Enchanting Cold Iron: Extra 2000gp each time or once?

[Anthraxus]

...After that the non magical nature takes back over...

So you have a non-magical, magical sword because of the cold iron?

They could easily have went the other way(in the FAQ), so that after the first magical enhancement, the item accepts magic more easily, and you only have to pay 2000gp the first time.

Makes things a bit painful when upgrading your sword a bit at a time. :\

 

[evilbob]

So you're suggesting a cold iron weapon adds 2000g for each enchantment, every single time - meaning Hypersmurf's example would only ever be 20,330?

Wow, this is getting expensive. I think I'm going to go back to charging +2000k for a cold iron weapon and forget all the rest of this complicated stuff...

 

[IanB]

I don't think it is fair to blame the FAQ in this case, as this is certainly a legitimate reading of the DMG wording.

The FAQ writers can't win, apparently - either they go by the text (like in this case) and get blamed for the rule being dumb, or they make a ruling that differs from the text and get blamed for deviating from the RAW.

 

[Mistwell]

I don't think it is fair to blame the FAQ in this case, as this is certainly a legitimate reading of the DMG wording.

The FAQ writers can't win, apparently - either they go by the text (like in this case) and get blamed for the rule being dumb, or they make a ruling that differs from the text and get blamed for deviating from the RAW.

I agree. I think it is fair to say that the FAQ answer is one of the reasonable interpretations you can make from reading the RAW, given the RAW is a bit vague on how the math should be done and what exactly it applies to.

 

[TheEvil]

I think my main irritation with the FAQ ruling is that cold iron gives no advantage that is worth the price of 2000 gp per time you upgrade.

 

[Hypersmurf]

I understand that the FAQ answer is slightly flawed in that EACH +1 enhancement or enhancement-equivelent should cost an extra 2000 gp, and not the group of enhancements done at a single time costing an extra single 2000gp. However, that seems like a pretty minor accounting error on their part, and not a major conceptual error.

But that's the thing - I can understand a ruling that a cold iron weapon with magical enhancements costs an extra 2000gp. I can understand a ruling that each magical enhancement to a cold iron weapon costs an extra 2000gp.

The FAQ ruling, to me, isn't an accounting error - it is a conceptual error, because I can't see how you can get "2000gp per crafting session" from what the DMG says for cold iron.

A ruling that makes the price of a +2 frost cold iron longsword 16,330 makes sense. A ruling that makes the price of a +2 frost cold iron longsword 20,330 makes sense. A ruling, like the FAQ, that makes the price maybe 16,300, or maybe 18,330, or maybe 20,330, is not only weird, but also doesn't fit the DMG wording.

-Hyp.

 

[hong]

A ruling that makes the price of a +2 frost cold iron longsword 16,330 makes sense. A ruling that makes the price of a +2 frost cold iron longsword 20,330 makes sense.

ITYM 20000/24000. Although in the latter scenario a +2 frost cold iron longsword could be 22000 or 24000, depending on whether you treat it as {+2, frost} or {+1, +1, frost}.

 

[Hypersmurf]

ITYM 20000/24000.

[blink] Yeah. Not sure where my maths went haywire in there.

-Hyp.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

A ruling that makes the price of a +2 frost cold iron longsword 16,330 makes sense. A ruling that makes the price of a +2 frost cold iron longsword 20,330 makes sense. A ruling, like the FAQ, that makes the price maybe 16,300, or maybe 18,330, or maybe 20,330, is not only weird, but also doesn't fit the DMG wording.

-Hyp.

I agree totally, and I think this also goes a long way to refuting Frank's assertion above that people are whining against the FAQ because they don't like the ruling. I hear people saying that they don't care about the price - they want consistancy! That's not attacking the FAQ's ruling nearly as much as it is attacking the application of their ruling. And I think that is fair to complain against.

FWIW, I think the cold iron should read: +2000 gp per bonus of enhancement or ability. {Or, if you want to be really mean, +2000 gp for each effective bonus ... making people pay for the full effect of ehancements that are worth more than a +1}

For eqxample, a +3 frost weapon would cost 8000 gold more. 2,000 for each +1 (which makes up the +3) and an additional 2000 for the frost.

I think that takes the spirit of the FAQ ruling and applies it fairly without respect to if the weapon grew with the character or was made at Magic Mart's factory.

 

[Torack]

I'd like to point out the example given in the DMG regarding the upgrading of cold iron weapons, if I may...

For example, a +2 longsword would cost 10,330 gp, because the price doubles for the longsword itself (15 gp to 30 gp), the +2 enhancement bonus would cost 8,000 gp, and enhancing cold iron would costs an additional 2,000 gp (the price includes the 300 gp for the masterwork component)

.

As such, regardless of whether you start with a +1 weapon (~4,000) or a +2 weapon (~10,000 gp) or upgrade a +1 weapon to a +2 weapon (~6,000 gp) the cold iron costs are calculated in ONCE, not at each additional enhancement.