How to price ring of dispel magic?

[azhrei_fje]

Hey folks. I've got a player whose PC wants to create a ring of dispel magic. I'm a little leery about his prereqs for the item as it seems too much like a ring of true strike!

1. Usable once per day
2. Minimum caster level (5th level)
3. Immediate action to use

I started by calculating the cost of such a ring if it were command word activated and usable multiple times per day. I get 5*3*2000 gp = 30k gp.

Then I divided by 5 (for the once-per-day limit) and got 6000 gp.

Now the stickler: what about an immediate action? First, changing the item from command word to move action should add about 100% to the cost, maybe more. Then from move action to swift should be an additional 100% (of the original price). And then to make it immediate? Wow.

So 6000 gp + 100% + 100% = 6000+6000+6000 = 18000 gp for a swift action ring. And to turn it into an immediate action? Maybe another 9000 or so?

I've got a couple weeks to make a decision, but I'd appreciate the input of other GMs.

(Edit: It appears there's an item called a ring of spell-battle that is very similar that costs 12k gp.)

(Oh, and this is for a Pathfinder beta game. No XP cost for making magic items, so the cost is important because there's nothing else to stop a bunch of mages making these things and flooding the world with them.)

[Elephant]

Well, how does it compare to a 4000gp Ring of Counterspells or an 18000gp minor Ring of Spell Storing?

Ring of Counterspells:
* Can hold up to lvl 6 spells
* Activates as an immediate action
* Only counters the specific spell stored in the ring
* Can't be used for a general Dispel Magic - only works for counterspelling

Ring of Spell Storing:
* Can hold up to 3rd level spells (or 9th level spells for 200,000gp)
* Activates as a standard action
* Can't be used for counterspelling (standard action to activate)

If you ignored the "standard action" clause on the Ring of Spell Storing, you could get pretty close to the mark by getting a greater one and putting Quickened Dispel Magic in it.

Alternately, just figure it as a Ring of Quickened Dispel Magic (handwaving the difference between swift and immediate actions -- they're all "free actions" anyway):

caster lvl 13
spell level 7
2000 / 5 = 400gp (base / usable once per day)

13*7*400 = 36,400gp

What exactly does the Ring of Spell-Battle do? Since I don't have the book it's in (MIC?), I can't compare it to anything.

[frankthedm]

Mass produced magic rings...

Agree with elephant that is where to start your cost evaluation from.

Spell battle had a huge reduction in it's cost between Complete Arcane and the Magic Item Compendium. I am really cautious about the automatic redirection for the 12000gp since it means the ring scales pretty much infinitely with your foes. i like the idea of turning an attacker's offense against them, but the cost feels too low to me. Pay double the cost to unslot those and pick up several by high level time to rebound spells left and right without using your own actions. Mind you, it is a cool idea, but again, i think the MIC makes it too affordable.
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Originally Posted by Alvoros Darkleaf
Ring of Spell Battle [Archive] - Wizards Community
04-18-07, 06:23 PM
Anyone have any idea why the Ring of Spell Battle in the Magic Item Compendium has a cost of 12,000gp, but in the Complete Arcane (original source) it is listed as 67,000gp?

I can't seem to find any difference in the two....
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wotc's reasons behind MIC price drops

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Originally Posted by Cnandersen
Ring of spell battle to roll or not to the d20 - Wizards Community

Info on ring of spell battle:
The ring informs you of all spell casting that occurs within 60 feet of you, as well as allowing you to attempt a Spell*craft check (DC 15 + spell level) to identify the spell being cast. This is a continuous effect and requires no activation.

Once per day, when you succeed in identifying a spell in this manner, you can activate the ring to counterspell that spell as if with dispel magic, or change the target of the spell to any target within 60 feet of you. If you choose an illegal target (because of the spell's range limitation or other restrictions), the spell functions normally and the effect is wasted.
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[FEADIN]

As above, a quickened (immediate is better) dispel magic takes a 7th level spell slot, caster level at least 13th so you get 13*7*400 = 36400gp.

A bit expensive because you have to wear it at the right moment, something around 20000gp is maybe more balanced.

[StreamOfTheSky]

CL 13th is kind of self-defeating, since dispel magic caps at +10 to the check...

No way is this ring, at any CL 5-10, worth nearly as much as those pricing guidelines. As for the "steps," to a move action is not a step. No spell, except maybe one celerity spell, is a move action. Casters don't really care about move actions anyway. I'd dare say casting as a move action would be an even better deal than swift/immediate, as then you could cast 3 spells in a round.

Immediate is a bit better than a swift action, but I don't think that much. I'd say it depends on just how much the effect can interrupt another creature's action. Dispel magic could interrupt it by quite a lot, counterspelling a casting. But at CL 5, it really won't have much chance of doing so, and will eventually be worthless.

The ring of spell battle might be a little over-priced, and if you want to also increase it's cost, whatever. I still don't think this ring should be worth more than 12,000...and i wouldn't even want to pay that much for it. Maybe part of the issue is that it's a dramatic effect, but extremely limited in usage. If you increased to say...3/day, maybe then you could make it 12k or similarly expensive and be more worth it. While still being no more a threat to ruin any one particular combat.

[concerro]

Disclaimer:I only read the OP's post

It should also be limited to +10 like Dispel Magic and the limit of the bonus should be equal to the caster level it was created at. As an example if he only uses a 5th level caster he only gets to add 5 to whatever he rolls.

[aboyd]

You can't cast below the minimum caster level, I thought?

[Jhaelen]

Originally Posted by StreamOfTheSky

CL 13th is kind of self-defeating, since dispel magic caps at +10 to the check...

Well, how about using dispel psionics as a basis, then?
At ML 10 you get the maximum of +20 to the check.

[azhrei_fje]

Okay, so the ring of spell-battle is 67,800 gp in the Complete Arcane and 12,000 gp in the MIC (exact same descriptions). The ring we've come up with here (a ring of quickened dispel magic) would cost 36,400 gp or almost half-way between the other two prices.

Yet StreamofTheSky makes the point that he thinks even 12k is over-priced. I'm not convinced, but I am willing to try something between the 12k and 36.4k so FEADIN's 20k number sounds good. That puts it at the same price point as a ring of invisibility though, and I think the RoI is a much better deal for 20k. (Which isn't to say that the RoI isn't under-priced, but that's a separate thread.)

I'm thinking I'll allow it for 16k. If I were the player, I'd likely spend the extra 4k and get the RoI, so that pricing seems about right. (The PCs are currently 6th level and they just got a bunch of phat lewt, so they're on a shopping spree of sorts.)

[azhrei_fje]

(This was a double-post somehow -- gotta love ENworld! But I decided I had more to add anyway...)

The dispel magic being at CL10 was something I hadn't factored into my pricing of 16k (previous post). For a 6th level PC to have a dispel magic at +10 once per day seems very helpful and moves it closer to the RoI. In fact, I'm thinking now of pricing it at 20k, just like the RoI.

[concerro]

Originally Posted by aboyd

You can't cast below the minimum caster level, I thought?

My post was just an example to use for pricing the ring. I did not do any research to see what the minimum caster level actually was.