D&D 5E Immunity/Resistance to nonmagical attacks worth 50gp?

Worth in term of gold needs a market.
But in DnD the market like all the rest is pretty artificial.
So I can’t answer what is the worth of this sword.

But I can state more surely that the designer see no problem to make available a magic sword at very low level to bypass resistance.

Bad design language, but I think this is basically a case of "when is a magic sword not a magic weapon" or "when is a magic item not a magic sword."

It's as stupid as it sounds, but the answer – I believe – lies in specific language. Look at the weapon of warning as the prime example

WEAPON OF WARNING
Weapon (any), uncommon (requires attunement)

This magic weapon warns you of danger. While the weapon is on your person, you have advantage on initiative rolls. In addition, you and any of your companions within 30 feet of you can't be surprised, except when incapacitated by something other than nonmagical sleep. The weapon magically awakens you and your companions within range if any of you are sleeping naturally when combat begins.

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Now look at other magic weapons in the DMG or DNDBeyond – e.g. trident of fish command or sword of sharpness– they are all called out as magic weapons.

That language is conspicuously missing from the moon touched sword.

Interpret that "jazz oddity" as you will, I guess.

Quickleaf said:

Bad design language, but I think this is basically a case of "when is a magic sword not a magic weapon" or "when is a magic item not a magic sword."

It's as stupid as it sounds, but the answer – I believe – lies in specific language. Look at the weapon of warning as the prime example



Now look at other magic weapons in the DMG or DNDBeyond – e.g. trident of fish command or sword of sharpness– they are all called out as magic weapons.

That language is conspicuously missing from the moon touched sword.

Interpret that "jazz oddity" as you will, I guess.

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I'm pretty sure that items explicitly listed as "Common Magic Items" are both common and magic items.

The case for the moontouched sword is not very good

at no point does it say the weapon is magical
By comparison the armblade from rising

and well... this kinda stuff from the dmg

On the upside, wotc has not set the bar all that much higher

The staves in the DMG are the best precedent. Some of them are treated as magical quarterstaves (with or without a + bonus) and others are not.

Quickleaf said:

It's as stupid as it sounds, but the answer – I believe – lies in specific language.

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The answer is not in specific language, unless the following also don't do magical damage:

• Candle Mace
• Dagger of Blindsight
• Dagger of Guitar Solos
• Dekella, Bident of Thassa (Artifact!!!)
• Draconic Longsword
• Dragon Thighbone Club
• Dragongleam
• Dragontooth Dagger
• Drow +1 Weapon
• Ephixis, Bow of Nylea (Artifact!!!)
• Fane-Eater
• Hazirawn (Legendary!)
• Hellfire Weapon
• Junky +1 Weapon
• Khrusor, Spear of Heliod (Artifact!!!)
• Macuahuitl
• Matalotok (Legendary!)
• Oathbow
• Reszur
• Seeker Dart
• Spider Staff
• Storm Boomerang
• Swords of Answering (Legendary!)
• Sword of Zariel (Artifact!!!)
• Treebane
• Two-Birds Sling
• Unbreakable Arrow
• Walloping Ammunition

mrchuckmorris said:

I've been so spoiled by playing Baldur's Gate since 5th grade, that it's almost impossible for me to wrap my head around anything not that simple, even as a DM. I just want my players to be able to walk into town with a sack of gold, find the biggest Magic Store they can, check out the price tags, and buy whatever awesome stuff they can (and save for what they can't). I love the thrill of seeing that wow-inducing +3 Vorpal Greataxe in the display case with an astronomical price, then every time you haul in a cache later, counting your coins gleefully in hopes you can finally afford it. That's a rewarding feedback loop to me, at least... knowing what cool stuff your gold can buy has always been part of what I felt made dungeon-delving RPGs so special.

To each their own, of course. I'd like to add in elements of how they've developed the 5e system. There's got to be a nice middle ground somewhere.

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In most of my games my players spend the majority of what money they find on food, transportation and regular or upgraded adventuring gear (including things like incense and magical ink for a spell book etc.).

Its magical.

Determining whether a game feature is magical is straightforward. Ask yourself these questions about the feature:

• Is it a magic item?
• Is it a spell? Or does it let you create the effects of a spell that’s mentioned in its description?
• Is it a spell attack?
• Is it fueled by the use of spell slots?
• Does its description say it’s magical?

If your answer to any of those questions is yes, the feature is magical.

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And:

A magic weapon gives you a bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls only if its description says it does. Every magic weapon can bypass resistances and immunities to damage from nonmagical attacks, but only certain magic weapons are more accurate and damaging than their non magical counterparts

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https://media.wizards.com/2020/dnd/downloads/SA-Compendium.pdf

It's magical and it bypasses resistance to damage from nonmagical attacks.

Flamestrike said:

https://media.wizards.com/2020/dnd/downloads/SA-Compendium.pdf

It's magical and it bypasses resistance to damage from nonmagical attacks.

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Interesting. I’m assuming this was a change from the original design intent, because the DMG is very clear which magical items in it count as magical weapons and which do not (such as certain staves).

mrchuckmorris said:

I've been so spoiled by playing Baldur's Gate since 5th grade, that it's almost impossible for me to wrap my head around anything not that simple, even as a DM. I just want my players to be able to walk into town with a sack of gold, find the biggest Magic Store they can, check out the price tags, and buy whatever awesome stuff they can (and save for what they can't). I love the thrill of seeing that wow-inducing +3 Vorpal Greataxe in the display case with an astronomical price, then every time you haul in a cache later, counting your coins gleefully in hopes you can finally afford it. That's a rewarding feedback loop to me, at least... knowing what cool stuff your gold can buy has always been part of what I felt made dungeon-delving RPGs so special.

To each their own, of course. I'd like to add in elements of how they've developed the 5e system. There's got to be a nice middle ground somewhere.

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Of course, play how you like. I was merely referring to the assumptions built in to 5e. You can, of course, change the rules as you please, but then you do assume the responsibility for any consequences.

Personally, something that has worked well for me is a magic item shop with limited availability. I have a recurring merchant in my campaigns who is actually an inter-dimensional trader of magic items. The trader has a very limited number of magic items that he has available at one time, and what he has available is randomly determined (even I don't know what he will have until I actually roll for it). I randomly determine a starting price between 1 and 2 times the "book" price of the item. Between every session, assuming the players haven't bought the item, I make two rolls. The first is to determine whether the item is no longer available (the lower the price, the greater the odds). Assuming that it is still available, the next roll determines how much the price drops (to a minimum of half book price). If an item is bought or becomes unavailable, I roll up a new item.

I find that, for me, this creates a good balance. The players can spend their gold on magic items if desired, but they are unlikely to get the absolute, perfect item for their character. The fact that the price drops every week, but also might become unavailable, lends both a degree of strategy and urgency. The longer you wait, the less gold it will cost, but wait too long and you'll miss out.