Value of an arcane bond item with no specified value?

[Faolán Maiali the Azure Abjurer]

Situation: The PCs defeat an NPC wizard with a ring that is the wizard's arcane bond. The ring has not been enchanted. How much would this ring be worth?

If it were a weapon, determining the price would be a no-brainer. But how much is a non-magical "masterwork" amulet/ring/staff/wand? Would be treated like a generic masterwork tool (50 gp)? Would it just be a flat 300 gp like a masterwork club?

[Diego Rossi]

RAW there is no clear answer, RAI I think that 50 gp as a masterwork tool is a valid assumption.

[TxSam88]

A Bonded ring can have any value you set. it could have been a cheap 1cp wooden ring, or it could have been a 500,000,000 PP super fancy ring.

[Diego Rossi]

TxSam88 wrote:

A Bonded ring can have any value you set. it could have been a cheap 1cp wooden ring, or it could have been a 500,000,000 PP super fancy ring.

You can bound any masterwork amulet, ring, staff, wand, or weapon.

A masterwork weapon has a specific extra value, the other items don't, but I assume that they are worth more than a non-masterwork version of the same item.
A masterwork wooden ring made by an expert carver is worth more than a flower stark bent into a ring by a child.

[SheepishEidolon]

There are prices for masterwork adventuring gear:

Ultimate Equipment, page 56+ wrote:

Backpack, common 2 gp

Backpack, masterwork 50 gp

Manacles, common 15 gp
Manacles, masterwork 50 gp

Snorkel, common 5 sp
Snorkel, masterwork 5 gp

Stilts, common 2 sp
Stilts, masterwork 5 gp

Survival kit, common 5 gp
Survival kit, masterwork 50 gp

They all provide a small mechanical benefit - a masterwork ring doesn't. So personally I'd go for 25 gp or less for the ring. Not that it would make much of a difference when the party is at level 2+.

There is way more potential in turning the ring into a plot element: Does the previous owner's spirit demand its destruction? Wait, is this thing made of bone that resists identification? Is there some magic remaining, and can be activated after the right steps?

[Belafon]

Fun side note - it doesn’t matter if it was enchanted or not.

Wizard wrote:

If a bonded object's owner dies, or the item is replaced, the object reverts to being an ordinary masterwork item of the appropriate type.

It can be whatever you want. I’d go with 50 gp.

Another side note. Wasn’t there a thread a long time ago where a GM was bemoaning his players’ munchkiny tendencies? Two of them made wizards bonded to heavy repeating crossbows for the express purpose of dying in the first fight and giving their party equipment to sell for a boost in gold to start the adventure? He didn’t realize their plan until they had “rolled up” the characters they had always planned on playing