Good morning. I have a couple of custom witch (not exclusively witches though) items that I'd like pricing feedback on, mostly due to their limitations.
Ring: Paragon Surge 2/day, can only choose the feat Extra Hex.
But how much of a discount do we add for restricting it to a single feat? Note that Paragon Surge only permits feats that you otherwise qualify for, so only a class with hexes can use this ring.
Necklace: Works as a rod of reach, but only for spells with the curse descriptor.
The rod costs 11,000, so the necklace would be the same (unless I'm missing something). But again, how much of a discount should we apply for the curse restriction?
first of all it is a GM call for Game Balance reasons. Alrighty then...
Ring: based on Paragon Surge:T3(HalfElf only)@5 2/day, may only choose Extra Hex feat {not a big limitation as there are many hexes}, discount witch class only.
For any race that is Paragon Surge:T4@7 (see Liberation subdomain).
1800*4*7*(2/5)=T; then (IMO) F=0.3*T for one feat, and C=0.3*T for class. Given that the feat and class restrictions work together just use the largest. As there are many hexes, the feat restriction isn't much so I'd downgrade it to 15%.
So price should be 14112gp or 14250gp.
You now do a comparison to existing items.
{d20pfsrd} Ring of Favor [ring] $7500. With 3+ known hexes grants 1-3 hexes from list.
Cackling Hag's Blouse [chest] 6000gp witch gains the cackle hex or twice per day she can use her cackle ability as a swift action instead of a move action.
Metamagics are similar but rather restricted, this is more like a Page of (any one) Hex Knowledge.
Extra Feats are notoriously expensive, ioun stone at 10000-16000gp which yields $5000.
I'll add a 3rd lvl pearl of power at 9000gp, or two at 18000gp.
I'd say 14250 is fair (before reviewing the utility of hexes) as it is one specified hex on demand for CstrLvl min usable twice per day (Paragon Surge FAQ says same choice within the day).
Witches get 10 of 61 hexes over their class. I'd say a hex is about a 2nd-3rd spell level effect or 10800gp at 2/day.
So I'm going to settle on 10800gp to a high of 12500 {split the difference}. I'm not an expert on running witches and IT IS about the usefulness... so it is just my guess based on years of running wizards.
For any race that is Paragon Surge:T4@7 (see Liberation subdomain).
Nice catch on the Self-Realization Sub-domain. That's a useful touchpoint.
And a 15% discount seems reasonable. There are a *lot* of other feats out there, but for a witch or shaman (hexcrafter, sylvan trickster, what-have-you), Extra Hex is often going to be your choice.
It is generally a 50% increase to price for an ability in an 'unaffiliated' slot. This is basically taking slot-less, hand-held item and making it slotted, but that really is just freeing up a hand (which is generally assumed to be two per character, since humanoid is default).
Math rambling:
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For copying spell effects, the pricing is generally easy unless the effect mimics something else (like adding a near constant armor bonus, in which case it would be priced as adding an armor bonus). So this is just subjective and prone to approximation (meaning this is how I would consider the factors, others may disagree). Using the Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Value table as a guide:
1. Basically it's a ring that casts paragon surge 2/day. Assuming CL 5. It's likely a command word to activate it. Spell level (3) x CL (5) x 1,800 = 27,000 gp.
2 charges/day: Divide by (5 divided by charges per day). 27,000 / 2.5 = 10,800.
3. No reduction for only affecting half-elves, since that's already presumably accounted for and balanced in the spell. If it was another spell that could affect more creatures and was then restricted (or the ring only functioned for) half-elves, this would be a discount.
4. The paragon surge only has one function, which is an extra feat. That's still good, and by itself could require a subjective pricing based on an item that gives a feat. Which can be hard since normally it's pretty unrestricted, but in this case that feat is always Extra Hex. We look at basically what's actually being provided overall by the feat, not just that a feat is gained.
Ultimately, it's giving the wearer access to an extra hex for 10 minutes per day (5 minutes per charge). (for a shaman it's restricted by their spirit). Witches have no restriction I can see, and items are priced as being optimally used, so unrestricted hex choice (that they meet the requirements for). I am not going to look through every hex to see if one is abusable (like a witch with Cauldron hex taking Witch Bottle and using both charges to make drinkable hexes in 10 minutes). I don't think any cost increase or decrease applies in that case.
