Please help me with a Pearl of Power variant !

[Erevanden]

I was wondering if anybody knows te exact formula for the Pearl of Power cost - I want to create a variant pearl that works only for a single school of magic and/or allows more than one daily use, but I have no idea how to estimate that item's cost... :\

 

[darthkilmor]

I was wondering if anybody knows te exact formula for the Pearl of Power cost - I want to create a variant pearl that works only for a single school of magic and/or allows more than one daily use, but I have no idea how to estimate that item's cost... :\

Looks like its just level squared times 1000gp.

 

[Pinotage]

I was wondering if anybody knows te exact formula for the Pearl of Power cost - I want to create a variant pearl that works only for a single school of magic and/or allows more than one daily use, but I have no idea how to estimate that item's cost... :\

As noted, the price for a standard pearl of power is 1000 gp x (spell level)^2.

This is for 1 use per day. The standard formulas would indicate that multiple uses per day would simply be a multiplier, but I don't think that works in this case. I'd be guided by something like the Ring of Wizardry for multiple uses of a pearl each day.

For a specific school of magic, you might want to consider reducing the price, but I wouldn't necessarily agree with that. Specialists would grab those fairly easily at cheaper and accomplish the same thing as a standard pearl.

Personally, the standard pearl is fine. Leave it as it is. If you want more uses, use more pearls. And I don't think that a school of magic really entails a restriction that would warrant a reduction of cost.

Pinotage

 

[akbearfoot]

I agree with Pinotage.

Pearls are fine the way they are. They are very much worth their cost, and not to powerful.

 

[Felix]

As it is, a Pearl will allow you with one standard action to refill a used spell slot with a formerly cast spell; it is then available for you to cast with another standard action, or however long the casting time is.

If you want to specialize the Pearl of Power for a specific school, then simply allow the caster to use one Standard action to recall and cast a spell, but only ever a spell of the given school (unless the casting time is more than one action).

That seems balanced.

 

[Claudius Gaius]

There's a discussion of Pearls of Power and related devices in The Practical Enchanter which might help with constructing variants.