Transferring Enchantments

[The Glyphstone]

Is there any printed/published way to lift the magical properties from one weapon and move them to another, the way you can in 4E? Say, taking a +1 Flaming Sword and and masterwork greataxe and ending up with a masterwork sword and a +1 Flaming greataxe?

[King Atticus]

Not that I know of for a pre-existing property but there are the Crystal Of Energy Assault augment crystals that can pop on and off. But for a full 1D6 bonus you would need the lesser crystal (3000gp) and for that your weapon would have to be a +2.


+1 least: This crystal adds 1 point of energy damage of its type to the weapon’s damage (600gp)

+2 lesser: This crystal adds an extra 1d6 points of energy damage of its type to the weapon’s damage (3000gp)

+3 greater: This crystal adds an extra 1d6 points of energy damage of its type to the weapon’s damage, as well as a secondary effect depending on the type of crystal: (6000gp)

Acid Assault: Target takes –1 penalty to AC for 1 round (multiple hits on the same creature don’t stack).

Cold Assault: Target’s speed is reduced by 10 feet for 1 round, to a minimum speed of 5 feet (multiple hits on the same creature
don’t stack).

Electricity Assault: Target is dazzled for 1 round.

Fire Assault: Target takes an additional 1d6 points of fi re damage 1 round later (multiple hits on the same creature don’t increase the next round’s damage beyond 1d6)

[The Glyphstone]

Energy Assault crystals are nice, but the idea is to be able to take an existing weapon you find as part of a loot stash but isn't in your proficiency/specialization group and move its sweet bonuses over to a weapon you can use well. If you find a +5 Vorpal Sword but have Greater Weapon Specialization (Greataxe), is there a way to end up with a +5 Vorpal Greataxe if you don't want to/can't change all your focus feats to swords?

[Diarmuid]

2nd Edition had a spell called Steal Enchantment, but thus far I havent found anything in 3.0/3.5 that would work similarly.

[hydraa]

With the increasing cost of crafting I think it would be diffucult to work in such a way.

Taking flaming from a +1 Flaming to add to a +5 would not work with the crafting costs.

The closest I can think of is the Artificer's Retain esscense ability, he can deconstruct the item and keep the xp use in crafting it and craft it into the new item as per normal item creation rules

[Diarmuid]

There are rules to adding abilities to existing items, but they involve paying the difference between the initial item and what it's going to end up being.

But that's not really what the OP is looking for. It's usually pretty easy to do at low levels, my DM's have often let PC's "trade in" a +1 weapon for another +1 weapon, even up to +2 at even swap...but not once you start adding in special qualities.

[The Glyphstone]

With the increasing cost of crafting I think it would be diffucult to work in such a way.

Taking flaming from a +1 Flaming to add to a +5 would not work with the crafting costs.

The closest I can think of is the Artificer's Retain esscense ability, he can deconstruct the item and keep the xp use in crafting it and craft it into the new item as per normal item creation rules

Not additive, but if it over-wrote the existing properties entirely it could work. This would make a nonmagical weapon the best target for transferral, but if you really wanted to destroy your existing sword's properties for the new set, it'd be possible.

I guess I'll have to homebrew something based off the 4E ritual.

[Coidzor]

Transferring a +1 and Collision from a MW Greatsword onto a MW Spiked Chain is something that I'd just allow via handwaving, really. Or, hell, even turning a +4 weapon into a +1 Collision Valorous weapon. The only place where that'd have any real interaction with mechanics other than making it so that artificers would be less likely to use retain essence on magical weapons and armor, would be in relation to cold iron weapons because they cost more to make magical for good reason, really. But how often does one really run into that?

Or, if I really wanted to come up with something in-game, I'd go with the ritual idea and have it so that the ritual basically just takes time (or, at worst, destroys the weapon that's having its magic properties removed).

Maybe crib some from the kinda poor implementation (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20060526a) WotC had for implementing allowing other characters to contribute XP to crafting.

[Diarmuid]

With the crafting system as it exists and the WBL system everyone's become accustomed to, I think handwaving moving enchantments from 1 item to another is unnecessary.

Not every piece of treasure should be completely useful in every situation to your character.

[Coidzor]

With the crafting system as it exists and the WBL system everyone's become accustomed to, I think handwaving moving enchantments from 1 item to another is unnecessary.

So you see no possible reason to ever want to convert vendor trash into something useful without eating up over a weak of in-game time on either side of the DM screen?


Not every piece of treasure should be completely useful in every situation to your character.

Yes, that's why vendor trash exists at all rather than having all items exist as custom drops for the players, but that doesn't justify holding as sacred cows the barriers to converting it into something that's the same in all respects except for actually being useful.

