Making Certain Items

[Minosis]

There are a few magic items that have a CL requirement of 17th. Specifically all metamagic rods and the pearls of power. Is this correct? has there been an errata somewhere I hope. Please advise.

 

[VorpalStare]

This has been addressed in the following thread:

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=138475

The CL of the magic items does not set the minimum CL of the creator. Only the prerequisites do.

In the case of the Metamagic rods, the minimum caster level of the creator is 9th (needed to qualify for the Craft Rod feat). For the pearls of power, the minimum CL is either 3rd (Craft Wondrous Item) or the minimum level needed to cast spells of the appropriate level, whichever is greater. So an 11th level (straight-classed) Wizard can craft a 6th level pearl of power, for example.

 

[shilsen]

The caster level is not a prerequisite to create the item. The Pearl of Power requires that the "creator must be able to cast spells of the spell level to be recalled", so, for example, a 5th lvl wizard could make a 3rd lvl pearl.

 

[dcollins]

There are a few magic items that have a CL requirement of 17th. Specifically all metamagic rods and the pearls of power. Is this correct? has there been an errata somewhere I hope. Please advise.

While there's always debate on this point, you're correctly reading that as published, the DMG says that items like these have fixed caster levels, and serve as minimums on the creator level. There has been DMG errata asserting that that's a misreading; but that particular errata or sort of nonsensical.

You're also correct that those caster levels are probably too high, no matter how you interpret that rule, but they have not been errata'd.

However, finely-tuned campaigns like the RPGA Living Greyhawk have addressed this. For example, for pearls of power, they set a caster level of spell level x2 + 3 (minimum 5). I recommend you use that and house-rule a few other caster levels to what seems sensible.

Living Greyhawk Sourcebook: http://www.wizards.com/rpga/downloads/LGCS_v4-2.zip
More Comments on Caster Level: http://superdan.net.home.comcast.net/dndfaq2.html

 

[Nightfall]

Or if you just want a nice pearl or something, use DMG II rules, and try crafting it there, using the ambient magics of certain magical places. I mean hey, if it can work for weapons and armor, why not wondrous magical items?

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

While there's always debate on this point, you're correctly reading that as published, the DMG says that items like these have fixed caster levels, and serve as minimums on the creator level.

No, you're not.

The Errata file overwrites that portion of the DMG, and no matter how hard dcollins wishes, that's what the DMG actually says now.

The minimum caster level to create an item is the minimum caster level to meet the prerequisites. The item's caster level is not, in and of itself, a prerequisite. Therefore, the caster level of a "stock" DMG item is an example, and nothing more.