I have a campaign I've home-brewed based on a screenplay I've been writing for some time, its a sci-fi/fantasy setting in our world which I may have mentioned here & there on the forums in it's early days. Shockingly (& thankfully) against all odds I managed to make it work.. for the most part.
I have had a issue with pricing magical items however, since weapons like swords & etc still exist its easy enough to get the prices for goods made in real world currency like dollars. But trying to get the rough prices for buying & even developing magical items is a problem I haven't been able to solve properly. At the most all I've been able to do so far is just multiply the value of the item in GP by 10 & thats the cost in dollars but.. its not a very accurate or balanced method I don't think since you're just adding a 0 to everything at the end.
What exactly can I do? I mean I've found PDFs online with rough prices on such things in GP or Platinum but, hm... converting it to dollars is a real trick. I tried to make a converter formula based on the price of a longsword & work it off that but its wasn't working right I don't think.
One answer would be to think like a capitalist. How do I make a profit from making a magical item? Well, what are the main costs involved in crafting? Labor and materials. Look at the cost of hiring, for example, an electrician and apply that the chart on p. 129 of XGtE for Magic Item Crafting Time and Cost.
To make a common magical item, you'd be able to hire a recent graduate of magical college. Assume you pay him or her $25/hour of work. It takes 1 workweek to craft a common magical item, so your labor costs are $25/hour * 40 hours in a workweek or $1,000. For simplicity's sake, we'll assume material costs are half the labor costs or another $500. Double that to cover other expenses such as workshop rental and union fees and you're looking at approximately $3,000 for a common magical item. (About the cost of a high-end plasma TV.)
Then go with every tier of rarity adds another $25/hour base labor cost (so a mage able to craft a rare magical item charges $75/hour, e.g.) and work the rest out from there. Then, add a little DM discretion cost to make it easier or harder for a player to acquire the item.
It's not a perfect system, but it puts legendary magic items into the million dollar range, so out of the reach of ordinary folk.
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I have a campaign I've home-brewed based on a screenplay I've been writing for some time, its a sci-fi/fantasy setting in our world which I may have mentioned here & there on the forums in it's early days. Shockingly (& thankfully) against all odds I managed to make it work.. for the most part.
I have had a issue with pricing magical items however, since weapons like swords & etc still exist its easy enough to get the prices for goods made in real world currency like dollars. But trying to get the rough prices for buying & even developing magical items is a problem I haven't been able to solve properly. At the most all I've been able to do so far is just multiply the value of the item in GP by 10 & thats the cost in dollars but.. its not a very accurate or balanced method I don't think since you're just adding a 0 to everything at the end.
What exactly can I do? I mean I've found PDFs online with rough prices on such things in GP or Platinum but, hm... converting it to dollars is a real trick. I tried to make a converter formula based on the price of a longsword & work it off that but its wasn't working right I don't think.
Hektor the Human Fighter
One answer would be to think like a capitalist. How do I make a profit from making a magical item? Well, what are the main costs involved in crafting? Labor and materials. Look at the cost of hiring, for example, an electrician and apply that the chart on p. 129 of XGtE for Magic Item Crafting Time and Cost.
To make a common magical item, you'd be able to hire a recent graduate of magical college. Assume you pay him or her $25/hour of work. It takes 1 workweek to craft a common magical item, so your labor costs are $25/hour * 40 hours in a workweek or $1,000. For simplicity's sake, we'll assume material costs are half the labor costs or another $500. Double that to cover other expenses such as workshop rental and union fees and you're looking at approximately $3,000 for a common magical item. (About the cost of a high-end plasma TV.)
Then go with every tier of rarity adds another $25/hour base labor cost (so a mage able to craft a rare magical item charges $75/hour, e.g.) and work the rest out from there. Then, add a little DM discretion cost to make it easier or harder for a player to acquire the item.
It's not a perfect system, but it puts legendary magic items into the million dollar range, so out of the reach of ordinary folk.