5e Item Creation

Question

I'm looking to have a magic item built. I require an eighth level spell to be constantly cast through a belt. I don't know the current requirements for Fifth edition but I do know what I'm after. I just wanted to know the base price for such an item.

Answer 1

5e does not assume that magic items can be bought, at any price.

From the PHB p. 144, emphasis mine: "aside from a few common magic items, you won't normally come across magic items or spells to purchase. The value of magic is far beyond simple gold and should always be treated as such."

From the DMG p.128: "Magic items are the DM's purview, so you decide how they fall into the party's possession."

But we do know how to craft magic items.

If your DM wishes you to be able to commission such an item, it could have been produced by someone following the crafting suggestions on DMG pp.128-129. A few key touchstones might inform this:

• a 8th-level spell scroll is already in the "very rare" category (DMG p.200)
• a staff of power only casts 5th-level spells, only has 20 charges (not continuous casting), and is in the "very rare" category. (You'll find, looking at the other casting-items, that this is typical.)

Your 8th-level continuous casting permanent item, therefore, at least legendary, if not artifact-level. IMO it's overpowered even compared to the artifacts in existence.

"Work with your GM" is the only real answer to this.

And don't be surprised if they think this item is overpowered. Because it is, at least when compared to all published magical items.

Answer 2

Consulting the Dungeon Master's Guide, "Chapter 6: Between Adventures" pages 130 and 129, we can clearly see the rules for creating a magic item as a player. The cost of creating any magic item depends on its rarity, as does the minimum level required to craft it.

CRAFTING MAGIC ITEMS \begin{array}{l | l l} \text{Item Rarity} & \text{Creation Cost (gp)} & \text{Minimum Level} \\ \hline \text{Common} & 100 & 3 \\ \text{Uncommon} & 500 & 3 \\ \text{Rare} & 5\,000 & 6 \\ \text{Very Rare} & 50\,000 & 11 \\ \text{Legendary} & 500\,000 & 17 \\ \end{array} In addition, if an item can cast a spell, the crafter must be able to cast that specific spell as well, doing so for each day of creation. The crafter spends eight hours a day working, spending 25 gp per day. This is until so many days have passed that the full cost of creation has been spent. In addition, if the spell that you are replicating normally requires material components, you would have to provide a different set of the components for each day of creation, as the process consumes the components each day.

(NOTE: Exotic materials and/or crafting methods may be required by your DM.

Considering the strength of an Eighth level spell, let alone the fact that it would be casted continuously, I would consider the item at the level of Legendary, meaning that it would take a 17th level character 20000 days (or just a little under 55 years) to craft the item, casting the Eighth level spell in question each day of crafting and spending a total of 500,000 gp.

(THOUGHTS: In reality, the pure strength of this item may warrant an even higher creation cost than listed.)

If you wanted to speed things up, you could have other characters also meeting the level requirement assist, speeding up the process by a factor of the total number of people working on it.

Say you had two other level 17 characters assist you. Considering they each work eight hours a day with you for the entire process, you could accomplish the task in 6667 days (approximately 18 years) , with the total cost coming to 500,000 gp or 166,666 gp, 6 sp, and 7 cp per person if split amongst the crafters equally.

This magical item would be at a ridiculous price to purchase due to its power, required resources and Legendary rarity, considering you could even find a buyer.

(NOTE: The price and speed of creation may be changed by the DM, as well as the ability to craft magic items as a player whatsoever)

So, in reality, if you want to make something like this as a player, you need your DM's approval. If you get that, these are the rules presented in the books, though its always up to the DM on how they want to do it. They may allow you to do it cheaper, more expensive, or maybe they won't let you do it at all. Magic items are something tricky, powerful, and always under DM power.