How do I price a sword that absorbs other weapon's abilities?

[sirgarberto]

I've always been a big fan of giving PCs in my games non-standard equipment, but now that I need to calculate their full GP cost (to calculate how much their equipment is worth) it's giving me nothing but headaches.
So this is about a sword that a PC found in a pretty extreme situation that he barely survived.

+1 Wishformian Greatsword
Wishform: as a swift action this sword can transform into any weapon that was broken using it (mantaining the form of a medium-sized Greatsword, regardless what the original was), but you can't use this ability until after 2 rounds of having already transformed it (that is, you can only wishform once every two rounds)

This weapon was created specifically to destroy and absorb the Nine Swords with their legacy abilities fully unlocked; any alignment requirements of the swords will not need to apply for its wielder to unlock their legacy abilities, and when wishforming you can chose a form that combines any of the 9 swords already absorbed into a single form that combines their powers and penalties.
Effects that wouldn't stack normally do not stack for this form either. For example, if you combine Desert Wind and Faithful Avenger, their enhancement bonuses (+4 and +3, respectively) would not stack, therefore the resulting blade would be a +4 Flaming Burst (Un)Holy cold iron Greatsword. In case there are conflicting properties such as material, the wielder will have to chose at the moment of wishforming.

Aditionally, the sword's wishforming ability will improve depending on the amount of the 9 swords it has absorbed:
1 sword absorbed: The sword can change its design. This is more of an aesthetic change, but it can also be used to change its size category, such as wishforming into a Large longsword or a Huge dagger.
3 swords absorbed: The sword can change its size.
5 swords absorbed: The sword can change its weapon type (axe, spear, etc).
7 swords absorbed: The sword can change its shape completely.
9 swords absorbed: The sword can change its building material.

This sword is inteligent, and can permanently fuse its mind with that of its wielder but only if he is willing to do it; In case the wielder dies, the sword becomes its own mind once again. The sword is aware that this fusion is the best scenario for it since its primary objective will be imprinted on its wielder, and will try to convince him in any way possible, including sabotage and friendly fire. Even then, it will always present itself as friendly and eager to help, always insisting that the fusion is the best possible idea.

The sword has, right now, 4 weapons absorbed, 1 of which is one of the 9 swords.

Faithful Avenger (Devoted Spirit)

Domine -> +1 Unholy Vampiric Shadow Regeneration Longsword
(Shadow Regeneration: when in total darkness, you regain 2d6 HP. Every time this happens to a creature that doesn't have the Demon subtype, there is a chance of 25% that it will undergo one of 7 stages of transformation into a Shadow Demon. From the 4th stage onwards, you will gain a second personality that will grow in strength as the stages continue, eventually taking full control at the 7th stage. This effect is completely irreversible without the use of a Wish or Miracle and will have a visible effect.)

Aegis -> +1 Keen Flaming Energy Charging Scimitar
(Energy Charging: After spending 3 hours under the sunlight, this weapon begins glowing. You can spend this charged energy and cause 2d6 extra fire damage. Note: Charged energy will dissipate if wishformed to another weapon)

Axe of the Breaker -> +1 Shatterer Greataxe
(Shatterer: when used to break equipment treat this weapon as if it had a +5 enhancement bonus, applying the corresponding bonus to attack and damage)

whew, that was a lot.
So, don't worry about the price of the Faithful Avenger since I'm asking about it in another thread, but I'll have to integrate the other 3 into the full price.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Greenfield]

Simple answer: The maximum plus a sword can have is +10.

The maximum ability this sword can emulate/absorb would top out at +10.

So how should we price such an item? How about the same as +10?

Now, in fact, it's more powerful than +10 because it can potentially be *any* +10 combination of abilities, so I'd actually figure what +11 should cost if it could exist, and move in that direction.

It is, for all intents and purposes, an Artifact, and those are pretty much priceless.

 

[sirgarberto]

Actually, a +11 weapon can exist, it would be an Epic weapon costing 2,420,000 gp, and there's nothing to stop this sword from absorbing it. Now, epic weapons could go over +20 at 8,000,000 gp, so... yeah, this kinda doesn't work.
Unless you mean I should use the normal magic weapon cost progression applied to the number 11, which would be 242,000 gp, which is within acceptable limits... but still sounds a little simple to me. I'll keep it in mind, but I want to hear some more approaches before I use this.

