Bowstaff Enchantment

[Xath]

I'm making an NPC and interested in giving him a Bowstaff (Complete Adventurer page 129), but I want to enchant it further than the base +2 enhancement bonus it comes with out of the book. But I can't figure out how to do so. Normally, when I enhance a "specific weapon," I subtract the cost of the existing enhancement from the base price of the item and add that difference to the cost of whatever new enhancement I want to give it. For example, let's say I wanted to upgrade a Luck Blade (0 Wishes) from a +2 weapon to a +5 Holy weapon (total +7 enhancement):

Luck Blade Base Price 22060gp
Base cost of Short Sword +2 - 8310
Cost of a Short Sword +7 - 98310
Cost Difference - 90000
Cost of a Holy Luck Blade +5 (0 Wishes) - 112060gp

However, with the Bowstaff, you're talking 3 possible zones of enchantment - each of the Quarterstaff's 2 sides, and the Bow enchantments. Normally with a double weapon, you have to enchant each side separately. But the bowstaff is listed as being a +2 Quarterstaff and a +2 Longbow, and the base price of the weapon is only 10975gp. That's barely more than the cost of a single +2 weapon. My current guess breaks the price down as follows:

Masterwork Longbow: 375
Masterwork Quarterstaff: 300
+2 Enchantment Bonus: 8000
Ability to magically shift from bow to staff: 2300?

But that allows for only 1 +2 enhancement, which is theoretically shared between the bow and quarterstaff. My guess(?) would be that the quarterstaff as written is only enchanted on one end, and that end shares enchantment with the longbow? If you wanted to enchant the staff on the other end, you'd pay double as you would for any double weapon, but how would that enchantment impact the longbow side? Also, if you wanted to add magical enhancements like Holy or Flaming to the dominant end of the staff, would those abilities transfer to the bow if they could technically apply to both melee and ranged weapons?

I can't find anything in 3.5 to substantiate that approach, but I came across this Pathfinder spell: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/b/bowstaff

How would you handle enchantment of a Bowstaff?

 

[Jackinthegreen]

Don't bother with the bowstaff. There's a weapon modification in Races of the Wild page 166 called Elvencraft, which allows treating a longbow as a quarterstaff or a shortbow as a club. There's no action needed to change between melee or ranged since the description specifically says the user may freely switch between melee and ranged attacks. It's also much clearer on how to give it enhancements since it specifically says the staff (or club for a shortbow) is enhanced separately from the bow.

 

[delericho]

I'm making an NPC and interested in giving him a Bowstaff (Complete Adventurer page 129)

Note that the Bowstaff was updated in the "Magic Item Compendium", where it's a +1 weapon that transforms as a Swift action and costs 4,600gp. You should probably start from that baseline, since it's the most up-to-date.

However, with the Bowstaff, you're talking 3 possible zones of enchantment - each of the Quarterstaff's 2 sides, and the Bow enchantments. Normally with a double weapon, you have to enchant each side separately. But the bowstaff is listed as being a +2 Quarterstaff and a +2 Longbow, and the base price of the weapon is only 10975gp. That's barely more than the cost of a single +2 weapon. My current guess breaks the price down as follows:

Masterwork Longbow: 375
Masterwork Quarterstaff: 300
+2 Enchantment Bonus: 8000
Ability to magically shift from bow to staff: 2300?

But that allows for only 1 +2 enhancement, which is theoretically shared between the bow and quarterstaff. My guess(?) would be that the quarterstaff as written is only enchanted on one end, and that end shares enchantment with the longbow?

I would agree with this. Although IMO double weapons tend to be overly expensive to enhance at both ends - the two-weapon wielder gets shafted pretty badly in 3e. But that's just IMO.

If you wanted to enchant the staff on the other end, you'd pay double as you would for any double weapon, but how would that enchantment impact the longbow side?

My opinion is that there should be a nominated 'dominant side', and any enhancements to that side carry through; enhancements to the other side do not, and become dormant when the bowstaff is in bow form.

Also, if you wanted to add magical enhancements like Holy or Flaming to the dominant end of the staff, would those abilities transfer to the bow if they could technically apply to both melee and ranged weapons?

As above, my suggestion would be that if they're on the dominant side then yes, they should.

How would you handle enchantment of a Bowstaff?

Note that what follows is all my interpretation, not a matter of RAW.

