Talk:Anti-Magic Orb (3.5e Equipment)

Detect-Magic Orb

I really like this item. Right now I am actually making a hamlet with some adventures for a campaign, and I wanted to incorporate something like this into my hamlet. A faction of the hamlet is heavily into magic and likes to keep the magic use in the hamlet under control, so an item like this would be perfect for them. The issue is is that it is a hamlet and the gold piece limit is only 1000. Do you know how much something like a "Detect-Magic Orb" would cost? --Green Dragon 05:58, 8 April 2009 (MDT)

Since detect magic is a cantrip with a duration of 1 minute per caster level, according to the item creation rules in the DMG you could make a use-activated continuous item with that ability for 2,000 gp. An orb doesn't take up any body slots, so the effective item cost is doubled to 4,000, so creating one would expend 2,000 gp worth of base materials and 160 XP. This would create an item with the ability to detect magic at will as per the spell, so in a 60 foot radius. It's possible to use Extend Spell to increase the radius to 120 ft and the spell's effective level to 1, but according to the official rules this would make the end product cost 8,000 gp. Furthermore, the person creating the orb would have the Extend Spell feat in addition to the item creation feat in question.

Either way, official Item Creation rules are a little wonky at low levels, or with low-level effects. Other non-core sources of items, like the Magic Item Compendium don't use these rules per se, or sometimes not at all. If necessary, you could introduce an ad hoc sort of factor to your item; something that restricts the item's use, but leaves the desired benefits largely unchanged. A possibility is to have the item be active and usable only when placed on a particular pedestal at the center of your village; it simply can't be activated and its powers are suppressed whenever the item is not in its rightful place. Such a restriction would allow you to lower the cost by... well, a lot, I'd say. Maybe by as much as 50 or 75 %. At any rate, when you create an item, it's okay to bend the rules a little as long as the end product makes sense both in terms of price and effect. --Sulacu 19:32, 8 April 2009 (MDT)