I'm kinda between a rock and a hard place as far as wealth goes. The rock is the treasure tables in the ELH; it would be nice if our wealth guidelines were closer to theirs. But that formula is more or less quartic (level^4 x 5 gp fits well enough). Our cubic formula aggrees at level 20, but gives only half the equipment value for 40th level characters.
The hard place is Upper_Krust's epic rules, which, for level 41+ assumes that wealth follows a quadratic law; level^2 x 10,000 gp. The x10 epic multiplier is reasonable then.
The problem is in between. How to get costs which are reasonable at the low 20s, but at around level 40 would segue nicely into the Upper_Krust's rules. Which are worth quoting:
Originally posted by
Upper_Krust Quote:
Artifacts are powerful magical items created by the gods and invested with a portion of their immortal power. These receptacles of divine might are extensions of the deity and as the power of the immortal grows so too does the power of its artifacts. However, immortals are limited to wielding four artifacts at any given time, loosely representative of one per domain. The mechanical benefits of limiting characters to four artifacts is that you no longer need contend with a massive shopping list of items, which will only stifle the game. In addition it removes the requirement for pedantic wealth tables, which make less and less sense the more powerful characters become. The idea is also far more in keeping with the mythology, where gods are only likely to have a few signature items (if that) rather than dozens of impersonal objects.
While such characters are limited to four artifacts, they can wield any number of non-epic items (within the parameters of using magic items on the body) they acquire or create. However, few immortals choose to do so for the following reasons. Firstly, non-epic items do not function within anti-magic. If an immortal detects or suspects his opponent is reliant on non-epic items they will likely choose to erect an anti-magic field negating any such advantage. Secondly, if the immortal’s manifestation is destroyed on a non-native plane, only its artifacts return with it back to its home plane, any other items remain behind and are lost. Thirdly, non-epic items are far more prone to disjunction. Fourthly, most immortals have inherent powers or spellcasting abilities that already duplicate the effects of non-epic magic items. Lastly, the higher in power an immortal ascends the less impact having non-epic items will have upon their overall capabilities
QUICK EPIC EQUIPMENT RESOLUTION
To determine the power of artifacts/epic items, instead of resorting to wealth tables, simply apply the following guidelines:
ECL ÷ 2 = Total Enchantment Bonuses for Epic Items which are Bonus squared x 10,000 GP value (such as armor, belts of strength, bracers of armor, cloaks of resistance, shields etc.)
e.g. The demon prince Baphomet (39 HD) with full equipment would be ECL 69. So his bracers of armor are going to be 69 ÷ 2 = 34 (round fractions down) total enchantment bonuses. In this case simply bracers of epic armor +34.
ECL ÷ 2.8 = Total Enchantment Bonuses for Epic Items which are Bonus squared x 20,000 GP value (such as amulets of natural armor, rings of protection, weapons etc.)
e.g. The greater god Odin (118 Class Levels) with full equipment would be ECL 198. So his greatspear Gungnir is going to be 198 ÷ 2.8 = 70 (round fractions down) total enchantment bonuses. Typically half this figure is enchantment bonus and the other half is made up of weapon special abilities. So Gungnir could be a +35 holy power (8), unerring (25) greatspear of distance (1) and returning (1).
For items that are not necessarily measured in terms of bonuses (such as an Amulet of the Planes or a Rod of Rulership) simply determine the GP value of the item by working out the cost of one of the above item types. e.g. A +23 weapon would cost 10,580,000 GP (23 x 23 x 20,000).
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At level 40 you should be able to have a +20 shield as one of your major items, and a +14 sword. Each is worth 4 million gp, and you have about 16 million gp total. 13.6 million according to the ELH- so either these items are worth 29% each, and he has 3 of them and a bunch of smaller items, or he has 18% more wealth than he should have. Close enough; but the cubic formula for wealth we are using says he has 6.4 million gp, and that probably isn't good enough.
However UK's wealth formula diverges wildly from the
WotC formula for lower levels; it says a 20th level character should have 4 million gp, which is a little crazy. Of course if they did they'd have no problem paying for +6 swords.
Anyway, suppose we use a cubic formula for item pricing, and say it agrees with the quadratic formula (for shields, it would be bonus^2 x 10,000) at level 40 or 44 or so. With a constant so that low epic stuff is sufficiently expensive. For instance, 200,000 + bonus^3 x 200 would work- your formula for table 1.
Similarly, the formula for weapons should be 200,000 + bonus^3 x 400. Your formula for table 3. I'm not at all sure what SR should be priced at. Maybe it could be a quadratic formula. And I'm not sure how paranoid we need to be about the ability enhancements either.