My breakdown of the MIC bowstaff is roughly as follows:

+1 enhancement = 2,000gp
Base material cost = ~600gp (masterwork quarterstaff x2 for both ends)
'Bowstaff' transformation = ~2,000gp

(Note that the latter two are approximate values - you can quibble about the relative amounts provided the total comes to 2,600gp. Since neither of these is going to be changed by what follows, it really doesn't matter.)

So, increasing this to a +1 weapon gives a cost of 10,600 (since that +1 becomes +2, the cost for that moves from 2,000 to 8,000, and so the total goes up by +6,000)

Increasing from +1 to +3 gives a cost of 20,600. And so on.

(And, incidentally, moving from +1 to +2 flaming is likewise 20,600, but you knew that.)

In all these cases, when in quarterstaff form, the item only gives a bonus with the dominant end. The other end is a masterwork item, but otherwise unremarkable. If the user wishes to enhance that, just add the appropriate cost - 2,000gp for +1, 8,000gp for +2, and so on.

So, to move the MIC bowstaff from the listed +1 to granting a +3 bonus, and to apply that same bonus to both ends of the quarterstaff, the cost breaks down as follows:

+3 enhancement (dominant end/bow) +18,000
+3 enhancement (non-dominant end) +18,000
Base material cost = ~600gp
'Bowstaff' transformation = ~2,000gp

Total = 38,600gp.

(As a house rule, I think I may well be inclined to rule a double weapon costs x1.5 rather than x2 to make masterwork, and costs x1.5 normal to make magic... but that all enhancements are shared by both ends. But that's entirely untested, and as I said, would be nothing more than a house rule.)

 

[delericho]

Don't bother with the bowstaff. There's a weapon modification in Races of the Wild page 166 called Elvencraft...

It's also much clearer on how to give it enhancements since it specifically says the staff (or club for a shortbow) is enhanced separately from the bow.

That would work, but it does mean it's much more expensive for all but the weakest of enhancements.

 

[Xath]

Thanks all! That's exactly what I was looking for.

 

[captnq]

I found it easier to simply extract the bow/staff properties as a WSA.

BOWSTAFF
- MAGIC ITEM COMPENDIUM (3.5)
[BOWSTAFF]
Price: 2,000 gp
Property: Quarterstaff
Caster Level: 15th
Aura: Strong (DC 22) transmutation
Activation: Swift (command)
The Bowstaff is a strange WSA, not to be confused with the swordbow. It takes your quarterstaff and turns it into a longbow. The longbow is not calculated separately and as such has all the properties of one end or the other of the staff. If those WSAs are melee only, you cannot use them in longbow form. One could enchant the weapon with WSAs for longbows only, but those WSAs would lie dormant in staff form. When you change the staff from quarterstaff to bow, you choose which end of the staff the bow gets it’s WSAs from. While in bow form, you can, as a swift action, switch the WSAs from one end of the staff to the other.
Construction: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, polymorph any object
Editor: If it only allowed a strength bow… Alas, this weapon sucks, unless of course you are an assassin who wants to shoot an arrow then appear as an old man with a stick as a swift action. There are easier ways to do this.

 

[delericho]

The Bowstaff is a strange WSA, not to be confused with the swordbow...

Hmm, it's very interesting you should mention the swordbow, because that's a very similar item that appears to work completely differently. I wonder if that was an editorial oversight?

In particular, the swordbow specifies that it can be improved, but that doing so requires you pay twice the differential between the +1 weapon and the resulting weapon. (So, going from +1 to +2 costs 12,000 - twice the 6,000gp difference between a +1 sword and a +2 sword.) And enhancements that can only apply to swords, or only apply to bows, need to be paid for for both, but only apply to the appropriate form.

(The biggest problem with the swordbow, of course, is that those costs really make it prohibitive. You should probably just get both a magic sword and a magic bow if you want both.)

Editor: If it only allowed a strength bow… Alas, this weapon sucks, unless of course you are an assassin who wants to shoot an arrow then appear as an old man with a stick as a swift action. There are easier ways to do this.

Also of note is the great swordbow, which does allow for a strength bow, specifically a composite longbow (+4 Str). The cost for that given in the MIC is actually wrong - it cites 775gp for the cost of the masterwork longbow, but it should actually be 800gp for the masterwork composite longbow (+4 Str).

But the principle would seem to be sound - use the cost of the more expensive base weapon (be that a masterwork quarterstaff at 600gp or a masterwork composite longbow at 400 + (100 x Str bonus)) as the base, then add 2,000 for bowstaff, then add the cost of further enhancements.

Though, as always when generating custom magic items, check with your DM.