OD&D Costs of Magical Enchantment & XP Value of Magical Items

The OD&D rulebooks and supplements never properly addressed the costs of magical enchantment nor how many experience points should be rewarded for finding magic items. There is some guidance given in Men & Magic and some further clarification in the FAQ printed in Strategic Review #2. These are useful for extrapolating some rules to cover the whole array of magical items and possible enchantments.

After looking very closely at the examples of costs in Men & Magic regarding making magic items I managed to shed some light on the subject. At first glance it seems like a very incomplete list (and it may be the case that it still is), I was at a loss for ages but I had a slight epiphany eventually! If you look at the items Gary has chosen to give examples of you might break them down into the following categories:

Scrolls

Potions that create the effects of a spell

Potions that create special abilities

Enchanted arrows

Enchanted armour w/out special abilities

Wands

Rings that create special abilities

Here is the original list:

Scroll of Spells = 100 Gold Pieces/Spell/Spell Level/Week (a 5th-level spell would require 500 GP and 5 weeks)

Potion of Healing = 250 Gold Pieces + 1 week

Potion of Giant Strength = 1,000 Gold Pieces + 4 weeks

Enchanting 20 Arrows = 1,000 Gold Pieces + 4 weeks

Enchanting Armor to +1 = 2,000 Gold Pieces + 2 months

Wand of Cold = 10,000 Gold Pieces + 6 months

X-Ray Vision Ring = 50,000 Gold Pieces + 1 year

To support this "categorisation" if you read Gary's FAQ article in Strategic Review #2 he breaks down how XP should be awarded for magical items, and he uses very similar examples, which might appear to be categorised in the following way:

Scrolls = 100 xp per spell/spell level

Potions that create the effects of a spell = 250 xp

Potions that create special abilities = 500 xp

Enchanted arrows = 100 xp per arrow

Enchanted weapons w/out special abilities = 1,000 xp

Rings that create special abilities = 5,000 xp

Here is the original paragraph:

"Thus, in the Greyhawk campaign a magic arrow (+1) is worth a maximum of 100 points experience, a +1 magic sword with no special abilities is valued at a maximum of 1,000 points, a scroll of spells at either 500 or at 100 points per level per spell ( so a 6th level spell is worth a maximum of 600 experience points), a potion is worth between 250 and 500 points, and even a genie ring is worth no more than about 5,000 points maximum."

Making comparisons between the two "categorisations" we might deduce the following magic item categories which could be used as a guide for assigning costs and XP value:

Scrolls

Potions that create the effects of a spell

Potions that create special abilities

Enchanted arrows

Enchanted armour or weapons w/out special abilities

Enchanted armour or weapons with special abilities

Wands

Rings that create the effects of a spell

Rings that create special abilities

Following this through we might end of with costings and XP values like so:

Scrolls:

100 Gold Pieces/Spell/Spell Level/Week (a 5th-level spell would require 500 GP and 5 weeks)

100 xp per Spell/Spell level

Potions that create spell effects:

250 Gold Pieces + 1 week

250 xp

Potions that create special abilities:

1,000 Gold Pieces + 4 weeks

500 xp

Enchanted arrows:

1,000 Gold Pieces + 4 weeks

100 xp per arrow

Enchanted Armor/Weapons w/out special abilities:

+1 = 2,000 Gold Pieces + 2 months (1,000 xp)

+2 = 4,000 Gold Pieces + 4 months (2,000 xp)

+3 = 6,000 Gold Pieces + 6 months (3,500 xp)

Enchanted armour or weapons with special abilities:

+1 = 8,000 Gold Pieces + 8 months (2,000 xp)

+2 = 16,000 Gold Pieces + 16 months (4,000 xp)

+3 = 32,000 Gold Pieces + 2 years (6,000 xp)

Wands:

10,000 Gold Pieces + 6 months

500 xp

Rings that create spell effects:

12,500 Gold Pieces + 3 months

2,500 xp

Rings that create special abilities:

50,000 Gold Pieces + 1 year

5,000 xp

As a potion that creates a special ability costs 4 times more to make than a potion that creates a spell affect I used the same ratio on rings and armour/weapons (4 times the cost, double the XP). Wands are 10 times less valuable than rings with special abilities so I calculated the XP value for wands on that basis.

I'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts on this.

A PDF copy of these rules can be found here.