Psysama's campaign seasoning

[Psysama]

I decided to take a whack a making things.  First off: A book to teach you another language.  Very useful in campaigns where languages and money are a plenty, but skill points and permanency enchantments and/or wishes aren't.
Opinions?

[bhu]

I'd have to compare it to other items to see if it's over or under priced but good first effort! 

[Psysama]

So far 5,500 gp was said to be too much for a book that teaches you a new language.  all I did is look at the formula for ability bonus and compare to a skill bonus:

• Ability bonus (enhancement)= Bonus squared x 1,000gp
• Skill bonus (competence)= Bonus squared x 100gp
Then I looked at the Tome of Leadership and Influence (and other books that give an inherent bonus):

• 27,500 gp (+1), 55,000 gp (+2), 82,500 gp(+3), 110,000 gp (+4), 137,500 gp (+5)
Now I was always told that to learn a new language at level up, you had to be taught by someone who knew the language then you had to spend 2 skill points.  With that said:

• Skill bonus cost=Ability bonus cost/10
• New language=55,000 gp/10
• New language=5,500 gp
Have I made a mistake somewhere?

[Amechra]

Learning a new language only takes one skill rank; it's just that only a few classes have Speak Language as a class skill.

So it'd be closer to 2,750 GP. Which still seems like too much; I wouldn't go with pricing it based off inherent bonuses, since those are priced for Ability Scores, not skills.

So maybe divide that by 50, instead of 10, so you'd get 550 gp?

[Garryl]

The Pearl of Speech is a 600 gp slotted item that lets you speak and understand a single, specific language. It also produces a Command spell (DC 11) 1/day. Since the tome is slotless, it should cost no more than twice what the pearl would without the Command spell, maybe a little more since you can use multiple tomes to learn multiple languages.

One of WotC's web adventures (A Dark and Stormy Knight, download no longer available, unfortunately) had a 400 gp magic item, the Translator's Ring, that gave understanding and literacy of two languages for 400 gp.

So I'd say 600 gp at the absolute maximum, probably less. It's already straining the limit of what PCs are likely willing to pay for it in a standard campaign, even one dealing with a language barrier, what with low-mid level magic like Comprehend Languages and Tongues that can temporarily bypass it if it's an issue, anyways. There are very few character builds that cannot spare 1-2 skill points to learn an important language if it keeps coming up.

[Psysama]

I decided to take a whack a making things.  First off: A book to teach you another language.  Very useful in campaigns where languages and money are a plenty, but skill points and permanency enchantments and/or wishes aren't.
Opinions?

Okay updated price to 482 gp.  Is that good?

[Psysama]

Next up, the descendants of Saiyans.  Here's the chance for people to brag about their heritage.