Pricing custom magic items?

[TheMiningDwarf]

Hey there everybody I was looking for some help pricing some magic items I was going to put into my campaign and I found the tables a bit confusing.

So say for example I have a magic item which has spells per day. Now in the chart it says to divide the price by the number of charges. I don't see how this makes sense since the more charges the better right? Besides that I have another question In my head, this item is not a tool or something that can be 'used' in the traditional sense. So that would mean that it's activated by a command word yes?

[johnbragg]

Hey there everybody I was looking for some help pricing some magic items I was going to put into my campaign and I found the tables a bit confusing.

So say for example I have a magic item which has spells per day. Now in the chart it says to divide the price by the number of charges.

Not sure, but I think you're looking at a Charges per day item. That says divide base cost by (5/charges per day), not by charges per day.

To help with the basic algebra, divide the base price by 5. Then multiply by the charges per day.
So a Vest of Shielding would be a command-word-activated item, base price 1,800 gp.

You can reduce that base price by limiting the charges per day. A 1/day, divide by 5. 1800/5 = 360 gp. 2/day, 360 x 2 = 720 gp. 3/day, 360 x 3 = 1,080 gp.


I don't see how this makes sense since the more charges the better right? Besides that I have another question In my head, this item is not a tool or something that can be 'used' in the traditional sense. So that would mean that it's activated by a command word yes?

As DM, you're going to have to make a judgement call. Is this thing "always on"? Example, boots of longstriding. Base movement +10 feet, all the time, 2000 gp by the book.
Is this thing "sometimes on"? Like say boots of jumping? That's probably a command word item.

Note that a command word item takes a standard action to activate. THat's important in combat. Pseudo-casting shield 5 times a day, or unlimited times per day, 1800 gp by RAW.

HAving shield on all the time, 24/7 is 2000 gp by RAW. Sometimes the idea is the DM is supposed to make a call that you can't do what RAW says just because, and this is one of those times.