A player would like to create a magical sword. I'm trying to figure out a cost for the features of the sword, but I'm a little lost right now. I could use estimates or guidelines or guesses from other people here. It's OK if people come up with different numbers -- I'm pretty sure there are multiple ways to make this, so I'll consider a variety of methods.
The sword is a normal greatsword with these enhancements:
Base +2 enchantment
It can be used by warmages without needing to take the martial weapons feat
It can be wielded 1-handed without penalty
The damage die is increased to 2d10
Critical threat range is reduced to only a roll of 20
Critical multiplier is increased to x4
It confers some kind of feat which allows the user to apply intelligence bonus instead of strength bonus to hit & damage
2. It can be used by warmages without needing to take the martial weapons feat
This is effectively conferring a Feat- Martial WeapProf- to any Warmage.
I'd say that's equivalent to a +1 level enchantment.
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3. It can be wielded 1-handed without penalty
4. The damage die is increased to 2d10
3 & 4 together are roughly equivalent to conferring the racial feature, Powerful Build.
I'd say that's equivalent to a +1 level enchantment.
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5. Critical threat range is reduced to only a roll of 20
6. Critical multiplier is increased to x4
5 & 6 together are almost but not quite a wash. It would seem to be a net statistical benefit, especially with the weapon's large damage die and ability to be wielded 1 handed.
I'd say that's equivalent to a +1 level enchantment, possibly a +2.
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7. It confers some kind of feat which allows the user to apply intelligence bonus instead of strength bonus to hit & damage
This is effectively conferring a Feat-type bonus, kind of like how Weapon Finesse, Zen Archery or Kung-Fu Genius allow PCs to use a different stat to determine the bonus to a type of combat, although its not one I'm aware of.
I'd say that's equivalent to a +1 level enchantment.
All told, that's about a +6 to +7 weapon, ranging from 72Kgp to 98Kgp.
YMMV, of course. Some might find my assessments of value for those enchantments to be a tad low.
I'd start it off as a +2 Bastard Sword, as that's functionally what it is, if with crazy base damage. The damage has been upped (AFAICS) two 'steps', so I'd make that an additional +2 enhancement bonus.
The Warmage-friendliness, maybe some extra gold value, but not a +1 (IMO).
Decreasing the total 'critical awesomeness' once (19-20 -> 20), and increasing it twice (x2 -> x4) = +1 enhancement bonus.
Allowing Int for attack and damage is pretty powerful (for magi, or in this case, in particular 'Warmagi') but circumstantial of course, so maybe another +1?
So yeah, +6 and some loose change, in my estimation. Basically, an artifact-level sword or something like it.
1) Base +2 enchantment
2) It can be used by warmages without needing to take the martial weapons feat
3) It can be wielded 1-handed without penalty
4) The damage die is increased to 2d10
5) Critical threat range is reduced to only a roll of 20
6) Critical multiplier is increased to x4
7) It confers some kind of feat which allows the user to apply intelligence bonus instead of strength bonus to hit & damage
This is how I would do it.
1) +2 enhancement, obviously
2) & 3) +1 enhancement
4) +1 enhancement, bordering on more (it's better than adding 1d6 elemental damage)
5) & 6) +1 enhancement, and pretty silly (just use a heavy pick instead)
7) +2 enhancement
Total +7 => 98,350 gp
Bye
Thanee
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Um, Aus, Swords go to +10 pre-epic. +6 is not epic.
Look at the Sword of Kas for how Epic items would look.
Yeah, I know. I'm so used to rarer-magic / lower-magic D&D though, my perspective is generally a bit skewed, relative to core D&D [assumptions], or, for that matter, most players around the world, most likely. Ah well.
3 & 4 together are roughly equivalent to conferring the racial feature, Powerful Build.
I'd say that's equivalent to a +1 level enchantment.
Not really. Even with powerful build, a Goliath couldn't use a medium greatsword one-handed w/o a small penalty (-2 I think) for using the weapon different than its normal usage (2-handed). And 2d6-->3d6, which is a little worse than 2d10. Also, he's not paying for a larger weapon in base cost nor in the doubled weight, trivial as you may find those things.
2) Is a cheap cop-out ability. Just make it "treated as one grade lower (martial --> simple) for anyone." At most, a class or race restriction should merit only a 10% price deduction, and IMO there should be some reason for the restriction. This sounds like he's just trying to be a munchkin. I'll just arbitrarily say 18,000 gp for that (the generic feature for anyone). I don't think it's worth a +1, though it might be worth more than 18,000 I'm just bad at pricing things.
