Philip
Explorer
Since staffs in 3.5 use their wielder's caster level and feats instead of a fixed number I thought to finally take that darned craft staff feat.
Now I am looking at the staff prices and staff creation cost formula, and I haven't yet found a single staff in the DMG that conforms to it.
From the SRD:
Staff of Fire:
Page 244 DMG: Market Price 17750 gp., meaning the creation cost should be 8875 gp., right?
Formula:
Wall of Fire: 375 (highest level spell) * 4 (4th level spell) * 8 (minimum caster level for a staff) / 2 (2 charges per activation) = 6000.
Fireball: 281.25 (next most costly ability) * 3 (3rd level spell) * 8 (minimum caster level for a staff) = 6750
Burning Hands: 187.5 (remaining abilities) * 1 (1st level spell) * 8 (min. caster level) = 1500
Total = 6000 + 6750 + 1500 = 14250 gp.
The creation cost is off by almost 6000 gp.
Other examples:
Staff of Transmutation
DMG: 65,000 gp. Market Price, 32,500 gp. creation cost
Formula: 35,906 gp.
Staff of Defense
DMG: 58250 gp. Market Price, 29,125 gp. creation cost,
Formula: 22,500 gp.
Staff of Life
DMG: 155,750. Market Price, 77,875 gp. creation cost
Formula: 77,281 (not too bad!), but why does it have resurrection as a prerequisite when it casts raise dead spells?
Staff of Frost
DMG: 56,250 gp. Market Price, 28,125 gp. creation cost
Formula: 23,437 gp.
I am going crazy, I am not calculating it right, or have they just guessed all the Staff prices in the DMG instead of sticking to their own formula?
Now I am looking at the staff prices and staff creation cost formula, and I haven't yet found a single staff in the DMG that conforms to it.
From the SRD:
The cost for the materials is subsumed in the cost for creating the staff—375 gp x the level of the highest-level spell x the level of the caster, plus 75% of the value of the next most costly ability (281.25 gp x the level of the spell x the level of the caster), plus one-half of the value of any other abilities (187.5 gp x the level of the spell x the level of the caster). Staffs are always fully charged (50 charges) when created.
If desired, a spell can be placed into the staff at only half the normal cost, but then activating that particular spell costs 2 charges from the staff. The caster level of all spells in a staff must be the same, and no staff can have a caster level of less than 8th, even if all the spells in the staff are low-level spells.
Staff of Fire:
Page 244 DMG: Market Price 17750 gp., meaning the creation cost should be 8875 gp., right?
Formula:
Wall of Fire: 375 (highest level spell) * 4 (4th level spell) * 8 (minimum caster level for a staff) / 2 (2 charges per activation) = 6000.
Fireball: 281.25 (next most costly ability) * 3 (3rd level spell) * 8 (minimum caster level for a staff) = 6750
Burning Hands: 187.5 (remaining abilities) * 1 (1st level spell) * 8 (min. caster level) = 1500
Total = 6000 + 6750 + 1500 = 14250 gp.
The creation cost is off by almost 6000 gp.
Other examples:
Staff of Transmutation
DMG: 65,000 gp. Market Price, 32,500 gp. creation cost
Formula: 35,906 gp.
Staff of Defense
DMG: 58250 gp. Market Price, 29,125 gp. creation cost,
Formula: 22,500 gp.
Staff of Life
DMG: 155,750. Market Price, 77,875 gp. creation cost
Formula: 77,281 (not too bad!), but why does it have resurrection as a prerequisite when it casts raise dead spells?
Staff of Frost
DMG: 56,250 gp. Market Price, 28,125 gp. creation cost
Formula: 23,437 gp.
I am going crazy, I am not calculating it right, or have they just guessed all the Staff prices in the DMG instead of sticking to their own formula?