Price this thing for me, people

[hong]

[h3]Bladed bow[/h3]
This +4 unholy, flaming composite longbow (+2 Strength bonus to damage) is fashioned from darkwood carved with eldritch runes of death, and its ends are capped with steel. In addition, its wielder can command the bow to assume an alternate form. Its limbs straighten and stiffen, and its steel caps lengthen into wicked, razor-sharp blades. In this form, it is a +2/+2 unholy, flaming two-bladed sword (the unholy and flaming enchantments apply to both ends). Transforming from bow form to sword form, or back again, is a free action, but only one transformation is possible per round.

The bladed bow is a creation of blood magic, and its powers function only for one who has been initiated into the circles of the blood mages. In the hands of anyone else, it is but a masterwork bow.

Also, does anyone have a better name than "bladed bow"?

 

[Darklone]

Prize... OMG. I'd simply add everything up.

+4 unholy flaming mighty comp bow +2 strength: 98600 gp. Darkwood costs more, right? Add it.

+2/+2 unholy flaming two bladed sword... costs 101400 gp.

Welcome to epic prizes.

Change it too and froo as a free action... yet another cost added. I think I'd simply go with 250K gp for simplicity, make it an Epic Artefact thingy, give it a bad name, some more special abilities (I love spell storing for bows) and some evil agenda (for anothe 100K gp or so)... and have fun with it.

 

[hong]

Well, that's the thing. I'm not sure that just adding up the numbers is entirely applicable in this situation. (Disclaimer: this is for an NPC IMC, so I'm not particularly fussed about balance as it's normally defined. This is more of an exercise for curiosity value, plus I'm bored.)

A two-bladed sword isn't really a powerful weapon to start with. You need an EWP to use it effectively, and TWF to get the most out of it, and even then it won't do anything a greatsword couldn't do. Conversely, to get the most out of a bow, you need ranged feats. You may not need _every_ ranged feat, but a few would be nice. So someone would could actually use this thing to advantage would probably be splitting their feats up, and not being particularly excellent at either.

Of course, there's nothing stopping someone with this weapon from just getting a normal sword instead of using the two-bladed thing, but then the power is just wasted.

 

[Darklone]

It's flaming and unholy. I'd call it Blackfire.

Ktulu on the Kalamarboards had a bow rolled randomly for his group with special ability "Resurrection"... he interpreted it as being able to resurrect a wielder once... but with the flaw that it kept the soul of the resurrected person in the bow ... so the previous wielders soul entered the body, the recently deceased wielders soul ended up in the bow... ah well. Nice confusion.

 

[Will]

Maybe it'd be worth pricing the two separately and saying you have something like gloves of storing to swap...

Hmm. Maybe each item acts like a glove of storing for the other item, effectively. I'd say add 30k to the total cost (15k for a special gloves of storing that allows a quick swap but limited to these items, and x2 for slotless, effectively)

I'd only make the item epic if each weapon counts as epic.

 

[Darklone]

I don't think a two-bladed sword is that bad. Double weapons rock for versatility IF you have all the feats you need. Bows OTOH only really need PBS, Rapid Shot and perhaps Precise Shot.

Btw: You could add another special ability to the weapon that it grants the TWF feat to the wielder... or improves his existing TWF feat chain by one extra feat.

 

[hong]

Maybe it'd be worth pricing the two separately and saying you have something like gloves of storing to swap...

Hmm. Maybe each item acts like a glove of storing for the other item, effectively. I'd say add 30k to the total cost (15k for a special gloves of storing that allows a quick swap but limited to these items, and x2 for slotless, effectively)

That's not a bad way to look at it. I'm still leaning to giving a discount on the total package, though. I mean, only the most incompetent munchkin would bother creating a character who uses both the two-bladed sword and bow.

BTW, Balbinus was looking for you over on RPGnet, about that Hogshead Fright Night work you did. At least I think it's you.

 

[hong]

I don't think a two-bladed sword is that bad. Double weapons rock for versatility IF you have all the feats you need. Bows OTOH only really need PBS, Rapid Shot and perhaps Precise Shot.

Btw: You could add another special ability to the weapon that it grants the TWF feat to the wielder... or improves his existing TWF feat chain by one extra feat.

Oh, I don't think the 2B sword is BAD. You'll still do a decent amount of damage, enough so that you're not a pushover. I just don't think it's that good either: it's not really a weapon that would come to mind if I was twinking out a character, basically.

"Blackfire bladed bow". Hmm. Alliterative. Hmm.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I'd go against the grain and make it cheaper than the sum of the 2 items...

After all, you can only use 1 at a time - with 2 separate weapons you could sell 1 and use the other, lend one to a friend, etc, etc. You could also duplicate the change part as a free action with the Quickdraw feat or a Hewards Haversack? So that isn't a 'super power'.

The usage restriction to blood mages does limit it... Reckon that should be worth a decent discount. ~ 25%?


Cool weapon though - sounds entirely wholesome. I particularly like it that a PC who kills the wielder has just managed to earn themselves... a masterwork bow!

Is it going to wielded by the Bloodmage PrC guy you had up the other week?

 

[Darklone]

Well, I always like my chars and NPCs to be adaptable... I know it's not common in D&D groups here on the boards, specialists are what the game wants... but a melee fighter without basic archery competence and equipment will have a hard time IMC.

Ashfire, Darkflame, Deathburn, Bloodsinge...

Doubleweapons are good weapons for fighter/rog tanks with friends who provide flanking