Maximum Enhancement for a Bane weapon?

[UltimaGabe]

I, however, am against whole builds based around how much money they can save by cutting corners using quasi-legal or fuzzy area rules.

Your logic seems a bit inconsistent. If that was your only problem, then your problem has nothing to do with the Bane mechanic, GMW-enhanced or otherwise. Your problem is with GMW itself. Let's take a look at your write-up from before:

cost of +5, Bane weapon = 72,000gp
cost of +1, Bane weapon and a Pearl of Power III for your wizard buddy = 17,000gp
ECL system assumes you have X amount of gold at each level in swag.
effective amount of gold you have = X + 55,000gp

Let's change the scenario a bit.

Cost of +5 Weapon = 50,000 gp
Cost of +1 Weapon and a Pearl of Power III for your Wizard Buddy = 11,000 gp
Effective Amount of Gold you have (by your logic) = X + 39,000 gp

See? Bane didn't even come into the equation and it still looks just like your example.

Now, let's inflate this scenario a bit:

Cost of +5 Keen Vorpal Flaming Vicious Merciful weapon = 3,920,000 gp
Cost of +1 Keen Vorpal Flaming Vicious Merciful weapon plus Pearl of Power III for your buddy = 209,000 gp
Effective amount of gold you have (by your logic) = X + 3,711,000 gp

See? Once again, Bane had nothing to do with this, and your "logic" looks even more horrendously unbalanced. What we can learn from this is (1) that you have a problem with the Greater Magic Weapon spell and nothing else, and (2) that you don't know what you're talking about.

 

[eamon]

I would call a sword like that a True Bane weapon -- a device so potent when wielded by a competent warrior that all members of a certain species should simply flee before it.

For one hundred generations, hellhounds mums will tell their pups to behave, eat all the eyeballs so they can grow strong...or the rabid elf with The Chill Death Wind will come for them!

Indeed! 't would be a thing of legend ;-).

Fighters having one primary weapon and a couple interesting specialty weapons is generally a good thing, and should be encouraged.

Also true. However, many campaigns revolve around a certain type of creature more than others. If that's the case, it's a little easy to just let any old wizard of tenth level make some insane weapon - sure, it'll cost almost a level in XP and 100k in gold to make a +10 effective weapon, but given bane's stacking, you could do some pretty insane things for much less. True Bane might be cool, but it shouldn't be easy to make. And in any case, it's mostly a coincidence: to be able to make a true bane weapon now, you need to coincidentally be fighting a creature with many types. Most only have one. Sure, a powerful bane is a nice idea, but the current enchantment isn't the way to go for that.

 

[Nail]

I, however, am against whole builds based around how much money they can save by cutting corners using quasi-legal or fuzzy area rules.

Nothing we've talked about here is "quasi-legal". GMW is a core spell, with clear ramifications.

Besides: are you sure you want your players to avoid saving money, and to avoid trying to get the best equipment? Shouldn't your players be rewarded for making good and thoughtful choices?

 

[Kmart Kommando]

Nothing we've talked about here is "quasi-legal". GMW is a core spell, with clear ramifications.

Besides: are you sure you want your players to avoid saving money, and to avoid trying to get the best equipment? Shouldn't your players be rewarded for making good and thoughtful choices?

As a player, I see this problem all the time. As a DM, I run Iron Heroes, so no need to worry about the bling and the glow.

 

[Nail]

As a DM, I run Iron Heroes, so no need to worry about the bling and the glow.

<chuckle> Nice! Suddenly your perspective becomes clear to me.

 

[Nail]

FWIW, I've house-ruled equipment, wealth, and gear into irrelevancy.