3) and 4) I don't know, it's an odd size mod. Instead of the 2-handed to 1-handed, just use a longsword as the model and eliminate 3. 1d8 --> 2d10 is definitely worth a +2 enhancement.
5) and 6) Is he willing to swap 19-20 for a x3? That could actually be considered a fair trade, arguably. As listed, I'd have to say a +1 mod, not a flat +gp cost, otherwise it becomes too good of an option at some point for anyone to get.
7) I just wouldn't allow that kind of thing.... If you're ok with it, sure, a +2 sounds good.
So...a +7 total (including the base +2 enhancement) with 18,000 or so extra for the treated as a simple weapon thing.
...Wow, I can't believe I have the harshest pricing total so far.
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The sword is a normal greatsword with these enhancements:
Base +2 enchantment
It can be used by warmages without needing to take the martial weapons feat
It can be wielded 1-handed without penalty
The damage die is increased to 2d10
Critical threat range is reduced to only a roll of 20
Critical multiplier is increased to x4
It confers some kind of feat which allows the user to apply intelligence bonus instead of strength bonus to hit & damage
I have to say that some of these suggestions seem a bit... quirky. Why does it need to be a two-handed sword that acts like a single-handed simple weapon but just does a lot more damage? With these fairly arbitrary changes, I fear the weapon just becomes too expensive to be practical compared to putting reasonable enchantments on something else.
My take on it:
1) +2 as written
2) similar to Skillful property from Complete Arcane but without shifting wielder to 3/4 level attack bonus, so about half as useful, nets a +1
3) Pretty big deal because it could allow a pretty big AC increase with a shield, +1
4) Difficult to determine. Elemental damage averages +3.5 damage per hit, this would average +4. In the ballpark, but a little better +1-2 skewing toward the 1.
5-6) Going to 20/x3 from 19-20/x2 should be a wash, x4 should be worth +1. A crit that high with weapon base weapon that big is pretty severe. Most crit weapons that high do a LOT less damage as a base.
7) Using one stat for another in to-hit calculations is usually 1 feat, adding a damage shift should be more than that. I'd make that another +1-2 skewing toward the 2.
So my tally: +5 with 2 cases of +1-2 enhancements. Low-balling them would make this a +7 equivalent weapon, high-balling +9 (but probably too high). I think it would be fair at +7 or +8.
__________________ Bill D
"There's a fine line between a superpower and a chronic medical condition."
- Doctor Impossible
I have to say that some of these suggestions seem a bit... quirky. Why does it need to be a two-handed sword that acts like a single-handed simple weapon but just does a lot more damage?
He's a kid. Think JRPGs. Teenagers with awesome hair styles, no acne, and massive, ridiculous swords.
Anyway, thanks everyone. I've tried to give everyone some good XP, but I've given so much to some of you lately that the system won't let me anymore.
I'll try to circle back and post how I tried to figure this out on my own. It looks pretty bumbling compared to what some of you did, but amazingly I came up with an amount that is close to most estimates (!!!). Thanks again.
He's a kid. Think JRPGs. Teenagers with awesome hair styles, no acne, and massive, ridiculous swords.
Heh.
Maybe you could introduce a custom spell based on flame blade that looks like a big anime sword and has some of these properties. If he's a Voltron fan in particular, he may go for it.
__________________ Bill D
"There's a fine line between a superpower and a chronic medical condition."
- Doctor Impossible
Many of these features aren't standard, so you need some way to figure it without being able to easily compare to existing items. One way to look at this compare the weapon with a weapon the player could use and look at what you would need to do to that weapon to make it into something with the same stats as the player wants.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aboyd
The sword is a normal greatsword with these enhancements:
Base +2 enchantment
Obviously, a +2 bonus.
Quote:
It can be used by warmages without needing to take the martial weapons feat
It can be wielded 1-handed without penalty
I dislike allowing players to add restrictions to magic items, especially if there's no obvious reason. That way lies the 7 gp +5 sword of doom, only usable by chaotic neutral fighters named Bob who worship Loki and wear breastplates.
