Special shield pricing help needed

[Starwind]

I am not good with pricing items, how much would you price a Tower Shield that allowed you to use it as a sort of parachute (effectively negating damage from falls)? Market price and cost to make?

 

[kenobi65]

Well, based on what I just saw on an episode of Mythbusters, the shield itself probably won't be able to do this. (They were testing the urban legend about a construction worker who was carrying a piece of plywood as he fell from a height, and was able to use the plywood as a rudimentary parachute. The Mythbusters guys found that this was pretty implausible).

In theory, you might be able to craft a shield that's more aerodynamic...but that'd require a high degree of engineering and aerodynamics knowledge on the part of the crafter. And, I'm not sure that a tower shield has enough surface area to be able to act as a parachute for a creature.

So, we're looking at a magical enhancement. The #1 rule of pricing magic items is "look at existing items." A Ring of Feather Falling does just this, at a retail cost of 2200gp.

If I was going to be a real stickler, I'd rule that you'd have to start with a masterwork tower shield, adding another 180gp to the cost, for a total retail cost of 2380gp. To create it, it'd cost 1280 (half the cost of the 2200gp value of the magic itself, plus 180 for the shield).

 

[Starwind]

It's actually from an extrodinary substance, a coccoon shell of an evolved Lambient (a moth-like race of people I'm working on), and this is a fantasy game so it's not that far fetched I think. But your post helped a lot thanks!