Prices of custom magic items.

[Tharkon]

There are two parts in this question.
Firstly I'm wondering if anyone could calculate the price of a particular item.
And secondly if they could do this in such a way I can learn from it so I can do it myself.

The item is a staff that allows the casting of Entangle 1/day and increases the DC of all Entangle spells (staff or otherwise) by 2.

This is what I came up with so far:

I should isolate the DC bonus and deal with it later.
Then I tried treating it as a wondrous item with a 1/day spell-effect, resulting in 1*1*1800/5=360 gp.
But it isn't actually a wondrous item, since, like a staff, it uses my actual caster level and abilities, and not caster level 1 and Wisdom 11. It's also spell-trigger activated and not command-activated.
But there are no options available in the DMG for converting staffs from 50 charges to 1/day items. There is some mention for XP components of treating infinite use items as if they had 100 charges. So perhaps 1/day items are treated as having 20 charges.
This would result in 1*8*375*2/5=3000 gp.
But this staff would have a minimum caster level of 8, while mine has my caster level even if it's lower than 8.
If I ignored the minimum level of 8 it would be 1*1*375/50*100/5=150 gp.
Which doesn't feel right since it shouldn't be lower than the 360 I calculated earlier, since it is better.

So anyone able to point me in the right direction?

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Your DMG or here.

 

[Tharkon]

Your DMG or here.

I looked in the DMG, but it only presents rules for staffs with limited use charges, not for those that have 1/day usage as far as I can see. Nor for a staff that has no caster level of its own.

 

[anest1s]

I don't know how, but I am gonna propose pearl of power instead. Looks like you will have more than one entangle prepared anyway.

Are you sure staffs can be /day things?

A lesser metamagic rod of empower costs 9k, so you should be able to copy it into a lesser metamagic rod of heighten+2 for the same cost...and then make it usable only for 1st level spells for 1/3rd the cost (or maybe even less)

As for the wondrous items- an item without a slot goes double price.

If I ignored the minimum level of 8 it would be 1*1*375/50*100/5=150 gp.

Staffs should have caster level 8, so it would be

(1*8*375/50)*20=1200

 

[anest1s]

I looked in the DMG, but it only presents rules for staffs with limited use charges, not for those that have 1/day usage as far as I can see. Nor for a staff that has no caster level of its own.

It needs a caster level 8 to be created- whether you will cast at that caster level or at lower caster level is up to whats higher.


Ok let me guess, you took the craft staff feat and you want to do everything with it?

 

[Tharkon]

It needs a caster level 8 to be created- whether you will cast at that caster level or at lower caster level is up to whats higher.


Ok let me guess, you took the craft staff feat and you want to do everything with it?

The item is actually part of some loot.
Our DM just makes stuff up, my wolf has a collar that allows it to know 3 more tricks than usual and to cast speak with owner 1/day.
I was trying to estimate what the value of me equipment is to see if it was around the value I should have at my level.
While I don't really need to know specifically the value of this item since I'm not the DM of this game, I wanted to know how I would determine it so I can use it in games where I will be DM.
The staff does not allow me to cast at level 8 even while I am only level 2.

 

[anest1s]

The item is actually part of some loot.
Our DM just makes stuff up, my wolf has a collar that allows it to know 3 more tricks than usual and to cast speak with owner 1/day.
I was trying to estimate what the value of me equipment is to see if it was around the value I should have at my level.
While I don't really need to know specifically the value of this item since I'm not the DM of this game, I wanted to know how I would determine it so I can use it in games where I will be DM.
The staff does not allow me to cast at level 8 even while I am only level 2.

Uh...don't do that its hard to price. What, you don't believe me? Try to appraise it in-game!

If you are the DM you care about the price to the point someone doesn't break the game, and usually when you make stuff up the players won't be able to use it at its full potential- because they haven't planned for such an item to be available. So for the DM it is better to give lower value to such items (because the players can sell them and buy who-knows-what).

Just ask your DM off game how he would price it out of game, clarifying that you don't want to just sell it

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Tough call, since I don't think there are official rules for determining how to price those particular sorts of abilities. This appears to one of those items that the rules basically tell you to look at other items "similar" in power and just make a guess!

A few things I'd look at:
- For reference, just a normal staff of entangle would be CL8xSL1x375=3000gp, iirc.
- For the 1/x day entangle effect, call it a 1x/day command word Wondrous Item, so SL1xCL1x1800/5*2 = 720gp.[edit, x2 for no bodyslot] The scaling CL would be worth (potentially a lot) more than that, so this is a low estimate.
- For the CL boost, note that a +1CL ioun stone is 30000gp for all spells, all the time. You want a +2CL (worth more), but only applied to a single spell (worth a lot less). So a wild guess? I'll say 1/10: that's 3000gp. Conveniently, that's close to the price of the normal staff anyway. [EDIT: doh! The item described provides a DC increase, not a CL boost! I imagine the price would come down considerably in that case.]
- So as a final guess, I'd just combine the CL part and 1x/day entangle part, and call it something in the vicinity of 3000gp to 3500gp.

But that really is just a guess. My next step would be to flip through MIC and see if there's something similar in there. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if there's anything in there similar to this item. :/

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

When in doubt, price everything as a wondrous item using an unusual shape/slot, with the attendant penalty.

 

[jefgorbach]

Agree with Whizbang. Make your life easier and just use Craft Wondrous Item because the rest of the magical crafting feats are a poorly conceived attempt to delay PC creativity.

Your "staff" is broom with the bristles removed then enchanted to "recall knowing" Entangle 1/day, using the item as a spell-trigger.
"recall Entangle": 1st level bonus spell, squared x 1,000gp
effect is a spel-trigger effect +750
Effect usable once per day /5
Requires knowning Entangle -10%
subtotal: 315

Second feature: +2 compentence bonus on all Entangle effects
+2 skill bonus squared x 100gp = 400
subtotal +400

Cost of highest effect: 400
cost of next effect, x 1.5: 472.50
Item does not require a body slot: x2

final cost: 1,745 subject to GM adjustment



If thats too expensive, make it a two-step process:
+2 Acorn of Entangle Compentance per above: $400
Spell-trap this object: +$500
Total: $900; savings: $850

Entangle, like burning hands, is a 1st level effect so would be priced the same which uses Alarm as a proximity trigger and an automatic reset which could be defined as 1/day and has a bypass-code known by the creator. More importantly, there's no cost difference between having it reset 1/day or 1/round!!

Burning Hands Trap
CR 2; magic device; proximity trigger (alarm); automatic reset; spell effect (burning hands, 1st-level wizard, 1d4 fire, DC 11 Reflex save half damage); Search DC 26; Disable Device DC 26. Cost: 500 gp, 40 XP. -- Traps :: d20srd.org