Please help me price this cheesy item

[Sepulchrave II]

Scarab/amulet slot.

Continuous death ward; +6 bonus to Constitution; immunity to poison and diseases.

 

[Sejs]

Two cost workups - one accounting for the Multiple Different Abilities cost increase for a slotted item, and one without. The without basically saying that they're all similar thematically, so no cost increase.

The basics:

All proposed abilities are appropriate for the necklace slot. (1x)

Continuous use-activated (i.e. worn) Death Ward: Spell Level (4) * Caster Level (7) * 2000 gp * Duration Modifier (x2): 112,000 gp

+6 enhancement bonus to Constitution: 36,000 gp

Immunity to Poison (based on Periapt of Proof against Poison): 27,000 gp

Immunity to Disease (based on above): 27,000 gp



Total A (Multiple Different Abilities): 247,000 gp (market), or 123,500 gp and 9,880 xp (creation)

Total B (Thematically Similar): 202,000 gp (market), or 101,000 gp and 8,080 xp (creation)

Edit/Additional: I'd probably go with the Soulfire basis for the Death Ward cost that Hyp's brought up, below. The duration modifier really kind of hoses you on that one. Without the duration mod, it's still 56,000 gp and might be considered a middle ground, but yeah. Tad expensive.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Scarab/amulet slot.

Continuous death ward; +6 bonus to Constitution; immunity to poison and diseases.

The Soulfire armor ability from BoED gives effectively a continuous Death Ward; it's a +4 armor ability. Call it about 25,000. (Pricing as a CL 7 4th level spell with 1 min duration as a continuous effect would yield a figure of 7 x 4 x 2 x 2000 = 112,000, but comparing to similar abilities is supposed to take precedence.)

Periapt of Proof against Poison gives immunity to poison for 27,000.

Periapt of Health gives immunity to disease for 7,500.

And an Amulet of Health gives +6 to Con for 36,000.

All four are suitable for the amulet slot, so no inappropriate slot penalties.

Final figure: 36k + 1.5 x (27k + 25k + 7k5) ≈ 125k.

-Hyp.

 

[Sepulchrave II]

Thanks for the quick responses!

I wonder if I could ask a more subjective question (unsuited to this forum, perhaps)? Assuming that you would allow such an item in your campaign, how much would you value it at? Do you think the 'blue book value' is appropriate, or do you think it deserves a hike in price?

 

[Sejs]

Nah, bluebook seems just fine in this case. Somewhere between 125k - 200k is quite fitting. Expensive, but not world-ending. It's a strong item, but ultimately you're getting the benefit of a couple 4th level spells on top of a +6 con amulet.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Assuming that you would allow such an item in your campaign, how much would you value it at? Do you think the 'blue book value' is appropriate, or do you think it deserves a hike in price?

The Soulfire armor 'feels' like a bargain, to me. I haven't seen it in play, so I can't really comment on how underpriced it is... and also, the fact that it's an armor ability means that it could rapidly get a lot more expensive.

Having said that, 125k is a lot of money, so I might allow it at that price if I didn't feel it was likely to be abused somehow.

-Hyp.

 

[Sejs]

The Soulfire armor 'feels' like a bargain, to me.

I can certainly agree. Soulfire feels like a steal, but the 112k on its own using just the spell formula feels too expensive.

Something around 50k feels about right for a stand alone Death Ward item.

 

[Stalker0]

Well you have to consider that at high levels death effects become more and more commonplace...and lets not forget all of the negative energy effects (think of the number of undead that do level drain). The fact that the ability can completely shut those down is tremendously powerful.

The funny thing is that the ability becomes more and more valuable the higher up you go. If you gave deathward to a 9th level character, he would enjoy it, but he probably would prefer +5 to AC, energy resistances, crit resistances a whole lot more. But for a 15th level character, he would likely pay through the nose for such an ability.

 

[Sejs]

Really depends on how frequently you have to face off with negative energy/death effects, I suppose.

The crit resistance thing I'd stand to disagree with you a bit on, however. Particularly at later levels, catching a full-on critical hit easily starts to border on a death sentance. Lots of hurt and possible massive damage saves on top of that. Not to mention if things go epic, when Overwhelming and Devastating Critical start to rear their ugly heads.

 

[Cheiromancer]

The context is important, here. It's being considered for epic adventurers, and the question is whether it should be available at 20th level, 25th level, 33rd level or what... and whether it is a #1 item (25% of total equipment value) or a #2 item (10% of total equipment value).

*I* think it should be around 330,000 gp, and it or its equivalent would be available to everyone by level 30 or so.