Question about magic weapons/armor

[Hogsy]

So, I was always confused about this but I never cared really since my DM always told me the cost and I paid up. To help me clear things out a bit, I need you to tell me which of the below is correct if any.


1) A +1 Shock longsword is considered a +1 weapon and each enhancement costed 2k gold since shock has the cost of a +1 bonus.

2) You put the shock property on a +1 longsword at the cost of 2k and it becomes a shock longsword. Afterwards you wish to put an enhancement bonus of +1 on it at the cost of +2 which is 8k(I think.)

3) A +1 shock longsword has a cost of 10k. 2k for the +1 and 8k for the shock property.

[Florian]

All pretty much wrong.

Enhancements come with two different kinds of costs:
1) A "+ X"
2) A concrete gold value

First, you add up all of the "+ X"s and compare it to the cost tables, then you add the concrete values and any special material costs on top of that.

So, you +1 Shocking longsword has two times "+ 1" (one for the basic longsword, the other for shocking), that sums up as a total of +2. Comparing that to the price ables: 8000 gp.

If you wanted to add "flaming" to it, that would be another "+ 1", meaning a total of +3 and the pricing for the total weapon would be 18000 gp then, and so on.

[Ninjaxenomorph]

Think of it as slots; +1 to +whatever. The first one HAS to be +1, and it can either go up or be spent on other abilities. Hence, a +1 furious speed greatsword would cost the same as a +5 greatsword.

[Hogsy]

All pretty much wrong.

Enhancements come with two different kinds of costs:
1) A "+ X"
2) A concrete gold value

First, you add up all of the "+ X"s and compare it to the cost tables, then you add the concrete values and any special material costs on top of that.

So, you +1 Shocking longsword has two times "+ 1" (one for the basic longsword, the other for shocking), that sums up as a total of +2. Comparing that to the price ables: 8000 gp.

If you wanted to add "flaming" to it, that would be another "+ 1", meaning a total of +3 and the pricing for the total weapon would be 18000 gp then, and so on.



So if you had a +1 longsword and wanted to add shock to it, it'd cost 6k gold? Since it'd be a +2 weapon and +2 costs 8k.

[Âmesang]

To try and help, each number is a "market price modifier." Enhancements are simple: they provide a +N bonus to attack rolls and saving throws. Special effects, like flaming or vorpal, are considered equivalent to such enhancements in terms of cost… and so are given a "market price modifier" in much the same way (+1 and +5, respectively).

All of the modifiers are added up, squared, and multiplied by 1,000 gp (for armor and shields) or 2,000 gp (for weapons) to determine the cost above and beyond the masterwork armor/shield/weapon cost.

So, for example:

a longsword is 15 gp
a masterwork longsword is 315 gp (required for magical enhancements)
a +1 longsword is 2,315 gp ((1² × 2,000) + 315 gp)
a +1 flaming longsword is 8,315 gp (((1+1)² × 2,000) + 315 gp)
a +2 longsword is also 8,315 gp ((2² × 2,000) + 315 gp)
a +2 flaming longsword is 18,315 gp (((2+1)² × 2,000) + 315 gp)


…and as Florian says, there are some enhancements that are a flat cost independent of the "market price modifier" system.

So, yes, if you wanted to upgrade a +1 longsword to a +1 shock longsword, the price difference would be 6,000 gp and take 6 days to craft.

[Hogsy]

To try and help, each number is a "market price modifier." Enhancements are simple: they provide a +N bonus to attack rolls and saving throws. Special effects, like flaming or vorpal, are considered equivalent to such enhancements in terms of cost… and so are given a "market price modifier" in much the same way (+1 and +5, respectively).

All of the modifiers are added up, squared, and multiplied by 1,000 gp (for armor and shields) or 2,000 gp (for weapons) to determine the cost above and beyond the masterwork armor/shield/weapon cost.

So, for example:

a longsword is 15 gp
a masterwork longsword is 315 gp (required for magical enhancements)
a +1 longsword is 2,315 gp ((1² × 2,000) + 315 gp)
a +1 flaming longsword is 8,315 gp (((1+1)² × 2,000) + 315 gp)
a +2 longsword is also 8,315 gp ((2² × 2,000) + 315 gp)
a +2 flaming longsword is 18,315 gp (((2+1)² × 2,000) + 315 gp)


…and as Florian says, there are some enhancements that are a flat cost independent of the "market price modifier" system.

So, yes, if you wanted to upgrade a +1 longsword to a +1 shock longsword, the price difference would be 6,000 gp and take 6 days to craft.


Thanks a lot for clearing it up for me! It was quite more simple than it had become in my head.