Psionic Item Costing Help

[sad_genius]

As I understand it, a "universal item" that granted a 1st level power (Elfsight, in this case) continuously would cost:

Power Level (1) x Manifester Level (1) x 2,000 GP = 2,000 GP!

Really?

Are there some Psionic Item Creation rules I'm missing?

 

[starwed]

Why are you singling out psionic items? The rules themselves refer the case right back to magic items:

Universal item costs are difficult to formularize. Refer to Table: Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Values and use the given item prices as a guideline.

While elfsight is only 2000gp by this formula, that's because it has a really long duration in any case. For shorter duration spells:

If a continuous item has an effect based on a spell with a duration measured in rounds, multiply the cost by 4. If the duration of the spell is 1 minute/level, multiply the cost by 2, and if the duration is 10 minutes/level, multiply the cost by 1.5. If the spell has a 24-hour duration or greater, divide the cost in half.

And as always, remember that the table isn't the first step to pricing a magic item.

The easiest way to come up with a price is to match the new item to an item that is already priced that price as a guide.

That said, 2000gp for continuous elfsight sounds fine by me.

 

[sad_genius]

I was singling out psionic items just in case there was some exception printed somewhere that *didn't* refer you back to said magic items table. In comparison, Boots of Skate, a 1st level power with a much lower duration, come in as 7000gp officially, which is more than our theoretical elfsight item, but doesn't correspond to its table price exactly - are we underpricing the elfsight?

 

[starwed]

Skate, as a 1 minute/level ability, by the table would cost 4000gp.

Let's compare this to equivalent items: the main effect of skate is to grant a +15 enhancement bonus to the wearers land speed. The cheapest speed enhancement item is boots of striding and springing, which grant +10 for 5500gp. They also grant a +5 competence bonus to jump, which by itself would cost 2500gp. We'll assume that there were no multipliers for having two enhancements on the item, since they're so closely related.

So we could say a +10 bonus to speed costs about 3000gp. All bonus granting items in the DMG are priced proportional to X^2, where X is the bonus. 3000gp for +10 implies that the formula for speed boost is bonus squared x 30gp. So a +15 bonus would be 6750gp.

That's pretty close to the actual price of boots of skating (I was kind of surprised), with a small margin which is maybe just for an even price, or maybe becuase of the additional properties of skate. (You get a penalty going uphill, and a bonus going down.)

Never price an item by the spell first. Always price it by the in game benefit it grants.