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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hypersmurf" data-source="post: 4069613" data-attributes="member: 1656">It's the basic principle of bonus stacking.If I have a +2 Enhancement bonus to Strength from Gauntlets of Ogre Power, and a +4 Enhancement bonus to Strength from a Bull's Strength spell, that's not a single +6 Enhancement bonus; it's two Enhancement bonuses which both exist concurrently, and overlap.  I get the +2 Enhancement bonus, but it has exactly the same effect as the first +2 of the +4 Enhancement bonus; in other words, the two together have the same effect as one would have.  So in essence, only the larger bonus counts, and I gain +4 to my Strength.Similarly, if I have a sword with a +2 Enhancement bonus, and I cast a Greater Magic Weapon spell on it, granting it a +3 Enhancement bonus, that doesn't create a single +5 Enhancement bonus; rather, it creates an independent Enhancement bonus that overlaps the existing one.  A +2 Enhancement bonus and a +3 Enhancement bonus is an effective +3 Enhancement bonus.Now, I personally subscribe to the reading that a Kensai is limited to imbuing a weapon up to a total market price modifier based on his class level - that is, a 3rd level Kensai with a +1 Flaming sword can make it +2 Flaming or +1 Flaming Keen, since that adds up to an effective +3 - his class level.But let's say I agreed that he could add an effective +3 to the weapon.  If he adds an enhancement bonus, it will overlap with the existing enhancement bonus, not stack - that is, he could make his +1 Flaming sword a [+1] +3 Flaming sword, not a +4 Flaming sword.  By adding a +3 Enhancement bonus, it doesn't add on top of the existing +1, but alongside it.  His effectively-+2-weapon, by adding +3, has become an effectively-+4-weapon, not +5.  On the other hand, since the +1 Flaming weapon already has an enhancement bonus, there's nothing (under the 'add +3' reading) preventing him adding +3 worth of special abilities - a +1 Flaming Keen Frost Shocking sword, perhaps - which gives him an effective +5.Under this reading, as Zelc says, one might end up with an effective +20 weapon (+1 enhancement bonus, +9 in special abilities, and then add +10 in special abilities with Kensai levels) by Kensai level 10.  The enhancement bonus is of course limited to +5, by the Kensai class description, but the special abilities are not so restricted.But, as I say, I don't subscribe to this reading.Well, remember, Kensai is a Prestige class.  So a 5th level Kensai, who has a +5 weapon, must also have at least 5 levels of other classes, since he needed a BAB of +5 before he entered the class.</blockquote>

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