Custom Magical Item: Magic Zippo. First step, come up with what we want the magic item to do. In this case, we want to make a nifty little item for a character that smokes cigars, or maybe they just want a fast and easy way to light their torches, either way, we need a magical version of a real life modern day lighter.

So, what does the item need to do? It needs to make fire, obviously enough, but stating out EXACTLY what you want it to do will make it easier to choose the right spell to base it off of. Do we want it to explode in a huge radius and kill people? No, that would be a grenade, not a lighter, so we probably don’t want to base it off of the Fireball spell. Thumbing through the spells, we find that Prestidigitation can produce a finger sized jet of flame capable of lighting a torch, that’s perfect, so lets use that.

Spell: Prestidigitation
Level: 0

We look in the DMG at the magical item making guidelines, and choose the one we think is the closest fit to what we want. We want an item that you flick open, it makes fire, and goes off when you close it. The closest thing to that is a Command Word Activation item. Now, you might think that its silly to have to tell a lighter “Flame On!” to make it work, but remember that “command word” also covers “command action”, like pushing a button, or in this case, flipping a lid.

Looking at the formula, we see that it is:
Spell Level x Caster Level x 1,800 gp

We want this to be as simple and cheap as possible, so we’ll use the absolute minimum caster level for it, 1. Plug this in to the equation, and we get:
0 x 1 x 1,800 gp = 0 gp.

What, its free? No, we forgot to read the rest of the guidelines where it says that 0th lvl spells count as lvl ½ when used in these equations. So, lets fix it and try again.

.5 x 1 x 1,800 gp = 900 gp.

So, we have a magical zippo to light our cigars/torches with, but it costs 900 gold? Sounds a bit high, doesn’t it? Well, it is. This item would be able to replication ALL of the functions of Prestidigitation, not just the single use we want, and that’s entirely too much. We’re using a much reduced functionality of the spell, so why pay for a bunch of stuff we don’t want? But there aren’t any really good guidelines on how to do this, because the exact value of any given part of a spell will be vastly different depending on how useful it is. Even if we give it 50% off for being limited, that’s still 450 gp for a lighter, you could buy a masterwork sword for less than that, and get a lot more for your money’s worth. So, it seems we have found an area where the guidelines have failed us, so lets look at one of the other pricing techniques. Compare what you want your item to do to other existing items, and if you find something similar, odds are that the prices will be similar as well.

The closest thing we find after a quick look around is a Tindertwig, a one use alchemical item that does exactly what we want, that costs 1 gp per use. If we look at our guidelines again, we notice where it says that if you are making an infinite use item of something that requires a costly component, you add the price of that component x50.

Now we’ve got two different prices, 450 gp on the high end, and 50 gp on the low end. What should the actual final price of our item fall, within this range? This is where magic item making becomes less of a science, and more of an art, as the correct price isn’t one that can be determined entirely by formulas and comparisons, there is a very real aspect of personal experience that has to enter into the equation as well.

So, lets also look at what level character we would think would be okay to have this item. Level 1 is probably too low for magical goodies, even one as simple as this. They can barely afford their gear, much less a luxury like a magical fire starter, so 50 gp is probably too low. But, this item isn’t really powerful enough to be a threat to anything, since all it does is light things on fire. They have to be normally flammable, and it doesn’t do any straight hitpoint damage (who ever heard of someone being zippo’ed to death?), although they could conceivably die from being set on fire as their clothes catch alight, but then, they could do the same thing with a regular torch, and that’s cheap enough to buy by the dozen at lvl 1. Either way, 450 gp is so expensive it would be lvl 3 or 4 before they got enough money to be able to consider spending that much in one lump sum for anything other than masterwork weapons and armor, so that’s out.

So we have at least narrowed the price range down quite a bit. Its somewhere higher than 50, but less than 450. Lets try doubling the minimum, halving the maximum, and see how we feel. 100 to 275 gp. Much more narrow range, so its easier to get a grip on. Would I pay 100 gp for this item? Yeah, I probably would. Would I pay 275 for it? Probably not, so lets reduce that maximum price. Would I pay 200 for it? Maybe, but not likely, I could buy so many tindertwigs with that much that it wouldn’t be worth spending xp/craft points to make it.

And perhaps that is the key we need after all. That original 50 gp for 50 tindertwigs. Its too low for the item, but we’re looking at crafting the item ourselves. You craft for half the final market price, so the same amount of money plus some xp/cr would get us an infinite use item, with a market price of 100 gp. Already said that 100 gp is a price I would pay for the item, so maybe that is a good price overall for it. Just to be on the safe side though, lets increase the price a bit (its always better to slightly overprice an item than to slightly underprice it), call it 150 gp. That’s still in the 100 to 200 gp price range, its right in the middle actually. Would I pay that for the item? Maybe, but I’d have to think about it first.

And that’s how you know you’ve got a good price for any custom item. When you hit the point where you can say “maybe”, odds are that you either have the right price, or are very close to it. If its so cheap you immediately say yes, its underpriced. If you immediately say no, its overpriced. If it’s a maybe, then just like Goldie Locks, its just right.

So, we’ve got everything we need to stat up our new magical zippo.
Its based on Prestidigitation, the minimum caster level is 1, minimum crafter level is 3 (since that’s the minimum you need to be to even make wondrous items in the first place), and the price is 150 gp. To have your artificer make one, it would cost him 75 gp in materials and the like, 3 xp/cr points, and the minimum of 1 day to craft it. Since he’s having to emulate Prestidigitation, he would need to make a UMD check, DC 21 (since lvl 1 is the minimum level you can cast Prestidigitation at).While it does get harder and harder to price items the more powerful they become, the above process is still essentially what you follow. Try to price it up as best you can with the guidelines, and see if that works to your satisfaction. If not, find other similar items and see if you can use their price for a guideline. If you still can’t get a good solid price, its time to start playing the “Would I pay this?” game until you get a maybe.

Since there will be two of you involved in this process, don’t be afraid to ask each other for input if you get suck. Use each other as a sounding board for ideas and prices. When you both find a price you can agree on, congratulations, you’ve got your finished price.