Then we look for an item that does basically the same thing (gives access to an extra hex in some manner). I can't search every item, the only one close was the ring of favor (7,500 gp), which is a 3rd-party item by Owen K.C. Stephens. It can grant one, two, or three extra hexes depending on if the wearer knows 3, 6, or 12 hexes, so potentially better, but also they come from a restricted list.
The cackling hag's blouse grants the cackle hex to a witch for 6,000 gp (though it has other effects that I am not deonstructing. So that can be a guideline for a specific hex rather than wearer option, though it's as long worn.
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TL/DR
For the ring, I would say about 10,800 (27,000 / 2.5) using the chart.
Because of the existence of the cackling hag's blouse I could subjectively say the price could be 5,000–6,000 gp, since that provides a constant access to a hex (accounting for its other abilities) and the ring only gives 10 minutes, but the ring wearer can choose a hex daily unrestricted.
Necklace rambling:
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For the Necklace of Cursed Reach (or whatever you call it), basically it's a rod of reach but moved to a slot. This does use up an item slot that is pretty common for things, but it also frees a hand slot, which can be used for holding a shield or other magic item or free hand for casting spells, so equally beneficial and the rule is to assume it's always of optimal use and benefit when determining value.
Also, such effects (metamagic) is generally assumed to be the domain of rods or at least handheld objects. Plus, making it a necklace can put its production into the Craft Wondrous Item range (3rd level) rather than 9th level where Craft Rod is required to get the equivalent effect. Now, as a GM, you can add the Craft Rod requirement to the custom necklace to prevent this or not, I am not getting into that. It's something that needs to be considered, and maybe you aren't worried about the crafting aspect.
11,000 for the rod of reach plus 50% increase for altering to a necklace would be 16,500 gp.
Then the limitation that it only applies to curse spells (not hex curses or other things), which I will assume means a spell with the [curse] indication. That's a pretty restricted list (I am guessing, I am not searching and judging the power of all those spells), but it requires the user to have them. So I can see a possible 40% reduction (this is my opinion). I am deducting the 40% from the 16,500 (6,600) for a price of about 9,900 gp. Again, this is subjective, others might tweak the increase or discount numbers.
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TL/DR
About 9,900 gp for the necklace, but that's only one person's opinion.
Edit Wow, Azothath was doing the same research I was while I was typing.
::That moment you finally got your reply polished and click SUBMIT and see replies that weren't there and realize you spent an hour and 15 minutes researching and typing.::
Is this an item the party is crafting for themselves or an item you (as GM) are either making for an NPC or as found treasure?
It it's an item the party is making, the answer is "no discount."
Sean K Reynolds wrote:
When building an item, you calculate the cost to create it as if it were in the hands of an optimal user. Otherwise it's basically cheating.
If it's the GM making the item, I'd probably go with 30% on the ring. The "book discount" is 30% for an item that can only be used by one class. Having to have the hex class feature is the same as saying "be a witch or a shaman" (plus a few archetypes). So two classes, but you also have to be a half-elf, so I'd leave it at 30%.
As for the necklace; there isn't a fixed price multiplier for having an item in a different slot than normal but there is a lot of advice about the subject for GMs in Ultimate Campaign. Basically: "Are you sure you want to allow this? We don't recommend it."
Ultimate Campaign page 172:
This is just some of the text
If there is a trend of all Core Rulebook items of a particular type using a particular slot (such as items that grant physical ability score bonuses being belts or items that grant movement bonuses being boots), GMs should be hesitant to allow you to move those abilities to other slots; otherwise, they ignore these deliberate restrictions by cheaply spreading out these items over unused slots.
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You might be tempted to create rings that have charges like wands, or bracers with multiple charge-based effects like staves. A GM allowing this makes Craft Wondrous Item and Forge Ring even more versatile and powerful, and devalues Craft Staff and Craft Wand because those two feats can create only charged items.
If you do want to go ahead and make it (assuming you are the GM), limiting it to spells with the curse descriptor is probably a 10-15% discount.
