[OA] - Samurai Katana Enhancement

[SpuneDagr]

The samurai class can sacrifice items to enhance his katana with magical powers up to +10 including special abilities. There are a bunch of abilities on the list in the OA magic item chapter that do not have an equivilant enhancement bonus, just a gold value.

Can a samurai put one of these abilities into his katana, and if he does, will it count against the +10 maximum somehow?

 

[Wolf72]

I'd like to know too ...

those are some cool abilities ... but it seems like now you can +10 in enhancements ... plus even more!

I'm not sure why they did that. Maybe to represent some sort of equipment/circumstance bonus rather than an enhancement?

 

[Cloudgatherer]

Actually, you can do this by the Core Rules as well.

If you have Magic of Faerun, they list "Strength" armor. They take the regular price for "strength" items and they doubled it to put it on the armor. This fits into the DMG's discussion on adding additional powers to an item, essentially double the cost when doubling up magic powers on an item, or when making the item "slotless."

 

[Geoff Watson]

I developed a similar Feat, and used half the numbers on table 2-24 in the DMG (recommended wealth by level).
This gives the same levels for '+weapons' as Samurai.

So I suggest you use that as the limit for Samurai, including extra +gp powers.

Geoff.

 

[gamecat]

The samurai class was poorly done if you ask me. Just a fighter with a pair of masterwork swords, limited feat selection, more skills and an alignment property. Ack.

 

[Impeesa]

The samurai class was poorly done if you ask me.

But nobody did. *rimshot*

--Impeesa--

 

[Wolf72]

Actually, you can do this by the Core Rules as well.

If you have Magic of Faerun, they list "Strength" armor. They take the regular price for "strength" items and they doubled it to put it on the armor. This fits into the DMG's discussion on adding additional powers to an item, essentially double the cost when doubling up magic powers on an item, or when making the item "slotless."

I always thought armor and weapon construction was a bit different though ... it just seems like a way to get around the rules a little ... you still pay in gp (maybe xp) but then why say there is a limit to +10 ...

Agility is definitely better than some of the regular abilities that you can put on armor (i think so) ... so why not make a magical + ???

just curious. Are the prices comparable to the other + abilities? or are the more expensive or cheaper?

 

[gamecat]

But nobody did. *rimshot*

--Impeesa--

Well, I would be insulted if someone like you did ask me... *sound of bullet ricochet*

 

[wolfpunk]

Well gamecat, I for one, agree with you completely. Hence I redid the samurai completely. I made them more like the 1st edition samurai from oriental adventures. I required them to have certain feats by certain levels, and a certain number of ranks in either perform or craft at certain levels. However, I allowed them to have additional choices for enchanted items. In essence at a certain level they may be given an ancestoral daikyu, and later ancestoral armor. This is all depended on their level of honor.

I should mention I have a low magic campaign. So allowing the enchantment of weapons and armor makes the samurai very powerful, but I equal this by requiring somewhat linear progress and adherence to honor.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

just curious. Are the prices comparable to the other + abilities? or are the more expensive or cheaper?

I'll use the Magic of Faerun example to illustrate what I mean.

A "belt of giant strength" costs its bonus squared times 1000 GP, so 16K and 36K for a +4 and +6 bonus (respectively). The guidelines from the DMG basically say double the cost when you apply it to an already magic item. So "Strength" armor in Magic of Faerun costs "+32K" for +4 and "+64K" for +6.

Yes, it does in a way get around the +10 cap, but it is expensive to go this route. It is actually cheaper to add a +1 something to a weapon (or +2 even) instead of doing what I have described.