[RPG] Calculating the gold cost of crafting a Magic Staff

craftingdnd-3.5emagic-itemspricing

I'm guiding a player with making a personal magic staff and would like feedback on how to properly price the item, as there are several methods that it could be done. Note, this is for 3.5e, not Pathfinder.

The staff has the following spell abilities imbued:

  • Cure Serious Wounds (1 charge)
  • Restoration (2 charges)
  • Heal (2 charges)
  • Raise Dead (10 charges)

The question basically comes down to which price we should be comparing to determine the "most costly" effect and so on: just the base spell cost, the cost based on the charges an effect uses, or the entire cost including expensive material components. In the tables below, the portions of the cost used to order the effects is highlighted \$\require{color}\color{red}{\text{red}}\$.

Method 1: Calculate the base cost of each spell (not counting extra costs) to determine "most costly" effect, then add extra costs
\$\newcommand{\gp}{\text{ gp}}\require{color}\$\begin{array}{l c r l r}
\textit{Heal}
&=
& \tfrac{1}{2}\times(
& \color{red}{6 \times 11 \times 375\gp}
&
&
&
&)\ =
& 12\,375.00\gp \\
\textit{Raise Dead}
&=
& \tfrac{1}{10}\times(
& \color{red}{5 \times 11 \times 375\gp}
& \times\tfrac{3}{4}
&+
& 5\,000\gp \times 50
&)\ =
& 26\,546.88\gp \\
\textit{Restoration}
&=
& \tfrac{1}{2}\times(
& \color{red}{4 \times 11 \times 375\gp}
& \times \tfrac{1}{2}
&+
& 100\gp \times 50
&)\ =
& 6\,625.00\gp \\
\textit{Cure Serious}
&=
&
& \color{red}{3 \times 11 \times 375\gp}
& \times \tfrac{1}{2}
&
&
& =
& 6\,187.50\gp \\
\hline
\textbf{Total} &&&&&&&=& 51\,734.38\gp
\end{array}

Method 2: Calculate the base cost of each spell based on the number of charges the spell uses (not counting extra costs) to determine "most costly" effect, then calculate normally.

\begin{array}{l c r l r}
\textit{Heal}
&=
& \color{red}{\tfrac{1}{2}\times(}
& \color{red}{6 \times 11 \times 375\gp}
&
&
&
&)\ =
& 12\,375.00\gp \\
\textit{Cure Serious}
&=
&
& \color{red}{3 \times 11 \times 375\gp}
& \times \tfrac{3}{4}
&
&
& =
& 9\,281.25\gp \\
\textit{Restoration}
&=
& \color{red}{\tfrac{1}{2}\times(}
& \color{red}{4 \times 11 \times 375\gp}
& \times \tfrac{1}{2}
&+
& 100\gp \times 50
&)\ =
& 6\,625.00\gp \\
\textit{Raise Dead}
&=
& \color{red}{\tfrac{1}{10}\times(}
& \color{red}{5 \times 11 \times 375\gp}
& \times \tfrac{1}{2}
&+
& 5\,000\gp \times 50
&)\ =
& 26\,031.25\gp \\
\hline
\textbf{Total} &&&&&&&=& 54\,312.50\gp
\end{array}

Method 3: Calculate the full cost of each spell (including extra costs) to determine "most costly" effect, then calculate as normal.

\begin{array}{l c r l r}
\textit{Raise Dead}
&=
& \color{red}{\tfrac{1}{10}\times(}
& \color{red}{5 \times 11 \times 375\gp}
&
& \color{red}{+}
& \color{red}{5\,000\gp \times 50}
&)\ =
& 27\,062.50\gp \\
\textit{Heal}
&=
& \color{red}{\tfrac{1}{2}\times(}
& \color{red}{6 \times 11 \times 375\gp}
& \times \tfrac{3}{4}
&
&
&)\ =
& 9\,281.25\gp \\
\textit{Restoration}
&=
& \color{red}{\tfrac{1}{2}\times(}
& \color{red}{4 \times 11 \times 375\gp}
& \times \tfrac{1}{2}
& \color{red}{+}
& \color{red}{100\gp \times 50}
&)\ =
& 6\,625.00\gp \\
\textit{Cure Serious}
&=
&
& \color{red}{3 \times 11 \times 375\gp}
& \times \tfrac{1}{2}
&
&
& =
& 6\,187.50\gp \\
\hline
\textbf{Total} &&&&&&&=& 49\,156.25\gp
\end{array}

Best Answer

The correct pricing is method 1: Count the most expensive spell before reducing price for multiple-charge cost.

Benchmark: staff of fire

The staff of fire has burning hands (1 charge), fireball (1 charge) and wall of fire (2 charges). It costs 28,500 to buy, or half that, 14,250 to craft.

Before any reductions, on 375 * casterlevel * spell level alone, the most expensive in order are wall of fire (12,000 gp), fireball (9,000 gp) and burning hands (3,000 gp). Placed in that order, the cost is as follows:

  • Wall of fire: 12,000 * 0.5 (for costing two charges) = 6,000 gp
  • Fireball: 6,000 * 0.75 (for being the second spell) = 6,750 gp
  • Burning hands: 3,000 * 0.5 (for being the third spell) = 1,500 gp
  • Total: 14,250 gp (the correct craft price!)

If you applied the half-price to the two-charge spell first, it would change the order to make fireball the first spell, giving this incorrect calculation:

  • Fireball: 6,000 (first spell) = 6,000 gp
  • Wall of fire: 12,000 * 0.75 * 0.5 (for costing two charges and being the second spell) = 4,500 gp
  • Burning hands: 3,000 * 0.5 (for being the third spell) = 1,500 gp
  • Total: 12,000 gp (the wrong craft price!)

Therefore, the correct calculation must be to calculate the most expensive spell before applying the discount for multiple charges.

According to the text, you then apply any discount for charge cost, but note that rules-as-written, it doesn't say anywhere that you can make more than a two-charge cost, even though some items are found with a five-charge cost. Ten charges may be pushing it.

Then, only having determined the price in this manner can you begin crafting, whereupon you spend the material components.

Final price: 51,735 gp and 37.5 cp

All spells must be at the same level, and the minimum caster level on heal is 11. Hence our prices before spell components are:

  • Heal: 24,750 gp * 0.5 (two charges) = 12,375 gp
  • Raise dead: 20,625 gp * 0.75 (second spell) * 0.1 (ten charges) = 1,546 gp 87.5 cp
  • Restoration: 16,500 gp * 0.5 ( third spell ) * 0.5 (two charges) = 4,125 gp
  • Cure serious wounds: 12,375 gp * 0.5 (fourth spell) = 6,187 gp 50 cp
  • Subtotal: 24,234gp 37.5 cp

Next you must pay spell components equivalent to casting the spell the maximum number of times the staff can, accounting for charges: 25 * 100gp for restoration, and 5 * 5,000 gp for raise dead, total 27,500 (more expensive than the spells themselves!)

The total craft price of your staff is therefore 51,734gp and 37.5cp.

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