Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Moleculor 06-18-04, 04:35 PM	Ok, you may or may not have gleaned from my posts around the board ('specially my incessant questions of Keith Baker) that I'm not all that experienced in all things D&D. I've been fascinated by the idea of the game since I was seven or so (21 now), but my experience in actually playing it so far has been attempts at finishing Baldur's Gate, NWN, and barely playing the prologue of Icewind Dale (before tossing it onto a shelf never to be touched again... ew...), and playing for a single weekend with some friends of mine through small chunks of homebrew and storebought adventures. That's it. One RL gaming session only, really. That said, there's a gaming group starting up locally in about a month and I've been spazzing out buying D&D stuff (I knew about 3.5 before I started buying, so I held off till it was released, man, am I lucky). One of the things I bought was obviously Eberron. Mm. Eberron. So anywho, onto the point of my post... I've never created a magical item's stats from scratch. So I was hoping you guys could help me out. --------------------- Minor Orrery of the Planes: This small Eberron shard about the size of a human fist grants the user a +2 circumstance bouns to Knowledge (the planes) checks. The user merely needs to concentrate on the shard in a similar manner as a Wizard's Spellshard to display an up-to-date representation of the various planar locations. Kythri is either not displayed at all, or displayed as a plane that is simply not on an orbit (crafter's choice). Faint illusion; CL 1st; Craft Wonderous Item, creator must have at least 5 ranks in Knowledge (the planes); silent image; Price 35gp --------------------- I'm most worried about the price (could go either way), the caster level, and whether silent image is indeed the proper spell to use. The name sucks too, but I couldn't think of anything else, especially since Orrery of the Planes is already a high-level wonderous item.
Archmage 06-18-04, 05:58 PM	The market price is off by quite a bit, I think. A +2 bonus to Knowledge (the planes) checks would be worth 400 gp (2x2x100gp). The silent image spell effect would be worth 1, 000 gp (1st-level spell x Caster level 1 x 2, 000 gp, then divide it in half because the spell's duration is however long you concentrate on it). Then you have to adjust the base price by multiplying 1, 000 gp by 2 (because it's an item with multiple abilities). So, altogether, you're looking at a base price of 2, 400 gp. That means your character will have to spend 1, 200 gp and 48 XP to create the item (2, 400/2 for gp; 1, 200/25 for XP). Anyway, I think that's how it works, but you really should sit down and read the Magic Item Creation rules in the DMG or the SRD, you'll probably gain a better grasp of the rules that way rather than just some fool like myself explaining it. Well, hope that helped.
Moleculor 06-18-04, 06:19 PM	Originally posted by Archmage The market price is off by quite a bit, I think. A +2 bonus to Knowledge (the planes) checks would be worth 400 gp (2x2x100gp). Whaaat? Where's that in the DMG? Plus, how is that applied to other such tools that apply a +2 circumstance bonus, such as a Warforged Repair Kit which only costs 50gp? The silent image spell effect would be worth 1, 000 gp (1st-level spell x Caster level 1 x 2, 000 gp, then divide it in half because the spell's duration is however long you concentrate on it). o.O The section on NPC spellcasting in my DMG says spell level x caster level x 10. No where does it mention 2,000! Since I couldn't figure out the cost of enchaning an item with a spell, I used that section. Is there another section I should be using instead? If there is, it's well hidden, as I've scoured the magic item creation section of my DMG like mad trying to find an alternative to NPC casting rules. Then you have to adjust the base price by multiplying 1, 000 gp by 2 (because it's an item with multiple abilities). It is? What's the other ability besides displaying an image?
Moleculor 06-18-04, 06:29 PM	Oh. Wait. Never mind. Found the table. Grr. Stupid table being on the page BEFORE Wonderous Items. :| That said, you've still got the skill bonus x 100gp thing wrong (it's circumstance, not competence), and I'm still not seeing the multiple abilities.
Taigis 06-18-04, 07:04 PM	I think the two effects that he is referring to are 1. a silent image of the planes and 2. a +2 bonus to knowledge (planes). Taigis
Moleculor 06-18-04, 07:19 PM	Ah. Well the bonus itself would come from the image, I'd think. Knowledge of where they are in reference to the material and all that, much like an observatory. Or is that too much of a bonus from an image? And is silent image suitable for an image that updates itself, or would I absolutely need to use programmed image instead?
Geoff Watson 06-18-04, 09:40 PM	Pricing it as just a silent image is far too cheap. How does the orrery know what the planes are like? If you could do that sort of thing, I'd get an item that gives a written answer to any question, and price it as a silent image spell. Ultimate Knowledge for just a few hundred gold. I'd rule the world. Mwa ha ha ha ha ha!!!! Geoff.
Moleculor 06-18-04, 10:17 PM	So it'd have to be a continuous programmed image. (Programmed meaning it uses the same math that a physical orrery does to track the planes.) So... 5x5x2000 + the cost of a shard. So 50020gp? Bah. That sucks. That sucks a lot. How in the WORLD does a Wizard's Spellshard cost only 3gp, when this very similar application costs 50020? Hm. Arcane Mark is a 0th spell though. I must ponder this. Something about shards must reduce the typical cost of continuous wonderous items.