Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Todd 04-03-05, 04:55 PM	I'm trying to figure out how much it would cost to create an item that uses spells per day. The formula seems simple enough to me at first. If I wanted to create an Amulet that cast Dispel Magic as a 10th level caster once per day it would cost: 900 x 3 (spell level) x 10 (caster level) x 1 (uses per day) / 5 = 5400 gp Or for an amulet that casts Orb of Force as a 10th level caster 3 times per day the cost would be: 900 x 4 (spell level) x 10 (caster level) x 3 (uses per day) / 5 = 21600 And, of course, to buy such an item would cost double these prices. However what happens if I want build said amulet such that it can both spells listed above? Would the toal item creation cost be 27,000 gp or would I have to invoce the rule that multiple effects cost double the first ability plus the second bringing the cost to 48600 gp? The latter seems a bit odd to me since, by my reading of page 228 of the DMG that if I just built the item to cast the Orb of Foce spell and later 'upgraded' the item to cast Dispel Magic then the final cost would be cheaper (21600 + 1.5 x 5400 = 29700). Finally what would the cost be to add an unrelated amulet effect to the build? For instance if I wanted the amulet to grant a +1 Natural Armor bonus (normal cost of 1000 gp to build) and cast Dispel Magic as above once per day? Thanks for the help!
Nom 04-03-05, 10:07 PM	Let's work in terms of base price rather than crafting price. I'm assuming these items are not spell trigger (and thus usable by anyone). Thus your basic numbers are 1800 * 3 * 10 * 1/5 = 10800 for dispel magic 1/day and 1800 * 4 * 10 * 3/5 = 43200. Is there a cost increase for combining the items? That's hard to say. Most wondrous items are more interesting than simply allowing the casting of spell X, Y times per day. So you need to consider what benefit the user gains from wearing this amulet rather than having the abilities placed into one or two items that they must hold to trigger the effects. You also need to consider whether this item is thematically consistent. Most wondrous items have a "concept" behind them rather than simply being a collection of spells; what is the "concept" behind this item? Why not simply craft a staff?