[Quirp]

The Ancestral Relic feat from the BoED allows something similiar. You can´t exactly switch an enhancement from one weapon to another, but you can sacrifice a magic weapon and add its full worth to your relic.

[Greenish]

Forge of War has Dragonshard Pommel Stone, which can be enchanted as a weapon, and then slapped into a weapon like a weapon crystal (though it isn't actually one) to give that weapon all the enhancements the Stone has.

It costs a quarter extra to enchant it, though.

[Coidzor]

Forge of War has Dragonshard Pommel Stone, which can be enchanted as a weapon, and then slapped into a weapon like a weapon crystal (though it isn't actually one) to give that weapon all the enhancements the Stone has.

It costs a quarter extra to enchant it, though.

Interesting. How does it interact with existing properties? Completely overwrites them while it's attached?

[Diarmuid]

So you see no possible reason to ever want to convert vendor trash into something useful without eating up over a weak of in-game time on either side of the DM screen?



Yes, that's why vendor trash exists at all rather than having all items exist as custom drops for the players, but that doesn't justify holding as sacred cows the barriers to converting it into something that's the same in all respects except for actually being useful.

I dont really follow the logic of vendor trash eating up a week of time. If you got coin in your treasure, you're likely going to need to go to town to spend it. While doing so, you sell the longsword and get some new item you do want.

I already said that being able to trade basic items at lower levels is something I've seen and support, but once you start to get into +1, Keen or +2 Flaming Burst...a merchant likely doesnt stock those exact same weapons in every possible weapon category.

Along these same lines, I'm guessing you also wouldnt like a merchant with a fixed inventory of items that you have to pick through, and he can get something special made but yes...it's going to take in-game time and if you dont have that time to burn, well then you'd better make do with something he does have in stock.

[Greenish]

Interesting. How does it interact with existing properties? Completely overwrites them while it's attached?Yeah. Though since it's not an actual weapon crystal, putting it on a non-MW weapon is probably the best deal.

I guess it'd be useful if you wanted, say, a warblade who uses a different weapon every day.

[NNescio]

Yeah. Though since it's not an actual weapon crystal, putting it on a non-MW weapon is probably the best deal.

I guess it'd be useful if you wanted, say, a warblade who uses a different weapon every day.

What happens when you slot it on a cursed weapon, or say, on an annoying artifact?

[Greenish]

What happens when you slot it on a cursed weapon, or say, on an annoying artifact?I don't know about cursed weapons (though it says the stone overwrites previous enhancements, and you can't benefit from both). On artifacts (or epic weapons or weapons of Legacy) it just doesn't work.

[Mystify]

Its kinda questionable, but the morphing property can potentially be abused.
It depends on how you interprete the enchantment working. Does it apply a magical effect to change the item, and then its that weapon until changed, or is it more like a polymorph effect and the magic must persist to maintain the alternate form?

If its the former, you have an artificer infuse the weapon with morphing(and/or sizing), change it to what you need, and then let the infusion wear off, leaving you with an new type of weapon with the same enchantments.

This could be used to hide enchantments. For instance, you have a quarterstaff. You enchant one end with cool things, and leave the other end blank. You infuse it with morphing, turn it into a single weapon. As per the morphing rules, you can choose the effect of either side, so you can choose the unenchanted side(in contradiction of normal sense, which would tell you to keep the enchantment), then let the infusion wear off. You now have a normal weapon with no enchantments. However, if you infuse it again, and morph it to a double weapon, the hidden enchantment emerges.

Whether the unechanted weapon with a hidden power actually shows up as magical is an interesting question.

[NNescio]

I don't know about cursed weapons (though it says the stone overwrites previous enhancements, and you can't benefit from both). On artifacts (or epic weapons or weapons of Legacy) it just doesn't work.

Yeah, I would read it as the curses still remaining present, and if the cursed weapon has actual enhancements, those will be overwritten instead.

[Coidzor]

I dont really follow the logic of vendor trash eating up a week of time. If you got coin in your treasure, you're likely going to need to go to town to spend it. While doing so, you sell the longsword and get some new item you do want.

The crafting system you were talking up in the post I was responding to requires about a week to make a +2 weapon, more for further on down the line. If you did not mean to invoke the crafting rules, I'm a tad confused here.

But the thing is, your wealth goes down if you sell a +X longsword(even with optimal haggling and someone with the mercantile feat, the amount of real wealth the character has is diminished) because you can only use maces, because then you've only got half the money it took to make the +X longsword, rather than enough money to convert into a +X mace without bringing in the crafting rules, and while a +1 weapon just takes 2 days, it takes significantly longer for each further step.