Item Creation Costs?

[CrimsonScribe]

I always thought I understood the process involved in adding abilities to magic items, but now I'm getting confused.

A PC has a suit of Celestial Armor (DMG pg. 182) and he wants to increase the Enchancement Bonus on it. As it stands, upgrading to +2 should be free ($8000 - $12,800), so what I want to know is where are the rules for adding bonus to specific items - can it even be done? I think it should be possible.

Also, I read elsewhere on the boards about "Everbright" and "Nimbleness" abilities for armour/shields - anyone able to tell me they are from, as I can't find them in any of the books I have presently.

 

[kreynolds]

what I want to know is where are the rules for adding bonus to specific items - can it even be done?

Yes, it can be done, it's just a little trickier with specefic items (for me, anyway). First, you need to break down the cost of the item. I'll show you what I mean by breaking down the cost of Celestial armor:

Celestial armor: 23,500gp
------------------------------------------
masterwork chainmail = 300gp
+1 enhancement = 1,000gp
other enhancements = 24,000gp

Basically, you need to do this because you only pay the difference (upgrade cost) between the old item and the new. Now, what you want to do is increase the enhancement bonus of the armor. The cost of a +2 armor enhancement is 4,000gp. The difference between the cost of a +1 enhancement and +2 enhancement is (4,000gp - 1,000gp) 3,000gp. That's your upgrade cost.

Now, what's the total cost of the armor? Here's the new price breakdown:


masterwork chainmail = 300gp
+2 enhancement = 4,000gp
other enhancements = 24,000gp
------------------------------------------
Celestial armor: 28,300gp

There ya' go.

 

[dcollins]

Rules for "Adding New Abilities" are on DMG p. 246. (The last two paragraphs in the body of the book.) The rule is to simply pay the difference between full new cost and old cost.

There's one extra step for the DM in the case of "Specific Armor": he needs to figure out the "plus" value of the armor. In the case of Celestial Armor, it's pretty obviously intended as a total +5 valuation (25,300 gp = 25,000 [as a +5 bonus] + 300 for mw chainmail -- DMG p. 180).

Adding an extra +1 enhancement to this brings it to a total of +6, new value 36,300. The difference is 36,300 - 25,300 = 11,000 gp, so an item-creator should be required to pay 5,500 gp and 440 XP to do this.

 

[CrimsonScribe]

dcollins, so what youa re saying is that the "extra's" included in Celestial Armour (fly, light armour, reduced ACP & failure rating) are effectively worth +4? I like kreynolds break down better.

"If the item takes up a specific space on the character, any additional power added to that item doubles the cost."

Armour takes up a specific space on a character (as you can only wear 1 suit at a time) so wouldn't the upgrade cost be 72,000 gp (- 25,300) or 8,000gp (-1,000) depending on which method is correct.

Thanks for the help, but if someone can tell me which one is right it would be greatly appreciated. Any help with Everbright & Nimbleness would be appreciated too.

 

[Ravellion]

I would back up dcollins here...

Rav

 

[Ravellion]

Both the Enhancements are +1 enhancements from Magic of Faerun, one is basically mithril in an armor enhancement (sort of) and the other immunity to acid for the weapon only.

Rav

 

[Wolfwood]

Personally I happen to agree with kreynolds on this one. Just my opinion though.

 

[dcollins]

dcollins, so what youa re saying is that the "extra's" included in Celestial Armour (fly, light armour, reduced ACP & failure rating) are effectively worth +4? I like kreynolds break down better.

Yes, that's what I'm saying.

"If the item takes up a specific space on the character, any additional power added to that item doubles the cost."

Armour takes up a specific space on a character (as you can only wear 1 suit at a time) so wouldn't the upgrade cost be 72,000 gp (- 25,300) or 8,000gp (-1,000) depending on which method is correct.

You're mixing in guidelines for "new items" (DMG p. 243) with the fixed rules for armor abilities (DMG p. 180), which is really not correct. A higher enhancement bonus on a piece of armor is not an "additional power", nor does armor follow the general rule for pricing special abilities.

Thanks for the help, but if someone can tell me which one is right it would be greatly appreciated.

This is certainly a DM's call situation. As both kreynolds and myself pointed out, there's an extra trickiness in converting "specific armors" into the standard pricing rules, that is not covered by the text. The particular DM must make the final call -- I recommend being conservative and using the higher number.