Appraise My Blade!

[Myou]

A named magic sword came up in our game today, and I'd like to know what you guys think it's value would be. Also, what the equivalent bonus is, so that when we level up we know how much it'll cost to enhance it further (since it gives you a free +1, but also has other properties).

Red Rain

Red Rain was forged centuries ago, the weapon of the legendary vampire Strahd von Zarovich, forged from his own blood to drain the lives of his enemies, the rare metals and old magic making it supernaturally sharp.
The dark adamantine surface of this ancient sabre swirls almost like smoke, streaked blood red, its edge still razor sharp, glittering in the light. Wounds caused by the blade seem to bleed profusely, even when shallow, and the metal appears to absorb any blood that clings to it.

A number of times per day equal to the total enhancement bonus of the blade, Red Rain may drink the blood of a target. This ability may be triggered as a swift action on a successful attack, causing Red Rain to drink the blood of it's victim, dealing 1d4 constitution damage, +1 per level of enhancement bonus (1d4+3 if the blade has a +3 enhancement bonus, for example), and fully restoring the blade's hit points, repairing any damage done to it. If the wielder of the sword is a vampire, he regains hit points equal to 1d6 per point of enhancement bonus. The blade has a base enhancement bonus of +1 due to it's enchantment.


Thanks!

[Asrrin]

From the fluff it sounds like it could have the following enchantments on it:
Keen (+1 cost)
Adamantine (flat 3000gp)
Wounding (+2 cost)

[herrhauptmann]

It's got a wounding effect, but it's not the base 'wounding' out of the DMG.
Base wounding is 1 point of con, should multiply on a crit.

This, 1d4+base enchantment? That's a lot more than the +2 wounding. I'd say it's at least a +3 cost, maybe a +4 given that it gets better as your sword is improved. Have the wizard start casting greater magic weapon on this thing.

Healing vampires. That's pretty niche, I'd put it at either a +1 cost, or a flat cost. Probably the +1 since it also improves as the sword improves.

Yeah, it probably has Keen.

Honestly, this thing sounds more like a minor artifact. Remember, it belonged to one of the Dark Masters.
If you want to improve it, you might need the DM to say what it's going to cost. And that price could change depending on which land you're in. Assuming you find someone willing to do it.
The Ravenloft I remember was pretty low-magic, especially when it came to friendly NPCs.

[Fouredged Sword]

I would put it at +1 or +2 personaly. Yes con damage is great, and no save is better, but really, it is 3-4 times a day, max. That is barely enough to kill a melee character is you roll max on all the hits.

Wounding is great because it is 1/2 target HD bonus damage every hit, and that works out to +10 effective damage at level 20. This is far less reliable.

[Myou]

From the fluff it sounds like it could have the following enchantments on it:
Keen (+1 cost)
Adamantine (flat 3000gp)
Wounding (+2 cost)


It's got a wounding effect, but it's not the base 'wounding' out of the DMG.
Base wounding is 1 point of con, should multiply on a crit.

This, 1d4+base enchantment? That's a lot more than the +2 wounding. I'd say it's at least a +3 cost, maybe a +4 given that it gets better as your sword is improved. Have the wizard start casting greater magic weapon on this thing.

Healing vampires. That's pretty niche, I'd put it at either a +1 cost, or a flat cost. Probably the +1 since it also improves as the sword improves.

Yeah, it probably has Keen.

Honestly, this thing sounds more like a minor artifact. Remember, it belonged to one of the Dark Masters.
If you want to improve it, you might need the DM to say what it's going to cost. And that price could change depending on which land you're in. Assuming you find someone willing to do it.
The Ravenloft I remember was pretty low-magic, especially when it came to friendly NPCs.

Wow, I didn't think it was quite that valuable. :smallbiggrin:

The crit range doesn't seem to suggest it's actually keen (it's 18-20/x2) since it's 3, where as AFAIK a Keen weapon would have to be 17-20 or 19-20, but maybe I'm mistaken?

As herrhauptmann says, it's not the base wounding effect, since it doesn't seem to multiply on crits, and it only applies on activation (so a few times a day), which makes +4 seem a bit high to me - but if I was an expert on this stuff I wouldn't be asking you guys of course.

I'll pass along that greater magic weapon idea, that's golden!

If it's a minor artifact, does that mean our artificer can't work on it at all?


I would put it at +1 or +2 personaly. Yes con damage is great, and no save is better, but really, it is 3-4 times a day, max. That is barely enough to kill a melee character is you roll max on all the hits.

Wounding is great because it is 1/2 target HD bonus damage every hit, and that works out to +10 effective damage at level 20. This is far less reliable.

Imagine if we could put the actual wounding enhancement on it too though!

[Fouredged Sword]

Yes, if you put wounding on it, it would combo well, but part of the power of the blade comes from the enhancement BONUS, so more enhancements that do things other than the blood drain effect weaken the effect and make uses less available (unless we are using greater magic weapon to enhance the effects)

I would lean in the direction of the +2 bonus from my above reading, and if you then applied wounding, you have a +5 sword (+1 bleeding wounding) and it has 1 use per day, and that is definitely NOT worth a +2 enhancement.

[Taveena]

Well, except that you can up the enhancement bonus with Greater Magic Weapon.

[Gavinfoxx]

I see a wondrous item of Greater Magic Weapon X/Day in your all's future!

[herrhauptmann]

I would put it at +1 or +2 personaly. Yes con damage is great, and no save is better, but really, it is 3-4 times a day, max. That is barely enough to kill a melee character is you roll max on all the hits.

Missed the part about the blood drain being X/day.
In that case, take the wounding down to a +2 or so. Maybe make it a flat cost even, given that it's less than the standard wounding.

[Myou]

So, it seems like the general concensus is that it's about on par with a +2 sword, maybe with some extra flat cost enhancements?

Still a real find given our level! :smallsmile:

[Fouredged Sword]

+2 extra effect on a +1 sword. +3 total. Remember, the extras cost adds to the total bonus to determine the cost of the blade.