I'm guiding a player with making a personal magic staff and would like feedback on how to properly price the item, as there are several methods that it could be done. Note, this is for 3.5e, not Pathfinder.
The staff has the following spell abilities imbued:
- Cure Serious Wounds (1 charge)
- Restoration (2 charges)
- Heal (2 charges)
- Raise Dead (10 charges)
The question basically comes down to which price we should be comparing to determine the "most costly" effect and so on: just the base spell cost, the cost based on the charges an effect uses, or the entire cost including expensive material components. In the tables below, the portions of the cost used to order the effects is highlighted \$\require{color}\color{red}{\text{red}}\$.
Method 1: Calculate the base cost of each spell (not counting extra costs) to determine "most costly" effect, then add extra costs \$\newcommand{\gp}{\text{ gp}}\require{color}\$\begin{array}{l c r l r} \textit{Heal} &= & \tfrac{1}{2}\times( & \color{red}{6 \times 11 \times 375\gp} & & & &)\ = & 12\,375.00\gp \\ \textit{Raise Dead} &= & \tfrac{1}{10}\times( & \color{red}{5 \times 11 \times 375\gp} & \times\tfrac{3}{4} &+ & 5\,000\gp \times 50 &)\ = & 26\,546.88\gp \\ \textit{Restoration} &= & \tfrac{1}{2}\times( & \color{red}{4 \times 11 \times 375\gp} & \times \tfrac{1}{2} &+ & 100\gp \times 50 &)\ = & 6\,625.00\gp \\ \textit{Cure Serious} &= & & \color{red}{3 \times 11 \times 375\gp} & \times \tfrac{1}{2} & & & = & 6\,187.50\gp \\ \hline \textbf{Total} &&&&&&&=& 51\,734.38\gp \end{array}
Method 2: Calculate the base cost of each spell based on the number of charges the spell uses (not counting extra costs) to determine "most costly" effect, then calculate normally.
\begin{array}{l c r l r} \textit{Heal} &= & \color{red}{\tfrac{1}{2}\times(} & \color{red}{6 \times 11 \times 375\gp} & & & &)\ = & 12\,375.00\gp \\ \textit{Cure Serious} &= & & \color{red}{3 \times 11 \times 375\gp} & \times \tfrac{3}{4} & & & = & 9\,281.25\gp \\ \textit{Restoration} &= & \color{red}{\tfrac{1}{2}\times(} & \color{red}{4 \times 11 \times 375\gp} & \times \tfrac{1}{2} &+ & 100\gp \times 50 &)\ = & 6\,625.00\gp \\ \textit{Raise Dead} &= & \color{red}{\tfrac{1}{10}\times(} & \color{red}{5 \times 11 \times 375\gp} & \times \tfrac{1}{2} &+ & 5\,000\gp \times 50 &)\ = & 26\,031.25\gp \\ \hline \textbf{Total} &&&&&&&=& 54\,312.50\gp \end{array}
Method 3: Calculate the full cost of each spell (including extra costs) to determine "most costly" effect, then calculate as normal.
\begin{array}{l c r l r} \textit{Raise Dead} &= & \color{red}{\tfrac{1}{10}\times(} & \color{red}{5 \times 11 \times 375\gp} & & \color{red}{+} & \color{red}{5\,000\gp \times 50} &)\ = & 27\,062.50\gp \\ \textit{Heal} &= & \color{red}{\tfrac{1}{2}\times(} & \color{red}{6 \times 11 \times 375\gp} & \times \tfrac{3}{4} & & &)\ = & 9\,281.25\gp \\ \textit{Restoration} &= & \color{red}{\tfrac{1}{2}\times(} & \color{red}{4 \times 11 \times 375\gp} & \times \tfrac{1}{2} & \color{red}{+} & \color{red}{100\gp \times 50} &)\ = & 6\,625.00\gp \\ \textit{Cure Serious} &= & & \color{red}{3 \times 11 \times 375\gp} & \times \tfrac{1}{2} & & & = & 6\,187.50\gp \\ \hline \textbf{Total} &&&&&&&=& 49\,156.25\gp \end{array}