Bracelet of Friends (Not available in stores!)

[Nareau]

Looking at some magic items in the SRD, I came across this little gem: The Bracelet of Friends. There are a couple of problems I have with it:
First is the "Market Price": 4550gp. That means it takes 5 days to create. Each day, you have to prepare Refuge and use it in the creation. Refuge has a material component of 1500gp. Shouldn't the material components alone cost 7500gp? Here are the relevant passages; it seems to be OK with the first passage, but doesn't seem to work with the second passage.

If spells are involved in the prerequisites for making the item, the creator must have prepared the spells to be cast (or must know the spells, in the case of a sorcerer or bard) but need not provide any material components or focuses the spells require

Some items, however, cast or replicate spells with costly material components or with XP components. For these items, the market price equals the base price plus an extra price for the components.

Second is the ability to ket it to whomever you want. What's to stop you from buying/creating one of these, putting yourself in a hostile environment (plane of fire/underwater/500' up in the air) and using it to unwillingly summon your enemies to you? Of course you'd have to protect yourself from the environment first, but that shouldn't be too hard. And not many folks can make 7 Will (DC 19) saves in a row. Heck, not many folks can make 1 Will (DC 19) save. Maybe it's described differently in the DMG, but this seems like an easy way to shortcut most any adventure that centers around a single powerful enemy (or even a few powerful enemies). Granted, Refuge takes a 13th level cleric to cast...but that's hardly prohibitive in mid-high level campaigns.
Am I missing something?

Bracelet of Friends

This silver charm bracelet has seven charms upon it. The owner may designate one person known to him to be keyed to one charm. (This designation takes a standard action, but once done it lasts forever or until changed.) When a charm is grasped and the name of the keyed individual is spoken, that person is called to the spot (another standard action) along with his or her gear. Unwilling characters are allowed a Will saving throw (DC 19). Once a charm is activated, it disappears, so such bracelets discovered as treasure may have fewer than a full complement of charms when found.

Caster Level: 15th; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, refuge; Market Price: 4,550 gp; Weight: -.

Spider

 

[Spatzimaus]

They errata'd that whole part about material components to try to clear this up. They then had to explain the errata, but I think it's all in the FAQ. Here's the way I remember it:

You do NOT use one material component per day of enchanting, because you're not actually casting the spell in question. You prepare it, and it's drained from you as you make the item that day.

If an item replicates a spell effect in an unlimited way, then you need 50 material components. If it's got a limited number of charges (say, a Wand), that's how many material components you pay for. The number of days needed to make the item doesn't matter. If you want an item that casts unlimited Identify (100gp component) at will, you need to pay an extra 5000gp when making it.

The same logic applies to XP costs. So, for example, I want to make one of those Tomes/Manuals that give a permanent +N bonus to one of my stats. It'll cost an extra N*5000 XP when created, no matter how many days it takes, since using the item will be the same as casting Wish N times.

So, for the Bracelet of Friends, it can be used seven times, so you'd pay the material cost seven times, IF you were casting the Refuge spell itself. But, since it's not actually reproducing the spell, you might not need to pay it at all.
Then, of course, there's the fact that all of the limitations the item adds (must designate one target for all seven charms, Will save, etc.) would reduce the cost.

But, the bottom line is that all that pricing stuff is just guidelines. This item isn't worth adding another 10k to the price to pay for materials, so they just set the price to that value.