So I have seen some complaints about the magic item pricing in the books, so my question is how does one decide whether the price is a fair price for the item or not. For example I was doing some looking around and a ring of swimming is between about 100 -500 gold in the dmg but I haven't seen people else charge about 3000 gp for that item, for the feel that's a fair price. That's a big jump of cost. So my question is how does one create fair prices for magic items that seem reasonable. Or any item really. And why do folks claim that the prices in the rule books are so bad?
The creators of 5e seem to have created the game under the assumption that Magic Items should not be available for purchase in-game. So regardless of utility, Magic Items in 5e are largely priced in a way that actively discourages players from attempting to buy magic items and instead puts the onus on the DM to include them as treasures during adventures. I know for a while the standard was called the "Sane Magic Item Price Guide", or something like that. You should be able to find it with a google search, although I'm not sure if it includes all of the newer magic items.
I see, but I still don't really understand why the dmg prices are so bad, they seem balanced to me. I not very good at the pricings of such, but the "sane" prices just seem outrageously high. I don't seem to understand how it all is suppose to work. And how are the sane prices decided, and why. Or is it just this item seem powerful let's price it out 3000 gp
I see, but I still don't really understand why the dmg prices are so bad, they seem balanced to me. I not very good at the pricings of such, but the "sane" prices just seem outrageously high. I don't seem to understand how it all is suppose to work. And how are the sane prices decided, and why. Or is it just this item seem powerful let's price it out 3000 gp
That's pretty much it, yeah. If the dmg prices seem fair to you, then I say go ahead and use them. I think the biggest problem is that not all magic items are created equal... Winged Boots are considered Uncommon magic items, but are far more versatile and useful than Boots of Levitation, which are considered Rare.
It works as an organization tool as well as giving you the price for every item (official and partnered, currently 4305 items).
The prices are solely based on the item's power. They take into account attunement requirement, if the item is consumable, number of uses as well as many other things. All the prices use formulas in their calculation, so they stay consistent with one another.
This list has now been used actively for some months in a West Marches campaign where all items are available and we've been updating the prices when needed for balancing reasons. If you have feedback about the prices feel free to give it here or on Discord (link in the website).
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So I have seen some complaints about the magic item pricing in the books, so my question is how does one decide whether the price is a fair price for the item or not. For example I was doing some looking around and a ring of swimming is between about 100 -500 gold in the dmg but I haven't seen people else charge about 3000 gp for that item, for the feel that's a fair price. That's a big jump of cost. So my question is how does one create fair prices for magic items that seem reasonable. Or any item really. And why do folks claim that the prices in the rule books are so bad?
The creators of 5e seem to have created the game under the assumption that Magic Items should not be available for purchase in-game. So regardless of utility, Magic Items in 5e are largely priced in a way that actively discourages players from attempting to buy magic items and instead puts the onus on the DM to include them as treasures during adventures. I know for a while the standard was called the "Sane Magic Item Price Guide", or something like that. You should be able to find it with a google search, although I'm not sure if it includes all of the newer magic items.
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I see, but I still don't really understand why the dmg prices are so bad, they seem balanced to me. I not very good at the pricings of such, but the "sane" prices just seem outrageously high. I don't seem to understand how it all is suppose to work. And how are the sane prices decided, and why. Or is it just this item seem powerful let's price it out 3000 gp
That's pretty much it, yeah. If the dmg prices seem fair to you, then I say go ahead and use them. I think the biggest problem is that not all magic items are created equal... Winged Boots are considered Uncommon magic items, but are far more versatile and useful than Boots of Levitation, which are considered Rare.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
The DMG prices are not fair. They are based on rarity, which means a Potion of Flying is more expensive than a Broom of Flying.
Sane Price was made up by Giant In the Playground (Click for his comic) and his followers. But it is old and incomplete.
I like this Google page that contains the Sane Prices, the DMG prices, Xanther's Prices and another set of prices as well:
Google Web Spreadsheet
And keep in mind that the amount of gold the PVCs have can vary greatly from DM to DM. If you tend to give out a lot of gold, prices might be higher.
I've seen many people complain about magic item prices solely based on rarity. I agree with the complaint so I made:
Ryex's Magic Item Prices
It works as an organization tool as well as giving you the price for every item (official and partnered, currently 4305 items).
The prices are solely based on the item's power. They take into account attunement requirement, if the item is consumable, number of uses as well as many other things. All the prices use formulas in their calculation, so they stay consistent with one another.
This list has now been used actively for some months in a West Marches campaign where all items are available and we've been updating the prices when needed for balancing reasons. If you have feedback about the prices feel free to give it here or on Discord (link in the website).