I think warmages get all simple weapons, so lets call the base weapon a heavy mace or morning star (1d8, 20/x2). Change the damage type to slashing for free, since there's no significant benefit if your facing a variety of opponents. Getting the damage back to greatsword levels (1d8->2d6) means raising the average damage from 4.5 to 7, so +2.5 damage. That's about a +1 bonus. You can think of it has half a normal +2 enhancement (since there's no to-hit bonus) or a standard +1d6 energy damage that's reduced since nothing has resistance to it.
Total so far: +3
Quote:
The damage die is increased to 2d10
2d6 to 2d10 is on average +4 damage. Call that another +2 bonus.
Total so far: +5
Quote:
Critical threat range is reduced to only a roll of 20
Critical multiplier is increased to x4
The threat range has already been dropped to 20, so that's taken care of.
A threat range of 19-20/x2 and 20/x3 are interchangable. Changing 20/x2 to 20/x4 would be similar to applying a variant Keen (that affects the multiplier rather than the range) twice, so probably a +2 bonus. Alternately, increasing the crit multiplier often decreases the damage dice one size. (Compare a rapier and a long sword). So decrease the damage dice twice, giving us 2d6 20/x4. Bumping the damage up to 2d10 again is a +2 bonus (see above ) That's two ways to measure this as a +2 bonus.
Total so far: +7
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It confers some kind of feat which allows the user to apply intelligence bonus instead of strength bonus to hit & damage
This one is challenging. Instead needing to keep both strength and int high, you can dump strength to the point where all you care about is not being encumbered. So instead of starting with 16/15, you might start with 18/10. Also, you don't need to buy +X strength magic items or split your attribute increases, so you'll end up with something like 28/10 (+6 item, 4 levels) instead of 22/21 (+4 item x2, 2 levels each). You're certainly getting more than a +1 to hit and damage out of this, so I'd call it at least a +2.
Grand total: +9
Cost: 162,350 gold
Finally, lets compare it an item that you could make using standard enhancements. (Well, almost.)
This does 2d10 + 2 + (Int - Str) damage, or an average of 13 + (Int - Str).
A +5 Keen Keen Shocking Frost mace would do 1d8 + 2d6 + 7 damage, or an average of 11.5. It would be +3 better to hit, but would do 1.5 less damage (plus the difference from using int instead of strength). It would also have similar critical characteristics. Except for applying Keen twice, this is also a completely legal weapon for a warmage to use. (I also doubt that it's unbalancing to allow keen twice on a simple weapon. Doing so on a rapier or a scythe is much more likely to cause problems.)
wow, this sword seems too unbalanced to just sell it for gold. i'd make it a legacy weapon, if i were you.
if you do it right, anime kid would also love it - a half-intelligent sword that takes you on a series of quests to fully unleash its powers and lets you attune to it in exchange for a fraction of your life force.. sounds quite JRPG'ish
The sword is a normal greatsword with these enhancements:
[*]Base +2 enchantment[*]It can be used by warmages without needing to take the martial weapons feat
Almost, but not quite, a feat equivalent. +5,000 gp. Also see below, regarding the pricing of using Int with the weapon instead of Str.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aboyd
[*]It can be wielded 1-handed without penalty
A feat equivalent. +10,000 gp. (In my campaign, also a +10,000 gp "looks stupid" tax.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by aboyd
[*]The damage die is increased to 2d10
This is an average damage increase of +4, which is a little higher than an energy enchantment. Call that a wash. On the other hand, it doubles on a crit, so with this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by aboyd
[*]Critical threat range is reduced to only a roll of 20
... call it a +1 equivalent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aboyd
[*]Critical multiplier is increased to x4
Equivalent (in value, not mechanic) with keen three times, but keen three times isn't worth a +3 equivalent on a 20-crit weapon. +2 equivalent, and +10,000 gp. But I would not allow this ability to stack with keen or with Improved Critical.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aboyd
[*]It confers some kind of feat which allows the user to apply intelligence bonus instead of strength bonus to hit & damage[/list]
+1 equivalent. This would be worth more in other hands; the +1 is in consideration that the use is restricted to a warmage (who could be blowing the utter crap out of stuff with magic anyway).
So adding things up gives us a +6 enhancement bonus equivalent, +25,000 gp. 97,000 gp value; 48,500 gp to create.
__________________ Jeff Wilder, San Francisco Bay Area If your sig is longer than your posts, your sig is too
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I'm so used to rarer-magic / lower-magic D&D though, my perspective is generally a bit skewed, relative to core D&D [assumptions], or, for that matter, most players around the world, most likely. 
Ah well.
) That's two ways to measure this as a +2 bonus.
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