Magic Items and Enchantments for Dummies

[GutterFace]

I am the Dummy:

perhaps its been too many years, or maybe no one ever explain magical items to me correctly. so i need some help re-learning everything.

1) all i know if to get into magic weapons / enchantments you need to start off with a Masterwork version of said weapon.

2) assume nothing will be crafted, everything will be bought.

so can someone explain how you go from Masterwork to +1, from +1 to lets say Flaming, and from there how do you get to +2 and so forth (do you pay the difference between +1 and +2??)

thanks!

[Deophaun]

Think of the pluses as levels, and enhancements increase the "level" of the weapon or sword. A sword with a +1 enhancement is at level 1. A +1 flaming or a +2 sword is at level 2. A +1 vorpal sword is at level 6 (vorpal costs +5).

Just as you need a certain amount of XP to attain a level, so weapons and armor require a certain gp value to attain their "level." For a sword to be at level 1, it needs 2,000 gp. To be at level 2, it needs 8000. To go from level 1 to level 2, it needs an additional 6000.

The first "level" armor or weapons take must always be +1. After that, they may "prestige" into flaming, ghost touch, or whatever. But, they need that +1. There is no such things as a flaming sword.

Weapons and armor can not have an enhancement bonus above +5 without going into epic. They can have a "level" higher than 5 (+5 flaming is perfectly acceptable), but not a +6 or higher enhancement bonus.

Where the analogy breaks down: There are some enhancements that do not have a cost expressed as +X. Something like the sizing enhancement has a flat cost of 5000 gp. These costs are spent on top of the cost for whatever "level" the armor or weapon is. So it costs 7,000 to turn a masterwork sword into a +1 sizing, and then an additional 6,000 if you want to make it a +2 sizing later, for a total price of 13,000.

[eggynack]

Just adding a thing to the explanation that I think was missed. The only important enchantment from the perspective of future enchantments is the first +1. After that, every additional +1, or effective +1, is added and priced in the same way as any other. You can make a +1 flaming keen longsword, or a +2 flaming longsword, and the prices will be the same. The big exception to this is synergy properties from MIC, where some properties have prerequisites, but those are easy enough to figure out.

[Psyren]

The process for upgrading items is identical to crafting them, so if you're saying "nothing will be crafted, everything will be bought" then it would simply be a matter of selling your old +1 flaming sword and buying a +2 flaming one, or whatever you plan on getting.

If you misspoke and do plan to actually upgrade items yourself, then the other important factors that weren't yet mentioned are the crafting feats - for your sword, you would need Craft Magic Arms and Armor.

The important thing about the feats is that most of them have a caster level requirement. Unless you're in Pathfinder, you need to have a caster level yourself to meet these requirements, or cooperate with someone who does. You also need specific spells for some enhancements - for instance, Flaming requires someone to know the flame strike, flame blade or fireball spells and use them during the crafting process.

[GutterFace]

Amazing explanations all around. thank you everyone!