Spell Costs in PHB Too Low?

[ptolemy18]

Is it just me and my campaign, or do the spell costs in the "equipment list" of the 3.5 PHB seem too low?

Admittedly, I'm running a slightly low-magic campaign. There's magic all over the place, but I'm trying to limit access to "Raise Dead" and similar resurrection spells, by making them harder to use and adding a caster XP cost (100 XP per level of the raised person).

So now the players want to find a temple to raise one of the party from the dead, which I've already established is something that only really rich people can afford to do. (Seems like the way the world works...) But when I look in the PHB, the cost for a 5th level spell by a 9th level caster is only (9x50) = 450 gp! Ack! Way too cheap!

Also, I don't see any rules in the PHB factoring in additional cost for spells which cost XP. I don't know if I'm just missing these, since it seems pretty clear that a caster would charge more for a spell that'd cost them precious experience points.

It seems sort of reasonable that a 1st-level spell like "Cure Light Wounds" would only cost about 10 gp to get cast, but personally, I'm included to think that the spell costs should get exponentially higher above first level... like this...

1st level = caster level x 10 gp
2nd = caster level x 20 gp
3rd = caster level x 40 gp
4th = caster level x 80 gp
5th = caster level x 160 gp

This still doesn't make it as expensive as I want it to be for story purposes, but it's a slight "improvement." For this particular campaign, I'm thinking of just flat-out multiplying the base cost for "Raise Dead" by 10 -- so it costs 4,500 gp.

Does anyone else think the existing spells are a little cheap? I know I'm sort of on my own here in my own campaign's specific mindset/rules-set, but I was kind of surprised to find that "Raise Dead" cost a mere 450 gp, when a 2nd level potion costs 300 gp...! :/ Like being able to swig a potion by yourself, instead of going to find a cleric, is worth so much extra money...

Jason

 

[Arkham]

Raise Dead has an expensive material component, which also
has to be paid for by the PC. In 3.0 it was a 500gp diamond,
bringing the cost of a raise dead up to 950. I don't know what
it is in 3.5 except I heard it got more expensive...

 

[Len]

Raise Dead requires a material component that costs 5000 gp. Who's paying for that?

 

[Yair]

As noted, the PCs should also cover the material component price for the spell. Additionally, they should pay 5 gp per XP payed. To quote the Book:

If the spell has an expensive matreial component, the NPC makes her client pay for those expenses in addition to the base cost....
Finally, if the spell has an XP component, the NPC charges an additional 5 gp for each experience point she must expend.

 

[RangerWickett]

I, on the other hand, believe that the costs for spells is too high. When a farmer might make 30 gp in a year (I'm just pulling that number out of my ***, and it's probably too high), being able to make 30gp in a few minutes by casting one spell is ridiculous. If I can cast "cure light wounds," I'd love to make people my friends by charging about 1 silver piece for it, with the understanding that there's a limited supply.

 

[Kultar]

Does anyone else think the existing spells are a little cheap? I know I'm sort of on my own here in my own campaign's specific mindset/rules-set, but I was kind of surprised to find that "Raise Dead" cost a mere 450 gp, when a 2nd level potion costs 300 gp...! :/ Like being able to swig a potion by yourself, instead of going to find a cleric, is worth so much extra money...

Jason

As for the potion being more expensive then the spell being cast (aside from the material componet part mentioned earlier) anyone can drink a potion and it does not use a spell slot. Finding the cleric to just cast the spell burns one of his spells for the day but he gets it back. Once you drink the potion its gone, which creates a supply and demand thing. Add to that the XP price as quoted by Yair and it adds up. I would find math reasons in the book for you but I'm in the middle of class and cant get out to my car. Plus it seems to be easier to carry a potion around on your belt then it does a cleric.

 

[mmadsen]

I, on the other hand, believe that the costs for spells is too high. When a farmer might make 30 gp in a year (I'm just pulling that number out of my ***, and it's probably too high), being able to make 30gp in a few minutes by casting one spell is ridiculous.

If a common man makes one silver piece per day in wages and works 300 days per year, then he makes 30 gold pieces per year.

If spellcasters are everywhere, because they require no special talent and little training, and the market for spells brings in a steady stream of customers, and the act of spellcasting requires no arduous effort or expensive equipment, then, yes, spells would cost less.

If I can cast "cure light wounds," I'd love to make people my friends by charging about 1 silver piece for it, with the understanding that there's a limited supply.

In the real world, an MIT-educated engineer is free to change his neighbor's oil, and a Harvard-educated lawyer can do pro bono work, but there are plenty of reasons their skills don't come cheap -- even if they're generous people.

 

[Henry]

As other posters noted, Raise Dead, Resurrection, and True Res are HIDEOUSLY expensive, thanks to the material components. The big question is -- have you simply talked with your players to make an agreement to limit the kinds of magic that don't fit your campaign? With our Eberron game, the players know that anything above Raise Dead is impossible to find, because there are no clerics over 11th level even in the largest urban areas. (There's an 18th level adept, but not only is he not inclined to help, he can only cast raise dead anyway.) In fact, the only Resurrection spell they DID find, wasn't even cast on them - it was cast on a Green Dragon they needed help from!

 

[mmadsen]

Admittedly, I'm running a slightly low-magic campaign. There's magic all over the place, but I'm trying to limit access to "Raise Dead" and similar resurrection spells, by making them harder to use and adding a caster XP cost (100 XP per level of the raised person).

If it's an issue of flavor, you can change -10 hp from "dead" to "mortally wounded" -- and raise dead to cure mortal wounds.

 

[Pants]

As other posters noted, Raise Dead, Resurrection, and True Res are HIDEOUSLY expensive, thanks to the material components. The big question is -- have you simply talked with your players to make an agreement to limit the kinds of magic that don't fit your campaign? With our Eberron game, the players know that anything above Raise Dead is impossible to find, because there are no clerics over 11th level even in the largest urban areas. (There's an 18th level adept, but not only is he not inclined to help, he can only cast raise dead anyway.) In fact, the only Resurrection spell they DID find, wasn't even cast on them - it was cast on a Green Dragon they needed help from!

Well, there is that 18th level High Cleric of the Silver Flame, though here powers are very... limited.