How much would you price boots of Expeditious Retreat?

[Stalker0]

Lets say you have boots that give you expeditious retreat at will, so a +30 land speed all the time. By the book its 4k, which is obviously too low. What do you think a more realistic price would be?

My initial take, boots of springing and striding are 5500, and the +5 to jump checks leaves 3000 for the +10 to speed. Now considering the exponential cost of bonus, I'm thinking 3000 for the first +10, 6000 for the second +10, and 12000 for the third +10 for a total of 21k.

 

[Staffan]

Bonus items are usually priced as bonus * bonus * constant. Since +30 is 3 times as much as +10, they should cost 3*3 times as much, or 27k.

 

[Graf]

I'd just give them boots of striding and springing.

Let arcane casters keep the shorter duration 30 ft boost as an option. Unless a PC is making them using their own feats I would just say "the item hasn't been invented yet, or if it has you can't find mention of it".

Or turn it into a quest.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

My initial take, boots of springing and striding are 5500, and the +5 to jump checks leaves 3000 for the +10 to speed. Now considering the exponential cost of bonus, I'm thinking 3000 for the first +10, 6000 for the second +10, and 12000 for the third +10 for a total of 21k.

That's almost the right way (assuming, of course, that my way is right, and I always do!).

Bonuses are usually calculated as Bonus^2 * Constant.

In the Boots of Striding and Springing, you've got two distinct bonuses: +5 to Jump checks, +10 to speed.

+5 to Jump is worth 2,500 gp, so +10 to speed is worth 3,000 gp. However, since it's a second power, we know that it has a x1.5 multiplier on its price. Without that, it'd 2,000 gp.

Using the above formula, we know that the constant is 20: 10^2 x X = 2,000 => 100 x X = 2,000 => X = 20.

So, boots which grant a +30 bonus to speed would cost: 30^2 x 20gp = 18,000gp.

 

[Bad Paper]

The way we did this in our campaign was to make said Boots not have a continuous effect, but to be usable x/day. (I don't remember the x, but they're not my boots) Anyway, that way you can use the DMG chart but not feel like you're breaking the system. Also, caster level matters.

 

[ChefOrc]

I think that the price estimates made in this thread so far are really too high and, to me, show that this should not be the method used to calculate the price of the boots of expeditious retreat. In fact, the DMG specifically mentions the types of bonus that have a price, and 10' enhancement bonus to speed is not among them.

Boots of speed are much more powerful than boots of expeditious retreat, and cost 12,000gp. Yes, boots of speed are usable only 10 rounds a day but, with a little judgement, a PC can use them on most important combat rounds in a day, which is really all that matters. In my opinion, boots of expeditious retreat should be priced at much less than boots of speed.

Another pricing option would be to use the formula for continuous spell effects in the DMG. That adds up to 4,000gp (1*1*2000*2). I agree that this seems a little low, but it is more in line with the usefulness of the item. I would handwave that to 6000gp.

Seriously, who would pay 18,000-27,000gp for boots of expeditious retreat when they can buy boots of speed for 12,000gp?

 

[KarinsDad]

That's almost the right way (assuming, of course, that my way is right, and I always do!).

Bonuses are usually calculated as Bonus^2 * Constant.

In the Boots of Striding and Springing, you've got two distinct bonuses: +5 to Jump checks, +10 to speed.

+5 to Jump is worth 2,500 gp, so +10 to speed is worth 3,000 gp. However, since it's a second power, we know that it has a x1.5 multiplier on its price. Without that, it'd 2,000 gp.

Using the above formula, we know that the constant is 20: 10^2 x X = 2,000 => 100 x X = 2,000 => X = 20.

So, boots which grant a +30 bonus to speed would cost: 30^2 x 20gp = 18,000gp.

Hmmm. Interesting logic. Let's see how well it works.

Horseshoes of Speed give a +30 land speed for 3000 GP. Hence, according to those, Boots of Expeditious Retreat should also be 3000 GP. You could even double the boots to 6000 GP since the Horseshoes can only really be used for mounted combat (i.e. a limitation which decreases the price of the horseshoes).


A Cloak of the Manta Ray gives 60 swim speed and costs 7200 GP. For most characters, this is +45 or +50 to their swim speed. Ignoring all of the other abilities of the item (bite attack and natural armor), if the cloak only effectively gave +45 to swim speed, it would be worth 45 * 45 * constant. That constant must be 1 since if it were 2, that portion of the cloak would be 8100 GP, more than the cloak costs. 45 * 45 * 1 * 1.5 (secondary ability) = 3037.5. That leaves just over 4000 GP for +3 Natural and the bite attack. That's pretty cheap, even considering that it only works in salt water.


A Pearl of the Sirines which give a 60 swim speed and breathe underwater and act normal underwater for 15300 GP. This too would be +45 to swim speed for most characters.


Face it. The Bonus squared rules do not apply to Speed. Speed for magic items is one of those "the designers threw a dart at the dart board" type of rules because you cannot get really big bonuses to speed with the bonus squared rules without getting real expensive, real quick.

 

[Arnwyn]

Seriously, who would pay 18,000-27,000gp for boots of expeditious retreat when they can buy boots of speed for 12,000gp?

I agree with this much, at least.

Boots of expeditious retreat should be more comparable to boots of speed (ie. around 12,000 gp) - though I don't agree with the "much less" comment.

 

[ChefOrc]

Boots of expeditious retreat should be more comparable to boots of speed (ie. around 12,000 gp) - though I don't agree with the "much less" comment.

I guess the exact price can be adjusted based on your campaign style. If PCs routinely face 4 or more fights per day, then the difference in duration of boots of speed vs boots of expeditious retreat becomes a factor, and the later should be priced closer to the former (but not equal, in my opinion). If, on the other hand, PCs generally fight once or twice a day, then the boots of speed are just much superior to the boots of expeditious retreat, and their price should reflect that.

 

[Stalker0]

Well if we assume speed bonuses have a linear progression, then my original 3k for +10 would be 9k for +30, still greater than the formulaic 4k but less than the 12k boots of speed.