Reducing CL for items to reduce price?

[Stormborn]

At one time I knew the answer to this but cant find it at the moment.

When creating a magic item can you deliberately reduce the CL below the minimum need to cast the spell to reduce the cost of the final product?

For example: Could a wizard create a scroll that cast fireball but only did 1d6 points of damage but only cost 75gp (CL 1 x Spell level 3 x 25 gp) even though the minimum caster level needed to cast fireball for a wizard is 5?

 

[Runestar]

No, the caster lv must be the minimum needed to cast the spell, or the spell will fail. Else, it can be easily abused with spells not reliant on caster lv (like disjunction or timestop cast at caster lv 1). Can't remember off-hand where this is reiterated though, but I think it may be an extrapolation of the general rule from the magic overview section in the PHB.

 

[frankthedm]

At one time I knew the answer to this but cant find it at the moment.

When creating a magic item can you deliberately reduce the CL below the minimum need to cast the spell to reduce the cost of the final product?

For example: Could a wizard create a scroll that cast fireball but only did 1d6 points of damage but only cost 75gp (CL 1 x Spell level 3 x 25 gp) even though the minimum caster level needed to cast fireball for a wizard is 5?

For single spell duplicating items, the caster level can't be lowered beneath the minimum level to cast the spell. It looks like other items can have their caster level lowered when created, but since those have set prices, that does not save any GPs.

Caster Level
The next item in a notational entry gives the caster level of the item, indicating its relative power. The caster level determines the item’s saving throw bonus, as well as range or other level-dependent aspects of the powers of the item (if variable). It also determines the level that must be contended with should the item come under the effect of a dispel magic spell or similar situation. This information is given in the form "CL x," where "CL" is an abbreviation for caster level and "x" is an ordinal number representing the caster level itself.

For potions, scrolls, and wands, the creator can set the caster level of an item at any number high enough to cast the stored spell and not higher than her own caster level. For other magic items, the caster level is determined by the creator. The minimum caster level is that which is needed to meet the prerequisites given.

 

[Stormborn]

Thanks guys. Thats kinda what I was thinking, but just wanted to get a second opinion.

 

[Herzog]

Note that the Artificer (eberron) class makes an exception to this rule, as it is allowed to create items with a minimum caster level set to 2 lvls higher as his or her artificer level, but with the effective caster level set to the artificer's level.

(from memory that means the cost stays the same, but you can get 3d6 fireballs from scrolls.