Wanting to make sure I Understand Magic Weapon Creation

[Bugworlds]

Title explains it well, I'm hoping I can get some thumbs up regarding if I understand magic item creation. I'm hoping to play a Cleric 1 (healing/artifice), Artificer 'x' and I'm really understanding why Artificers are considered high-paperwork characters with all my note taking.

If I were to want to make a +1 Shortspear of Dancing from scratch I would use the following:

S. spear is a simple weapon, therefore DC 12 craft (weapon smithing) check to work on it. It's price is 1gp so the cost to make it would be 4sp. Time of creation will be neglected.

To enchant it needs to be masterwork, therefore a cost of 100gp to make the masterwork aspect (with a price of 300gp).

A +1 enchantment adds a value of 2000gp. An additional 302gp will be added because it is a s. spear.

The Dance enchantment is a CL 15 enchantment, so I would need to have at least fifteen levels of Artificer (this class acts with +2 to caster level for crafting).

The spell animate object is needed being CL 6. As an Artificer I can emulate this with a DC 26 use magic device check.

This enchantment has the cost of a +4 bonus, being 32,000gp. Does this mean I need to have a CL of 12? For one needs to have a caster level three times (or higher) as an enchantment bonus; but I'm unsure if this applies to magic abilities.

The total price of magic features is a whopping 43,302gp. This will cost me 1,373xp and 17,151gp (1/25th and 1/2th, respectively). Do I include the 302gp for enchanting a s. spear in this total and subsequent costs? The final GP cost will go up 100gp and 4sp looking at making the base masterwork item, and the xp cost will go down if I use my Artificer's 'xp pool.'

Creating Magic Weapons: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm#creatingMagicWeapons
Melee Weapon Special Abilities: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm#tableMeleeWeaponSpecialAbilities
Dancing Enchantment: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm#dancing

[Lanaya]

Constructing your short spear will cost you 3sp and 4cp. Making it masterwork will cost an extra 100gp. The base price of the spear and its mundane bits are now paid for and we don't have to worry about them ever again.

Now, we add the magic. Putting a +1 enhancement bonus on your weapon, which must be done to add dancing, requires CL 3, and as an artificer you meet that requirement at level 1, so no big deal there. No 302gp will be added, you've already made the spear and all we have to do is the magic. Dancing does require CL 15, and since an artificer counts as 2 levels higher for that purpose you'll need to be a level 13 artificer to add it. You do not need a CL of 12 to add a +4 bonus ability to a weapon, because that's not an enhancement bonus, it's a special ability. Making a +4 weapon would require CL 12, adding a +4 bonus ability requires only what it says in the description for that ability.

The total market price of the weapon will be 50,301gp. A +1 weapon with a +4 bonus is in total a +5 equivalent weapon, which costs 50,000gp for the magic plus the base price of the weapon itself. As you've already paid your 100gp 3sp 4cp for the short spear itself, all we need to worry about at this stage is the 50,000gp cost for the magic. Without any fancy feats or abilities to reduce the cost, it'll cost 25,000gp to enchant, plus 2000xp, for a total cost of 25,101gp, 3sp, 4cp and 2000xp to create the weapon.

[Bugworlds]

Ahh, I see. Thank you very much.

I'm unclear on what the +302gp for a shortspear, on page 222 DMG, is for then. Perhaps that's used for the price you would use for calculating the price of an enchanted shortspear?

[Lanaya]

That's exactly what it is, though whoever typed up that table didn't seem to notice that shortspears have a base price of 1 gp rather than 2. It's so you can calculate the price of an item with only one book, you just use the DMG to figure out the price of the enchantments and then find the price of the masterwork weapon to put them on rather than having to open up a PHB too.

[Bugworlds]

Oh. Wow. That's the price of masterworking and the weapon. I feel I've looked at too much complicated stuff, today, to understand something so simple.

[KillianHawkeye]

Yes, magic weapon/armor market value includes the cost of the original masterwork weapon or armor. If you craft that as well, you only need to pay the cost of crafting it.

[Captnq]

That's exactly what it is, though whoever typed up that table didn't seem to notice that shortspears have a base price of 1 gp rather than 2. It's so you can calculate the price of an item with only one book, you just use the DMG to figure out the price of the enchantments and then find the price of the masterwork weapon to put them on rather than having to open up a PHB too.

When I made the combat handbook, I noticed that. It's an artifact left over from the spear conversions from 3.0 to 3.5.

The spear became the longspear, the shortspear became the spear, and the halfspear became the short spear.

However, they kept the halfspear under the salamanders. So the halfspear continued on, but in a strange form. After much reverse engineering, I managed to figure out what the 3.5 halfspear was supposed to be.

The prices were never adjusted for some reason, hence the 302 gp instead of 301 gp.