Item Creation Caster Level

[EPRock]

Looking through many of the items in the SRD, how are minimum caster levels determined, as that is not defined in the item creation rules.

Example that makes sense

Boots of Speed: As a free action, the wearer can click her boot heels together, enabling her to act as though affected by a haste spell for up to 10 rounds each day. The duration of the haste effect need not be consecutive rounds.

Moderate transmutation; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item, haste; Price 12,000 gp;Weight 1 lb.

CL 10th, this is so there can be 10 rds of haste.

Here is an example that does not make sense

Boots of Elvenkind: These soft boots enable the wearer to move quietly in virtually any surroundings, granting a +5 competence bonus on Move Silently checks.

Faint transmutation; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, creator must be an elf; Price 2,500 gp;Weight 1 lb.

CL 5th, should this not be CL 3rd as that is the minimum level for crafting a wondrous item, and there are no spell requirements?

Anyone know how they figured these things out as I am looking for creating large numbers of unique items.

 

[Rystil Arden]

This is a common misconception. The Caster Level entry is not a requirement. Note that there is a caster level requirement to get certain bonuses in items based on spells with bonuses that increase by level (like Amulet of Natural Armour, which is based on Barkskin). For all other magic items, Caster Level is nto part of the requirements for the item.

 

[dcollins]

Looking through many of the items in the SRD, how are minimum caster levels determined, as that is not defined in the item creation rules.

Fundamentally, it's unique to each item. When you (the DM presumably) invent a Wondrous Item, you've got to set the abilities, price, prerequisites, and caster level, it's all part of the same creative process. (For potions/scrolls/wands it's variable, so that's different.) Usually more powerful items have higher caster levels, usually at or above the prerequisite spells.

Some people will tell you that caster levels are not minimums for the creator, there's been a lot of confusion (contradiction by designers) on that in the past. You're correct that the published DMG does say they are minimums. The most recent Rules of the Game articles again says that Wondrous Item caster levels are fixed and cannot be changed to suit the creator.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Rules of the Game has often stated things completely wrong in the past, and in this case it does so again. You need only to look to the unambiguous statements made by Monte Cook, the head author of the 3.0 Dungeon Master Guide, to see that this is incorrect. Caster level is NOT a prerequisite.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Here's the relevant quote by Monte Cook, who knows what he's talking about since he wrote this (you can find it at http://www.montecook.com/arch_dmonly3.html)

This is the level of the creator (or the casting level of the spells placed within the item, if lower than the actual level of the creator).

From the Dungeon Master's Guide*:

Caster Level: The power of the item (just as a spell's caster level measures its power). The caster level determines the item's saving throw bonus, as well as the range or other level-dependent aspects of the powers of the item (if variable). It also determines the level that must be contended with should the item come under the effect of a dispel magicor similar situation.

Note what it doesn't say. It doesn't say that you have to be the listed level to make a given item. It's not a prerequisite. You don't have to be 17th level to create a 1st-level pearl of power -- you just have to meet the prerequisites. Prerequisites, you'll notice, get their own section. It comes next. All you do with caster levels is determine the level-dependent effects of an item. Those listed in the DMG are just averages. When you determine an item randomly, or pick one out of the book for your player characters to find or to equip an NPC, that's the caster level of the item. That's all it is.

The DMG goes on:

For potions, scrolls, and wands, the creator can set the caster level of the item at any number high enough to cast the stored spell, and not higher than her own caster level. For example, at 5th level, Mialee could scribe a scroll of invisibilityat caster level 3 (making it last 30 minutes), caster level 4 (40 minutes), or caster level 5 (50 minutes). For other magic items, the caster level is determined by the item itself. In this case, the creator's caster level must be as high as the item's caster level (and prerequisites may effectively put a higher minimum on the creator's level).

Note that caster level can be a variable. The DM may decide that a particular carpet of flying was created by a high-level caster who decided to put the spells in at her own level. Such a carpet could withstand attacks and dispelling with a much greater chance. Most items conform to the caster levels listed. Of the exceptions, the differences often aren't that telling, except for occasional items (say, a staff of frost) where the differences truly matter.

How about another example. Let's say you're an 8th-level wizard, and you're going to make a wand of mage armor (good choice, by the way, and your friend the monk thinks so too). What's the caster level of the finished wand? 8th? The answer is: maybe. It's actually whatever you want it to be, from level 1 to 8. You can choose to voluntarily set the caster level lower than your own to make the wand less expensive. But the duration of the mage armor spell in the wand is based on whatever level you set it at.

That means it's possible to have a caster level of a rod lower than 9, even though you have to be 9th level to use the Craft Rod feat.

 

[dcollins]

Yes, and here's what Monte wrote 2 years after that, in a review of 3.5 Edition ( http://www.montecook.com/arch_review26.html ):

Caster level is still a prerequisite for magic item creation. This was an error in the 3.0 DMG and remains. You still have to be 17th level to make a 1st-level pearl of power.

So he goes back and forth on the issue of exactly what the DMG says. I've got a whole website tracking the contradictory statements over the 3rd Edition years, here:
http://superdan.net.home.comcast.net/dndfaq2.html

 

[Rystil Arden]

So if his two statements are basically: "You don't need to be level 17 to make a 1st-level pearl of power" and "There's a mistake which makes it so that you have to be level 17 to make a 1st-level pearl of power" while they are contradictory statements, both of them also strongly uniquely indicate that you should not be using caster level as a prerequisite.

If an action figure manufacturer said, "There's a mistake with the shipment of action figures that makes them explode, and we haven't fixed it yet." does that make you think, "Action figures are supposed to explode?"

 

[dcollins]

If they said in 2001, "They definitely don't explode", and in 2003, "Oh, I guess they do explode", then my conclusion would be that they aren't really a solid source of information on the issue. My direct emails with Monte (see website) indicate he hasn't really taken the time to think the issue through, because he keeps giving mixed signals.

 

[Rystil Arden]

I'd chalk that down to the fact that he intended the text to work as he originally stated, but then some rules-lawyer pointed out that there were subtle flaws in the wording of the text that caused the erroneous interpretation in a manner sufficiently thorough to convince him that the mistake needed fixing, and then the 3.5 crowd didn't fix it.

 

[Staffan]

Note that the DMG errata says:
[bq]Caster Level
Dungeon Master’s Guide, page 215
Problem: The last two sentences in the section on Caster Level are ambiguous and potentially misleading.
Solution: Replace with this text: For other magic items, the caster level is determined by the creator. The minimum caster level is that which is needed to meet the prerequisites given.[/bq]

In other words, caster level is not a prerequisite (unless specifically called out as such, as in the case of arms & armor which have a caster level prereq of 3 per plus).