Most pricing systems rely on rarity, but rarity and power don't line up cleanly in 5e. A Decanter of Endless Water is Uncommon and reshapes campaigns. A Vicious Weapon is Rare and barely moves the needle. This calculator prices items by what they actually do in your game, using a nine-level disruption scale.
Final Price = Base Price × Category × Modifiers × Market × Haggle
The disruption level sets the base price directly. Rarity labels appear in the disruption table as starting-point guidance, but the pricing formula itself is disruption-only.
Community price lists like Sane Magic Item Prices and Sane Magic Market offer comprehensive lookups for official items based on community consensus. They're great for canonical items with established values.
This calculator is a framework, not a lookup. It prices any item based on its actual impact on your game. Use it for homebrew items, third-party content, unusual circumstances like exotic markets and haggling, or when you want to understand why an item costs what it costs. Use a price list for quick lookups of official items.
Rather than pricing every item type differently, items fall into four categories based on function. A Ring of Protection and a Cloak of Protection do the same thing: one being a ring doesn't make it cost more.
| Category | Mult. | Includes |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon | 1.0x | Swords, bows, daggers. The primary value is dealing damage |
| Armor / Shield | 1.5x | Armor and shields. The primary value is preventing damage |
| Permanent item | 1.0x | Rings, cloaks, boots, wands, rods, staves, wondrous items |
| Consumable | 0.1x | Potions, scrolls, ammunition. Single use, roughly 1/10th of permanent |
This is the key factor most pricing systems miss. Rarity tells you how rare an item is. Disruption tells you how much it actually costs. An uncommon item that breaks your campaign is worth more than a rare item that doesn't.
| Level | Name | Base price | Examples and typical rarity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Baseline | 100 gp | Most Common items. Glowing blades, dust-repelling cloaks, self-stirring cups, mood rings. |
| 1 | Minor convenience | 300 gp | Helpful Common or low-power Uncommon. Silvered weapons, rain-shedding armor, small storage items, language aids. |
| 2 | Meaningful advantage | 1,000 gp | Most Uncommon items. +1 weapons, +1 armor, darkvision items, useful resistances, bonus proficiencies. |
| 3 | Significant power | 3,000 gp | Most Rare items. +2 weapons, Flame Tongue, Mithral armor, lie detection, locked door bypass, Bag of Holding. |
| 4 | Encounter reshaping | 10,000 gp | Most Very Rare items. Sunblade, Frost Brand, Glamoured Studded Leather, at-will invisibility, reliable flight. |
| 5 | Pillar breaking | 30,000 gp | Most Legendary items. Holy Avenger, Vorpal Sword, +3 armor, items that trivialize combat, travel, or social. |
| 6 | Economy breaking | 80,000 gp | Outliers that warp value. Decanter of Endless Water (desert game), Alchemy Jug, items replicating costly services for free. |
| 7 | Campaign altering | 200,000 gp | Cosmic-scale power. Cubic Gate, Sphere of Annihilation, items that dissolve distance, identity, or scarcity. |
| 8 | Priceless | – | Not for sale. Plot devices, divine gifts, cosmic anomalies, artifacts tied to the fate of worlds. |
The same item lands on different levels in different campaigns. A Decanter of Endless Water in a high-magic city campaign counts as a minor convenience. In a desert survival campaign, it eliminates the central resource management challenge and jumps to an economy breaker.
Winged Boots in an urban intrigue campaign offer a tactical edge during chase scenes. In a hex-crawl wilderness campaign with mountain passes and dangerous terrain, they trivialize most overland travel.
Sending Stones in a dungeon crawl rarely matter much. In a city-wide investigation, they change the shape of every mystery.
Prices here assume a standard-wealth campaign at mid-tier play. In low-magic settings, actual market prices skew higher because supply is limited. In high-tier play (levels 11+), the treasure budget grows exponentially and these prices may feel low for the party's wealth level. The framework still works at any tier; the absolute numbers may need adjustment to match your campaign's economic expectations.
When setting the disruption level, ask two questions:
1. What does this item let the party skip?
2. Does my campaign rely on that thing being hard?
If the answer to both is yes, the item is more disruptive in your game than its rarity suggests. Price accordingly.
