Magic Item Price Calculator
Looking to stock your own magic item shop’s inventory? Check out our D&D Magic Item Shop Generator.
How This Calculator Works
Have you ever wanted a custom price for a magic item in D&D but didn’t want to rely on the static pricing offered by the Dungeon Master’s Guide?
Our calculator dynamically rolls the magic item pricing formulas provided in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, giving you a fresh result every time. On top of that, you can factor in the economic conditions of the area and how well (or poorly) your party negotiates.
This makes magic item prices feel more immersive, reactive, and rewarding for players who like to roleplay their way to a better deal.
Market
The type of region your players are shopping in can drastically affect item prices. Is it a bustling mage-city with arcane goods in abundance? Or a frontier town where a single healing potion is worth its weight in platinum?
- Black Market (+50%): When something’s not just rare but illegal, expect the price to spike. This modifier assumes scarcity, risk, and shady contacts.
- Low Magic (+20%): In settings or locations where magic is rare or feared, demand outpaces supply, driving up costs for even minor enchantments.
- High Magic (-20%): Cities like Waterdeep or Sharn might have dozens of vendors vying for business. High supply drives prices down—perfect for bargain-hunting adventurers.
Haggling
As a forever Dungeon Master, I know how much players like to haggle for everything—rooms at the inn, 50 feet of rope, magic items, you name it.
That’s why I wanted to bake in a modifier to the magic item cost calculator based on the player’s success or failure.
Typically, I run haggling using the following steps
- Before haggling, determine the shopkeeper’s attitude (Friendly, Indifferent, Hostile, etc.)
- Then, based on the player’s interactions with the shopkeeper, they will make a Charisma check (usually Persuasion, but Deception or Intimidation may apply depending on the approach). The DC for the check is equal to 15 or the shopkeeper’s Intelligence score, whichever is higher and may be modified by their attitude or the party’s request.
You can compare the result to a DC, and based on the success or failure, apply a discount (or levy):
- Wildly Successful (-25%): The result was 5 or more above the DC.
- Successful (-10%): The result was 4 or less above the DC.
- Unsuccessful (+10%): The result was 4 or less below the DC.
- Wildly Unsuccessful (+25%): The result was 5 or less below the DC.
Item Type
Consumable items (potions, scrolls) are typically priced at half the base cost. Makes sense—you use it once, it’s gone.