 

[PureGoldx58]

The power of that sword is unlimited, I'd set a base as the average sword that you let them come across plus the additional cost the DMG? suggests for intelligent weapons.

 

[sirgarberto]

The sword is indeed an Artifact, since it was made before the downfall of Netheril, so it cannot be duplicated. The thing is that I need to have an approximate value of it anyway.
The idea is to have a base value if the weapon itself, without including the absorbed weapon, and add it to the absorbed weapons.

BTW, I priced Shatterer and Shadow Regeneration as +2 and Energy Charging as +1, so to the final price I should add 72,000 gp, 18,000 gp and 18,000 gp respectively for the weapons inside (not including Faithful Avenger). Is this fair?

 

[xigbar]

The base cost of the weapon should be, without enhancements, about +11. +1 for starters, and the enhancement itself should be +10 since it has unlimited potential, and should be unachievable by non-epic characters.

 

[PureGoldx58]

The absorbed weapons shouldn't affect the cost of the weapon in the slightest, that can be the only fair way to do it. The enchantment on that sword is too powerful and too flexible for a real price to be assigned.

 

[Sekhmet]

Does a Ring of Spell Storing change cost depending on what is stored inside of it?
No.

The full potential of the ring is taken into consideration when it is priced, as your sword should be.

With that being said, artifacts do not have a "price". The Caster Level is listed as (20) or (Epic), but no cost is ever given to my knowledge.

 

[sirgarberto]

The absorbed weapons shouldn't affect the cost of the weapon in the slightest, that can be the only fair way to do it. The enchantment on that sword is too powerful and too flexible for a real price to be assigned.

Does a Ring of Spell Storing change cost depending on what is stored inside of it?
No.

The full potential of the ring is taken into consideration when it is priced, as your sword should be.

With that being said, artifacts do not have a "price". The Caster Level is listed as (20) or (Epic), but no cost is ever given to my knowledge.

I don't think you're actually taking into account what I'm trying to do. Obviously the sword isn't worth the same when it is empty than when it has 4 swords in it, especially if one of them is one of the 9 swords! That's almost like saying that a blank scroll costs the same as a scroll with a level 9 spell on it because the full potential of it is taken into consideration when it is priced. It doesn't make any sense!
If a merchant was selling an empty Ring of Spell Storing and one with a spell in it, he would surely charge some extra for the one with the spell. Casting spells costs money.

 

[PureGoldx58]

I don't think you're actually taking into account what I'm trying to do. Obviously the sword isn't worth the same when it is empty than when it has 4 swords in it, especially if one of them is one of the 9 swords! That's almost like saying that a blank scroll costs the same as a scroll with a level 9 spell on it because the full potential of it is taken into consideration when it is priced. It doesn't make any sense!
If a merchant was selling an empty Ring of Spell Storing and one with a spell in it, he would surely charge some extra for the one with the spell. Casting spells costs money.

I am taking into account what you are trying to do, and at any point it doesn't matter. The potential of the sword is even more vast than it can be at any point in the near future, the potential is what matters for the cost. If a merchant wants to sell a Ring of Spell Storing with a spell in it, he can do so, but as per RAW in the DMG I haven't seen anything that suggests increasing the price.

Again, the potential of the sword has to be taken into account, not what it actually absorbed. Case and point, My druid has two weapons that are a thousand times stronger than most weapons in my party and when viewing my wealth none of them even care since they are both Relics of gods and their value is in their potential in which only I can achieve.

Charging your players extra for using a special item you gave them isn't fair and will discourage them from using other unique items in the future. Whether you realize it or not you would be penalizing that player (specifically reducing his monetary gain because of a special ability) and most players will not be too keen on that decision.
If anything the fact that they destroyed the weapons instead of selling them means that they have already "lost" that much amount of money.

Edit: This is why I always come up with a price for my homebrewed items.

Edit #2: I suggest again pricing the sword by itself and then adding the intelligent weapon cost, even treating the weapon as a +10 *which I would do* would be infinitely more reasonable than charging him for having 4+ weapons in one after they have been destroyed and can not be sold to regain that value.