Pathfinder Question--Reforging Mundane Items to Enchant Them?

[Amaril]

So in my Pathfinder game, my elven character just acquired a magical flaming longsword with an also-magical scabbard that makes it the same size and weight as a dagger when sheathed. I want to be able to use it, but the thing is, my character already has a non-magical, standard-quality longsword that's of great personal and cultural significance to him, and he won't part with it easily. I could have him carry two longswords, but that seems kinda lame to me if he's only ever gonna use one of them, so I'd prefer another solution. What I'm wondering about is whether there are existing rules in Pathfinder that could conceivably allow you to expend resources to reforge standard items into masterworks so they can be made magical, and then to transfer the enchantments from another magical item to the newly reforged one. I've looked over item creation in the core rules, but the closest thing in there is the section on improving existing magic items. I'm fairly certain that if I talked to my DM about it and explained how significant my character's old sword is to him, he'd be open to coming up with some new rules to do what I want at an appropriate cost, but I want to make sure there aren't existing rules for something like this somewhere that we could use and make things simple. Can anybody point me to something like this? And just out of curiosity, do any of you have suggestions for some possible homebrew rules we might be able to use if none exist already?

[Yogibear41]

Well this will answer part of your question

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/m/masterwork-transformation


as for transferring magic from one sword to another might just be easier to sell the one magical sword then just pay to have the one you care about so much to be made magical

[Swaoeaeieu]

That spell is exactly what you need.

transferring magical property's isn't in the normal rules. But in my usual group every craftsman capable of crafting magic weapons is able to transfer properties. For a price the DM decides on a case to case basis. A normal (like flaming or +1 property etc.) cost 500 gp to transfer to a new weapon.

So not RAW legal i think, but you can work something out with the DM

[Ranos]

Most DMs will allow you to refluff things, as long as the mechanical effect is exactly the same anyway.

Mechanically, you sell the first sword and spend the money to enchant the second sword.
Fluff-wise, you destroy the first sword to transfer its enchantment to the second sword.

There's zero practical differences, so I'm sure it won't be too much of a concern.

[Amaril]

My only real concern came from one of my group-mates saying that, according to the rules, transferring an enchantment from one item to another halves its power. He has a habit of making up stuff about the rules and acting like he knows more than he does, though, and since there's nothing about transferring enchantments in the core rulebook, I can't imagine it would have any negative effect.


Most DMs will allow you to refluff things, as long as the mechanical effect is exactly the same anyway.

Mechanically, you sell the first sword and spend the money to enchant the second sword.
Fluff-wise, you destroy the first sword to transfer its enchantment to the second sword.

There's zero practical differences, so I'm sure it won't be too much of a concern.

Yeah, I'll probably just do this. I guess in theory I could actually just do the first thing without refluffing anything, but my DM is going for a more realistic economy and magic item rarity in this setting, where most shopkeepers probably wouldn't actually have enough money to buy something as valuable as a magic sword at anywhere near a fair price. If I can convince him to just let me destroy the magic sword and put its cost towards enchanting my old one, though, it should solve that problem.

[Ranos]

My only real concern came from one of my group-mates saying that, according to the rules, transferring an enchantment from one item to another halves its power.
Oh. I think I see where he's coming from.
I assumed you had a crafting feat to make magic weapons, or that one of your party members did. Is that the case ? If not, he may be right.

When you sell an item, you usually sell it for half price. If you use that money to craft another item by yourself, then you don't lose anything since the price of materials is half the price of the item. But otherwise, you may come up short.

[Amaril]

Oh. I think I see where he's coming from.
I assumed you had a crafting feat to make magic weapons, or that one of your party members did. Is that the case ? If not, he may be right.

When you sell an item, you usually sell it for half price. If you use that money to craft another item by yourself, then you don't lose anything since the price of materials is half the price of the item. But otherwise, you may come up short.

I actually do have Craft Magic Arms & Armor. I foolishly took Extend Spell and Heighten Spell as my 5th-level feats (I got a wizard bonus feat), but since I haven't used either of them, my DM let me swap out both of them when we hit 6th level, and I took Craft Magic Arms & Armor and Spell Focus (Conjuration) instead. My specialty is Transmutation, but all the Transmutation spells that would be affected by Spell Focus are higher-level than I can cast, so I can wait until later to pick that one up, and Spell Focus (Conjuration) grants me access to Master Summoner at 7th level, so it seemed like a good choice.

Anyway, I do have crafting capabilities myself, so that whole thing shouldn't be a problem.

[Slipperychicken]

You could always keep the old longsword for ceremonial purposes (i.e. Wear it when you aren't expecting a fight), and use the new one for actual fighting.

[Amaril]

You could always keep the old longsword for ceremonial purposes, and use the new one for fighting.

That did occur to me, but carrying redundant equipment has always bugged me for whatever reason, so if there's another way to solve this, I'd prefer to do that.

[watchwood]

That did occur to me, but carrying redundant equipment has always bugged me for whatever reason, so if there's another way to solve this, I'd prefer to do that.

It's not redundant, its a backup.

[Ravens_cry]

Yeah, I love masterwork transformation. That longsword that's a family heirloom even though it's not magical or even especially special? Now it can be made magical.

[Amaril]

It's not redundant, its a backup.

Well, fair point, and I guess it wouldn't even be terribly impractical, since the scabbard makes the sword just as easy as a dagger to carry around...my other concern, though, is that having a weapon that's so personally important to my character, but that he never actually uses because he carries another one that's more effective, just doesn't really seem right to me. It feels like it would be taking away a lot of the room that the old sword had to be special and important, if that makes any sense.

[Slipperychicken]

That did occur to me, but carrying redundant equipment has always bugged me for whatever reason, so if there's another way to solve this, I'd prefer to do that.

Hey, if your new sword gets sundered, rusted, stolen, or lost, the old one would serve as a fine backup :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: Ninja'd

[watchwood]

Have the heirloom sword made masterwork then, and give it a different enchantment from the main one. Then since you've got both of them, use whichever one happens to be more appropriate at the time.