Pricing a Magic Item

[comrade raoul]

I find the DMG rules for pricing objects with limited daily uses a little bit unclear. How expensive would the following wondrous item be?

Belt of Deception: Five times per day, a wearer of this belt may shift his appearance according to the alter self spell by speaking a command word.

Caster Level: 3rd; Prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, alter self; Weight 2 lb.

Assume that alter self is cast at the minimum of 3rd level.

 

[shilsen]

The cost would be as follows: Spell lvl x Caster lvl x 1,800 gp.

In this case, it is: 2 x 3 x 1,800 = 10,800 gp.

If an item has a specific number of charges/day, you divide the cost by (5/charges per day). In this case, since it has 5 charges per day, the cost remains the same.

 

[Maitre Du Donjon]

shilsen got it right on the gp.

 

[rijeagle]

looks good to me!

 

[Quidam]

I would point out, though he already made mention of it, that an item usable five times a day costs as much as one usable all day long. According to the guidelines, that is. The only time it would make sense to me to limit an item to 5/day would be for balance reasons- that it'd be too powerful otherwise.

I don't know if Alter Self would really fit into that category. I'd consider not limiting it per day or lowering the number to 3 or so, so its cost more accurately relfects its limitation.

Personally, I think limitations are cool- I'm fond, as a DM, of minor curses. I had a Haversack in the game that rould randomly stun you for a round at a random point during the day. That is until someone tossed an extradimentional space into it, and a troll suddenly burst out of it.

[edit] or keep it at five and increase something else to compensate for it- like double the duration or something...