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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FireLance" data-source="post: 2104546" data-attributes="member: 3424">Thirdwizard, some comments:Your cost for a staff is off for a couple of reasons. First, the minimum caster level for a staff is 8, not 6. Second, multiplying by 375 gets you the cost to create, not the market price (which is double the cost to create). The market price of a staff of one spell should be spell level x caster level (minimum 8) x 750. The market price for a staff with a 3rd-level spell should be 18,000 gp.Looking at the differences, there are about three:1) The staff uses charges, the rod uses up a spell slot from the caster.2) The staff is a spell trigger item (no AOO or spell failure), the rod supplies knowledge of the spell, but the user must cast the spell himself.  Presumably, he must supply any verbal, somatic and material components, attracts an AOO and suffers spell failure chances.3) The staff's spell selection is fixed, but the spell contained in the rod may be changed.I would not make any changes to the cost for (1), as it simply substitutes a limitation by charges for a limitation by spell slots.I would reduce the cost of the rod by half because of (2), because activating it is harder than activating a staff.For (3), it depends on how difficult it is to change the spell in the rod. If any spellcaster who knows the spell can change it by expending 8 hours, then I'd double the cost (with halving the cost for point 2, this brings the cost of the item back to 18,000 gp for a 3rd-level spell). If the requirements for changing the spell are more stringent, e.g. the spellcaster must have the Craft Rod feat, I would increase the cost by 50% (effectively, 13,500 gp for a 3rd-level spell). If the spellcaster had to spend xp to change the spell (say, 100 xp per spell level), I don't think there is a need to increase the price.</blockquote>

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