Enchant Magic Item (alt uses)

[Magidex]

In the back of Adventurer's Vault, it says that EMI can be used to "add a property to a magic item that has no property."

I'm confused. I can upgrade a +1 magic longsword to a +1 flaming longsword this way, I understand...

But how about a +1 vicious longsword. It has no property OR power. What dice would I roll for critical?

Could I add a property of... jagged (Crit on 19-20) to the paired weapon (paired has a power, but no property)?

 

[chitzk0i]

I can't remember where (it may have been customer service) but there was some kind of clarification that said that "no property" means "magic +X". Any other interpretation is a recipe for madness.

 

[Magidex]

Well, then there's only two weapons that meet that qualification, the first being +1 magic weapon, with +1d6 per plus on critical, and the second being +1 vicious weapon, with +1d12 per plus on critical.

That being said, can I give properties to a +X vicious weapon and keep the d12 crit damage?

 

[spayne]

Sometimes they use the same term in multiple ways, which can be confusing.

In that section of the book they are referring to things like Flaming and Lifedrinker as item properties. So, I think that in your example, the item properties would be Jagged, Vicious, and Paired and it is not possible to combine them into one weapon.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I would suggest that you simply choose what you want and subtract the value of what you started with from that.

And no, you can't make a vicious flaming sword (by the book at least).

 

[Mirtek]

Well, then there's only two weapons that meet that qualification, the first being +1 magic weapon, with +1d6 per plus on critical, and the second being +1 vicious weapon, with +1d12 per plus on critical.

That being said, can I give properties to a +X vicious weapon and keep the d12 crit damage?

Vicious IS a property and it's effect is increasing critical strike damage. A vicious weapon is not without a property.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

The problem is they used the term "property" in a very general way, like "any sort of enchantment except an enhancement bonus". The idea is you can't combine different magical item types. You can make a plain +1 item into a +1 item with some other enchantment (say flaming) but you can't make a vicious flaming weapon, no such thing exists. Note that AV1 also has suggestions for the DM to allow some other options like upgrading a +1 item to a +2 item. DMs might also allow certain other possibilities if they desire like upgrading an enchantment to a similar type of enchantment, but its really up to the DM. Transfer enchantment might also allow some minor changes, say where one type of item doesn't have exactly the same enchantment allowed but does allow a very similar one, say flaming weapon to fireburst weapon or something like that. Again its really up to the DM.