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Old 11-12-2018, 09:18 AM   #1
hcobb
 
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Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Pacheco, California
Default Enchantment costs

Just checking to see if I'm doing this correctly.

Rental on a wizard's lab is $150/wk plus $50 in supplies.
An IQ 14 wizard is $150/wk
Two apprentices are $50/wk each, $100 total
$40 in common supplies/wk

So a +1 weapon enchantment is 2.7 weeks (assuming DX 12) at $490 each week or $1,307 correct?

To get it actually down to $1k takes adjDX 15 and a +1 charm.
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Last edited by hcobb; 11-12-2018 at 09:25 AM.
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Old 11-12-2018, 10:45 AM   #2
Skarg
 
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Default Re: Enchantment costs

I'm not checking my sources right now, but when I did this recently, I did not include lab rental, and had:

IQ 14 Wizard: $100/week x 2 weeks = $200
3 apprentices for 2 weeks = $25 x 3 x 2 = $150
$40 ingredients per week x 2 weeks = $80
Total: $430, if/when two DX rolls are made in a row.

If you added $200/week of addition lab fees & additional (reference?) supplies, then $830. $730 without the extra supplies.

Edit: You are right though about the IQ 14 wizard rate - it should be $150, not $100 per week, so that puts me at $530, or $930 with lab rental, or $1030 with "lab supplies".
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Old 11-12-2018, 11:06 AM   #3
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Default Re: Enchantment costs

Of course at those rates the rental on the +1 charm is $450 a week itself.

So skip that and the cost to make the enchantment is $1,028.

The listed rates are below actual costs in all cases.
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Old 11-12-2018, 05:40 PM   #4
Skarg
 
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Default Re: Enchantment costs

Ok, I got back to the rules and found the lab rental and maintenance fees. The rental fee is conventional but not an actual cost, could vary widely, and doesn't exist if you own the lab. The $50/week maintenance cost however is an actual cost.

So lab rental & maintenance does bring Weapon/Armor Enchantment cost-to-produce to approximately the same as the list cost ($930 vs. $1000) IF you make both your weekly DX rolls.

Running some calculations, IF you make all your rolls, there can be good profit for the enchanting wizard. It varies depending on what the enchantment is. (And it varies by how much you have to pay in lab rental.) That is, if you assume that the wizard is the principal seller and collects all of the profit above costs, minus his 1% dues. I see earnings of $335/week for that +1 weapon/armor enchantment, up to $1041/week for a 1-point wizard's wrath rod, with other enchantments I tried earning more like $500-$700 per week. Minus the lab rental... That actually seems pretty decent...

But of course it's not taking into account failed DX rolls. That adjustment is slightly complicated to do exactly right because of the risk of rolling 18 and ruining the enchantment, but if we just double the number of weeks we think each enchantment will take, then I get negative profit margins, and a wizard stands to do better with his "job rate" if he can really get that, even if he owns his own lab. If he doesn't own his own lab, he stands to actually lose $65/week trying to do the weapon/armor enchantment +1.

Of course, if you also double the actual price you charge, you get back to my original numbers.


How are you calculating a rate for Charm rental?
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Old 11-12-2018, 05:57 PM   #5
Skarg
 
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Default Re: Enchantment costs

If we decide that a reasonable expected DX is 10, and that a reasonable rate to charge for an enchantment is three times the actual cost of work taking into account a 50% failure rate (and ignoring 18's), charging listed Wizards' Guild rates for wizards and lab use fees and apprentices, then the costs vary between 2.03 and 2.81 times the listed costs in ITL (for the enchantments I've entered in so far).

Weapon/Armor Enchantment +1: $5580
Stone Flesh: $18,750
Attribute +1: $11,250
2-hex Magic Carpet: $27,375
Wrath Rod 1: $40,500
Word of Command: $93,750
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Old 11-12-2018, 07:21 PM   #6
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Default Re: Enchantment costs

I'm house ruling that the listed prices are what the WG will pay you for the item, if they think you're the real owner. Buying stuff is at least twice as expensive.

Another example:

Master Physicker making a batch of healing potions.
Rental is $150 + $50 in maint.
Per potion materials is $107 times ten is $1070
Total cost is $1270

Assuming DX 15 we get a 95.37% chance of making $1500
2.77% chance of poison, let's assign that a -$1500 result
1.85% chance of explosion for $3.5k damage plus another $500 at least in personal injury
So the gross profit is $1315

That's $45 a week on average or he could just work as a Healer and make $100 a week.

Which would you choose?
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Last edited by hcobb; 11-12-2018 at 07:59 PM.
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Old 11-12-2018, 10:41 PM   #7
Skarg
 
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Default Re: Enchantment costs

Yeah. Well, he could save his pennies for about two years to be able to afford his own lab. Then he'd have no lab rental expense, so making healing potion batches would make $195/week. Or, save pennies for one year plus living expenses for six months, then build his own lab during the next six months for $5000 - cuts the process by 6 months.

And you probably want some more savings or an insurance policy or something to cover potential lab explosions.

And of course that's assuming I'm DX 15. If I'm a DX 15 master physicker, I'm probably really an adventurer and will be making potions for my own use on myself and my comrades, and making profit by looting and rewards or whatever.

If I'm average DX, the wasted ingredient costs and risk of blowing myself up won't be worth it.

Which suggests the market price is higher than $150 per potion. Which in our games, it often was, as most useful magic and so on was rare and had a competitive demand.
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