its 24000 gp instead of 120000 gp.

Of course this would be an accurate price if the shoes worked all the time, but the boots of speed only works 10 rounds a day. If you were to remove the permanent effect and only get a single casting of haste per day, then the price would be 6000 gp (I removed the x4 multiplier for spells lasting 1 round/level). In this case, the boosts of speed gives you 2 castings worth of haste (2 * 5 rounds), so the price is doubled.

Sorry if that got complicated. The point being is the magic item creation system should guide you to where you should start. You will likely need to make an adjustment here and there for complex items.

[Cevah]

@Muckles: you missed the 1st rule. Price to other similar items if they exist, and use formulas if not.

That said, the boots are easy to calculate:
Spell: Haste (3rd level)
CL: 10th
Effect: 10 rounds split up.
Since the spell lasts 1 round per CL, the effect is essentially a split up one charge per day: 3 [SL] * 10 [CL] & 2000 / (5/1 [charge]) = 12,000 gp
The "2000 / (5/1)" comes from being use activated with 1 charge per day. Since it is not continuous, it doesn't get hit by superscript 2: double price for r/l duration. To get te "1800" factor, you would need to activate it with a command word, which you clearly do not do.

/cevah

[James Risner]

Cevah presented a perfect reply. One thing of not is some items are intentionally over charged. A prime example of that is ring of invisibility. They cost more than the formulas because their utility is better than your typical 2nd level spell.