Where the item is being sold matters. A frontier town doesn't have the demand to charge full price. An auction house creates competition that drives prices above market. And planar markets operate on entirely different assumptions about value.
| Market | Mult. | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Frontier | 0.7x | Limited selection, desperate sellers. Low prices but poor availability. |
| Standard | 1.0x | Typical market town or city with regular trade. |
| Major city | 1.3x | High demand, guild-regulated trade, premium pricing. |
| Auction house | 1.2–3.0x | Competitive bidding; range scales with item disruption. |
| Black market | 0.8x | No questions asked. Discount reflects risk and dubious provenance. |
| Fey market | 1.1x | Gold is worth less than stories, favors, or years of life. Non-monetary costs may apply. |
| Planar bazaar | 1.4x | Sigil, City of Brass, or similar crossroads. Everything available at a premium. |
| Infernal emporium | 0.9x | Devils price precisely. Discounted gold, but contracts may include hidden clauses. |
These adjust for specific item properties. Modifiers stack multiplicatively: a cursed item that also requires attunement gets both discounts applied.
| Modifier | Effect |
|---|---|
| Requires attunement | -10%. Costs an attunement slot |
| Limited charges | -15%. Uses per day or total charges |
| Cursed or has a drawback | -30%. The buyer knows about the curse |
| Multiple features | +50%. Two or more distinct abilities |
| Niche / situational | -20%. Only useful in specific circumstances |
| Sentient | +25%. Has personality, may have its own agenda |
When a player attempts to negotiate a better price, the outcome of their Persuasion check adjusts the final cost. A failed attempt insults the merchant and raises the price.
| Result | Effect |
|---|---|
| Failed | +15%. The merchant is offended |
| No haggle | Listed price |
| DC 10 | -5%. Modest discount |
| DC 15 | -12%. Fair bargain |
| DC 20 | -20%. Impressive negotiation |
| Natural 20 | -30%. The merchant respects the audacity |
This tool is part of a suite of game master tools including a magic item generator, statblock generator, encounter generator, NPC generator, dungeon generator, and worldbuilding dashboard.
Rarity in 5e doesn't reliably indicate power. An Uncommon Decanter of Endless Water can reshape a campaign while a Rare Vicious Weapon barely affects play. This calculator prices items by their actual impact on your game, not by the rarity label. The disruption scale table includes rarity guidance to help you find a good starting point, but only disruption affects the price.
The disruption scale ranges from 0 (baseline) to 8 (priceless). Lower levels (0 to 2) cover flavor items and minor conveniences. Mid levels (3 to 5) bypass specific challenges, reshape encounters, or trivialize entire pillars of play. High levels (6 to 8) break economies, alter campaigns, or render items unpurchasable. The scale is the DM's judgment call. The same item might be a 2 in a high-magic campaign and a 5 in a gritty one.
Yes. An item that barely matters in one campaign can dominate another. A Decanter of Endless Water is a minor convenience in a city campaign and an economy breaker in a desert survival game. Winged Boots offer a small tactical edge in an urban game and trivialize travel in a wilderness hex crawl. When setting the disruption level, ask what the item lets the party skip and whether your campaign relies on that thing being hard.
Wizards of the Coast intentionally left magic item pricing flexible in 5e to preserve DM control. The Dungeon Master's Guide suggests broad ranges but leaves final pricing to the table. This calculator provides a systematic framework while preserving that flexibility through the disruption scale and market modifiers.
Markets reflect where the transaction takes place. A frontier town has low demand and desperate sellers, while a major city has guild regulation and premium pricing. Planar markets like fey courts and infernal emporiums introduce non-monetary costs. A fey merchant might accept a cherished memory instead of gold, while a devil's discount always comes with a contract.
Choose the category that matches the item's primary function, then set the disruption slider based on how much the item changes your game. A homebrew ring that grants darkvision is a Meaningful advantage (Level 2). A homebrew cloak that grants permanent invisibility is Encounter reshaping (Level 4) or higher. Use modifiers to account for attunement, charges, or drawbacks.
Yes. Calculate base prices for items in your shop inventory, then apply market multipliers based on the settlement type. The fair range (75 to 125% of base) gives you flexibility to vary prices between merchants. Use haggle results during play to determine final purchase prices at the table.
Magical armor and shields are consistently more valuable than weapons of comparable power because defensive bonuses apply to every attack against you, every round. A +1 weapon at Meaningful advantage level costs 1,000 gp. A +1 shield at the same disruption level costs 1,500 gp. The 1.5x multiplier reflects the defensive premium.
Most pricing guides assign fixed values to specific items or rely on rarity tiers. This calculator gives you a framework for pricing any item, including homebrew, based on factors you can evaluate at the table. The disruption scale directly prices items by their actual game impact, which is where most pricing systems break down.