D&D 3E/3.5 Adding special abilities to weapons. (3.5)

[Alexander123]

When you are adding special abilities to weapons which don't have a weapon bonus such as +1, +2 etc. and instead have a cost of say 20000 gp. how do you determine the weapon bonus equivalent for purposes of figuring out what special abilities you can or cannot put on a weapon?

 

[Rakusia]

melee
+1 defending flaming frost shock ghost touch keen mighty cleaving spell storing throwing bane vicious thundering ki focus

+2 disruption flaming burst icy burst shocking burst wounding holy unholy axiomatic anarchic

+3 speed

+4 brillint energy dancing

+5 vorpal




range
+1 returning distance flaming thundering seeking merciful

+2 flaming burst icy burst shocking burst holy unholy axiomatic anarchic

+3 speed

+4 brilliant energy

figure out where any other enchant you want would go and take it from there?

 

[Vegepygmy]

When you are adding special abilities to weapons which don't have a weapon bonus such as +1, +2 etc. and instead have a cost of say 20000 gp...

Can you give an example? I have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. Could you clarify your question with an example? Are you talking about weapons like dagger of venom, (+1 dagger with 1x/day poison effect) with properties that don't match the standard +N pricing scheme? I don't know if there's an actual rules for that.

[EDIT] The following is wrong, as per the FAQ! The other commenters below are correct.

As a guess (and ONLY a guess, I'm sure sbdy will correct me ), I'd probably just look at the total price of the item and find the closest match on the table of enhancement prices. For example, dagger of venom costs 8302gp; that close to the price of a +2 enhance, so I'd assume it's effectively a +2 item.

Same thing for properties like "shadowstrike" (MIC), which costs a flat 5000gp. For example, a +1 shadowstrike longsword is priced at 7315gp. That's pretty close to 8000gp, so I'd call it a +2 for purposes of adding more enhancements. On the other hand, a +4 shadowstrike longsword is priced at 37315gp. That's a lot closer to the +4 price than the +5 price, so I'd probably still consider it a +4 item.

 

[Rakusia]

i kinda want to know who would get a 20000 longsword without an enhancement bonus attached

 

[Alexander123]

Irrelevant

 

[Alexander123]

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. Could you clarify your question with an example? Are you talking about weapons like dagger of venom, (+1 dagger with 1x/day poison effect) with properties that don't match the standard +N pricing scheme? I don't know if there's an actual rules for that.

As a guess (and ONLY a guess, I'm sure sbdy will correct me ), I'd probably just look at the total price of the item and find the closest match on the table of enhancement prices. For example, dagger of venom costs 8302gp; that close to the price of a +2 enhance, so I'd assume it's effectively a +2 item.

Same thing for properties like "shadowstrike" (MIC), which costs a flat 5000gp. For example, a +1 shadowstrike longsword is priced at 7315gp. That's pretty close to 8000gp, so I'd call it a +2 for purposes of adding more enhancements. On the other hand, a +4 shadowstrike longsword is priced at 37315gp. That's a lot closer to the +4 price than the +5 price, so I'd probably still consider it a +4 item.

Yes that is what I was asking, thanks.

 

[Vegepygmy]

Same thing for properties like "shadowstrike" (MIC), which costs a flat 5000gp. For example, a +1 shadowstrike longsword is priced at 7315gp. That's pretty close to 8000gp, so I'd call it a +2 for purposes of adding more enhancements. On the other hand, a +4 shadowstrike longsword is priced at 37315gp. That's a lot closer to the +4 price than the +5 price, so I'd probably still consider it a +4 item.

That's not how special abilities with a constant price work. A +1 shadowstrike weapon is just a +1 weapon with the shadowstrike special ability. You don't "consider it" a +2 weapon for the purpose of adding more enhancements (whatever that means).

 

[Rakusia]

was going moe towards the price equivilency i think

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

That's not how special abilities with a constant price work. A +1 shadowstrike weapon is just a +1 weapon with the shadowstrike special ability. You don't "consider it" a +2 weapon for the purpose of adding more enhancements (whatever that means).

That's what my gut was telling me at first, but I couldn't find a cite one way or the other. Could you point out the rule to me please, I'm actually very interested now in seeing the correct RAW?

Just to clarify, "whatever that means" refers to enhancing a pre-existing magic item. For ex, question is how to price a dagger of venom with a +2 enhance, rather than the standard +1? If it's a +1 weapon, enhance goes to +2 for +6000gp; but if it's equivalent to a +2, and increasing to +3, that a cost of +10000gp. Price difference is 4000gp, a fair chunk of change.

So if one buys into the "price vs balance" thing, then it may be important. But I'll happily retract my post when I know for certain what the rule is!