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

[SuperJebba]

I've come across this problem numerous times before, and as I think about it, I would say that they add nothing to the cost as far as enhancement value goes.

So to use the example of the dagger of venom, it's a +1 dagger with a special ability. If you want to make it a +2 dagger it costs 6000 gp. The special ability to use poison once per day looks to be priced out similarly to a wondrous item.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Vegepygmy's right.

Consider the dagger of venom. It's a dagger +1 with some extra benefits. We know the cost of a dagger +1 - 2,302gp (dagger: 2 gp; MW: 300gp; +1: 2,000gp). Therefore, the difference in price between a dagger +1 and a dagger of venom is the cost of the extra benefits: 8,302 total - 2,302 dagger +1 = 6,000gp of venom.

So, if you wanted to make a +2 version of the dagger of venom, you'd calculate the price of the new item:

MW Dagger: 302 gp
+2: 4,000 gp
of Venom: 6,000 gp
------------
Total: 10,302 gp

If you're starting with a normal dagger of venom, then you'd subtract out the cost of the original to determine how much the upgrade costs, so the of venom part and the MW dagger would cancel out, and you'd pay the same as if you were upgrading any other +1 weapon to a +2 version of itself.

 

[Alexander123]

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).

It is not a +2 weapon but there is a limit to how many enhancement bonuses and special abilities you can have on a weapon. (+10) For purposes of calculating this you need to consider special abilities with a fixed cost amount such as 5000gp. as either +1 or +2 depending on closeness to one or the other.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

@Alexander123 - If your concern is only the upper limit, then note that the MIC (p28) says the max value of enhancements is +10 effective enhancements or 200,000gp. That's a hard number at the high end to help you.

I still have had no luck finding a definite statement on the rest of it, for intermediate power levels of magic items, though.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

After thinking about the math for a bit, I'm going to give in on this-- the big reason being that over the life of a weapon, the final cost to enhance could vary depending upon which order enhancements are applied.

The balance issue I appealed to earlier is what the MIC attempts to address with item "levels". So dagger of venom and +2 dagger are both considered equivalent in power (ie, both are "11th level"), but the dagger of venom is still a +1 weapon for purposes of further enhancement. And after adding a plus, a +2 dagger of venom ("13th level") lags behind a +3 dagger ("14th level")-- which makes sense as the 'venom' ability is less and less important relative to the plus of the weapon.

And so, I concede. (Though I'd still like to see it in writing.)

 

[Vegepygmy]

It is not a +2 weapon but there is a limit to how many enhancement bonuses and special abilities you can have on a weapon. (+10) For purposes of calculating this you need to consider special abilities with a fixed cost amount such as 5000gp. as either +1 or +2 depending on closeness to one or the other.

See Patryn's post for how to calculate the cost.

Also, this may help (from the 3.5 FAQ):

Several armor and weapon special abilities have fixed prices instead of a bonus equivalency. Do these abilities count toward the maximum +10 bonus in enhancements?​

No. That said, if you’re using the guidelines for epic magic items (page 123 in the Epic Level Handbook), any fixed-price abilities should count toward the 200,000-gp market-price “trigger” to determine if an item is considered epic.​