2 Item Creation Expansion

Item Creation, Expanded:

The Pathfinder 2e GM guide's rules for item creation tend to apply vague rules and responsibilities on the GM when it comes to item creation. Needless to say, I find this a little stifling, both for myself (as a GM) and for my players, so I wanted to lay down some ground-rule guidelines for my players.  

Modifying Existing Magic Items:

Ordinarily, the rules do not allow the modification of existing magical items - a specific named magic weapon cannot have new property runes added, existing Worn Items cannot have additional effects added, etc. Instead of this restriction, use the following rules:

• Specific Magic Weapons/Armor are treated as though they had whatever Property Runes they have listed, plus one. e.g. the Lady's Spiral weapon is a +1 disrupting striking whip with additional functionality - treat this item as though it had 2 Property Runes when adding or upgrading its weapon runes
• Existing Magic Items are treated as though using the system below. Use their listed cost, and add a compounding 1.25x cost multiplier for every new skill bonus or spell use added to the item. e.g. Obsidian Goggles are a 150 gp item. Adding an additional 1st-level spell, once a day, would make its new cost 235 gp ((150+35)*1.25, rounded up)
• Treat Specific Shields as though they were existing magic items, and treat any shield runes as additional spell effects, using the system below. e.g. a lion's shield costs 245 gp normally. Adding a minor reinforcing rune would increase its total cost to 400 gp ((245+75)*1.25, rounded up)

 

Items with magical spell effects:

One use of a spell per day can be added to an item at the same cost it would take to make a Wand of that spell. This typically makes preexisting items available to the player more economical than making new custom items. The primary exception to this is in Worn Items, see below:  

Worn Items:

Since Worn Items must be Invested to be used, it stands to reason that they should provide some form of permanent benefit. In this light, and for the sake of similarity to the Weapon and Armor potency rune system, all custom Worn Items must include a skill or perception bonus appropriate to their form. Goggles, visors or helmets, for example, could provide bonuses to perception checks, whilst boots could provide bonuses to athletics or acrobatics checks, as examples. For every skill or perception bonus on an item after the first, the item receives a compounding 1.25x multiplier to its price, rounded up to a multiple of 5gp.   Also, because Worn Items must be Invested to be used, the costs of limited-use or permanent effects equivalent to magic spells is slightly cheaper (see the table below). Spell effects must also be appropriate for the form of the item, must be present on the item no more than once, and must be spells which affect only the caster or willing allies. Spells which could target willing allies must target the wearer. Furthermore, to curtail the addition of multiple spell effects on a single item (circumventing the Investment mechanic), for every spell effect after the first, the item receives a compounding 1.25x multiplier to its price, rounded up to a multiple of 5gp.  

Costs and levels for Worn Items:

Skill or Perception Bonus:
Skill Bonuses provided by these items are all Item Bonuses.

Bonus	Item Level	Cost
+1	3	50 gp
+2	9	615 gp
+3	17	13,000 gp

Spell Effect Uses (or equivalent):

Special: Spells with a duration of 1 minute (or shorter) at their highest spell rank cannot be made permanent.
Special: Spells whose durations expire after certain conditions are met (e.g. Mountain Resilience) become at-will, instead of permanent, though only one instance of such a spell can be in effect at once (i.e. you must either dismiss the previous instance of the spell, or it must expire naturally, before the spell can be cast again).
Special: In order to give an item a spell effect that would set its item level at 9 or higher, it must first have at least a +2 skill or perception bonus. If the spell effect would set its item level at 17 or higher, it must instead first have at least a +3 skill or perception bonus.

Spell Rank	1/day Item Level	1/day Item Cost	3/day Item Level	3/day Item Level	Permanent Item Level	Permanent Item Cost
1	3	35 gp	5	115 gp	9	375
2	5	100 gp	7	330 gp	11	1,100
3	7	250 gp	9	825 gp	13	2,750
4	9	500 gp	11	1,650 gp	15	5,500
5	11	1,000 gp	13	3,300 gp	17	11,000
6	13	2,000 gp	15	6,600 gp	19	22,000
7	15	4,500 gp	17	14,850 gp	N/A	N/A
8	17	10,000 gp	19	33,000 gp	N/A	N/A
9	19	24,000 gp	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A

Cost example: a +1 perception bonus item with 3 different 1/day 1st-level spell uses would cost (50+35+35+35) x 1.25 x 1.25 = 245gp   Revision history:

• Increased cost of 3/day abilities from:
  (100 / 250 / 500 / 1,000 / 2,000 / 4,500 / 10,000 / 24,000)
  to:
  (115 / 330 / 825 / 1,650 / 3,300 / 6,600 / 14,850 / 33,000)
• Increased level of permanent magical effects by 2 across the board.
• Increased cost of permanent abilities from:
  (250 / 500 / 1,000 / 2,000 / 4,500 / 10,000 / 24,000)
  to:
  (375 / 1,100 / 2,750 / 5,500 / 11,000 / 22,000 / N/A)