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<TITLE>RE: Magic Item Value</TITLE>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>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.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>Guidlines:</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2> 1 GC/(Characteristic Increase/10)(RU)</FONT>
<BR><FONT SIZE=2> 1 GC/(EL80 skill increase/10) (RU)</FONT>
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<P><FONT SIZE=2>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.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>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.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>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. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>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).</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>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%.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>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.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT SIZE=2>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. :}</FONT></P>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=2>Burton Choinski</FONT>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=2>email: burton.choinski@matrixone.com</FONT>
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