[3.5] Please help me price a magic item ... Sword of Nullity, let's call it.

I'm trying to get an idea of how highly this would be valued in ole 3.5 (or Pathfinder) D&D-land ...

-------------
Sword of Nullity
This Masterwork sword is non-magical, and gives no bonuses to hit or damage. However, it completely ignores all protective spells on its target of 5th level or lower; targets with Stoneskin are hit as though they did not have the spell on them, Walls of Force and Resilient Spheres are automatically dispelled when the sword touches them, Mirror Images disappear if the sword is simply waved through them, and so on. Any spells that create an external aura (such as illusion spells) are also dispelled; 'buffing' spells such as Bull's Strength are unaffected.

The sword also cuts through Walls of X, dispelling the magical effect within 3 inches of wherever the sword is waved; however, unlike walls of force/resilient spheres/Shields, the Walls of X (e.g., fire, ice) are not dispelled entirely.

Casters that can expend at least some effort (as a free action) to maintain a barrier may attempt to resist the effect for their higher level spells, but they only have an X% chance (where X= their caster level plus twice the level of the spell) per round.

The sword cannot be enchanted in any way; any attempt to make it hold a magical aura fails utterly.

-------------

So -- are we in minor artifact/relic territory here, impossible to put a price on it, or ...? I know, this is a very random question, but I've been running a 7th Sea game where one of the characters has this sword, and they've just been transported to Sigil/D&D-land, and I want to get an idea of how valuable it is and how likely people will want to kill him to get it from him ... I mean, we're talking about a sword that can slice through Prismatic Spheres.

It's a limited but portable anti-magic field. It's superior to a use activated dispel magic or break enchantment effect as there is no caster level check. The sword just wins almost all of the time. On the other hand, it's quite situational compared to anti-magic field. It only ignores some protective buffs that directly effect chance to hit, but not for example 'cat's grace'.

I price that at 63,000 g.p.

That price is largely theory based, or simulationist. Such a powerful effect must require a powerful caster and great magical ability because otherwise the setting would be illogical (such items would be fairly common rather than 'minor artifacts'). It's not gamist based, as you could argue that the price I've given exceeds its situational utility. Thinking on my own campaign that has been running about six years, I can't think of one time when this sword would have truly solved a problem that the PC's were facing, and maybe only a couple of times the powers would have even been relevant. (On the other hand, it would have solved a problem the NPC's were facing, so this makes an excellent McGuffin - allowing someone to get into something or somewhere that is magically protected at a much lower level than they would be able to otherwise.)

I think you'd find that this item occupies a weird area where if wealth is fungible - that is the PC's can exchange wealth for any other sort of wealth of equal value - that the PC's will in general always trade the Sword of Nullity for something less flavorful but more useful in more situations (the so called 'Christmas Tree' items). Really the only problem this solves is the problem that high level fighters in the RAW don't have a good way of dealing with force effects like Wall of Force. But the problem with this item as a 'solution' is that however much utility it adds, it's also a terrible weapon for a fighter which would much rather prefer a something like a sword +5 and a shield +4 for about the same cost.

But as I said, the real value of an item like this in a campaign AFAIC is that it is an awesome McGuffin. You can unleash this in your campaign without really any fear of breaking it, but it's easy to arrange situations where this is the only practical 'key' to opening up a particular dungeon.

Thanks for the estimate! In this particular world, the effect is not from a magical creation but the metal is simply from a place not of this particular multiverse.

Forrester said:

Thanks for the estimate! In this particular world, the effect is not from a magical creation but the metal is simply from a place not of this particular multiverse.

Click to expand...

This arguably makes the item priceless, as there would be no way to replace the item should it be destroyed. On the other hand, this could mean the cost of the item is the cost in magical resources required to transport the material from whatever far realm it is native to. On the other other hand, if the item is native to the 7th Sea realm and it turns out that transportation between that realm and Sigil is fairly easy, then the price of the item would quickly drop as the material became more and more ubiquitous.

Celebrim said:

This arguably makes the item priceless, as there would be no way to replace the item should it be destroyed. On the other hand, this could mean the cost of the item is the cost in magical resources required to transport the material from whatever far realm it is native to. On the other other hand, if the item is native to the 7th Sea realm and it turns out that transportation between that realm and Sigil is fairly easy, then the price of the item would quickly drop as the material became more and more ubiquitous.

Click to expand...

Not native to the 7th Sea realm either -- there's no way to replace it, but that doesn't necessarily make it priceless, as it's only as valuable as what someone is willing to pay/trade for it.

An item made of an unknown material from a distant plane, that has anti-magical properties, is something that a great many people would pay a great deal of money to either research how to get more of it; to ensure said research does not come to fruition; and to research how to destroy or overcome its effects.

In this instance, its value to collectors is a footnote.

I would say that this particular sword would be worth quite a bit.

Most wizard-types don't have any mundane sorts of protections: Their defenses are all things like rings/bracers/Mage Armor/Stoneskin/etc. This sword would cut through all of that, and a decently built barbarian or such could slay said spell-caster in a single round with this. While it is somewhat situational, for the situations it can deal with, it is extremely effective. Walls of Force and Prismatic Spheres have been mentioned, but this would tear through the magic of invisibility effects or something like a Projected Image, both of which sound like they wouldn't be completely ruined, but "damaged" enough so that they no longer had the desired effect. Depending on how it gets ruled, it might even have some effect on things like Symbols or Time Stop.

For a class like witch-hunter or for some other character that just despises magic, this weapon would be the shining star of their inventory.

Also, it sounds like it has a really stylized and awesome appearance and makes whomever is holding it seem a bit more magnificent than usual. I'd put the sword in the range of 10,000,000 to 15,000,000 gp.