Magic Item Value

[Choinski, Burton]

I, for one, prefer the "price modifier" based on effect idea.  You just need
to go through and do the dirty work and figure out what things are worth.

Guidlines:
  1 GC/(Characteristic Increase/10)(RU)
  1 GC/(EL80 skill increase/10) (RU)

So take a fighting dagger (2sc) and a broadsword (13sc) -- both add, say +10
S.  Do we now say the dagger is worth 12sc and the sword 23sc?  That sounds
pretty fair.  But is +10 E worth the same as +10 S?  Certainly not for a
combat item.

You could get real deep and hairy (which I have no problem with) on
assigning value to different effects.  In the example above you may assign
15cc per point of increase in D and A for the dagger (the attributes
required for the skill) while the item is weilded, which assumes that you
get the full benefits of those attributes (toward bonus and toward skill
maximums, or towards any figured attributes).  If an attribute other than
those that the skill uses is increased, the cost is 1sc per point of
attribute.  And if the increase only applies to the attribute itself (and
possibly any bonus), but does not apply to skill maximums or figured
attributes, subtract 5cc per point from the value.

A similar splintering may be needed for skills.  In the case of the dagger,
adding +1 EL in its use may well be worth 1gc.  Or adding +1 EL, defensive
only (Blade of parry) might be worth 8sc per EL and one that may only apply
offensively might be worth 8sc per EL.

Adding skill unrelated to the use of the item will add 1GC per EL (or 1sc
per EL if it is an "or 80" skill), based on how much of a pain in the ass it
is..  A dagger that grants +2 EL to your forest survival while it is in your
posession is probably worth the +2gc.  One that only grants you the skill
when the dagger is sheathed is probably still worth 90% of that value (still
good for sensing ambushes or hunting), at +18sc.  One that only gave you teh
addes when you have the dagger drawn is starting to become a pain in the ass
(one hand is now "busy", player has to remember to say he has the dagger
drawn, etc) and is probably worth a 50% discount there (+1gc).

And since such weapons are hard enough to get as it is, adding a +10% bonus
per added effect is probably fair.  Thus, a dagger that added to S, D, A and
St has three additional effects, and thus the total cost of the magic adds
is upped by 30%.

The one thing that has to kept in mind is that value increase has reflect
the factor of (risk X work).  If they players can get away with turning 2sc
daggers into 12sc daggers, they have 1gc of value that has to be accounted
for, else your economy gets whacked.  If your average magician makes 3GC a
month (just for point of illustration, becoming 1sc per day), then unless it
takes him 10 days of risk-less effort, or 5 days of moderate risk, there is
no "game mechanics = world mechanics" reason why he can't crank out however
many daggers he can pull the mana for, as fast as possible.  If he was
working on something that added 10GC of value to the item, it should either
take a month and 7GC of material/expenses, or 10 days and 9GC of
materials/expenses.

I tried to do something like this with my merchating thought experiment, and
followed the basic idea with the construction rules I had posted (the cost
of the raw materials basically equaled the labor cost in time to produce,
with modifications for risk).  If you have a consistent economic base, then
it will be a snap to figure magic pricing. :}


----------------------------------------
Burton Choinski
Principal Software Engineer, Quality Engineering
email: burton.choinski at matrixone.com

phone: 978-589-4089
fax:      978-589-5903

MatrixOne, Inc.
210 Littleton Rd.
Westford, Ma 01886
www.matrixone.com

The First in Intelligent Collaborative Commerce
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