Hello,
I'm hoping people can help me wrangle a proper price for the following:
FREEZING KNIFE
Aura strong evocation; CL 12th
Slot none; Price ????gp; Weight 1lb.
DESCRIPTION
This blue-tinged knife is a +1 dagger. As a swift action it can be activated to deal extra damage as follows:
Round 1 (activation): none
Round 2: +1d4 cold damage
Round 3-5: +2d4 cold damage
Round 6: +1d4 cold damage
Round 7: none
Once activated, the cycle of extra damage cannot stop and will continue even if the weapon is dropped or put away. On the 7th round the wielder may activate the knife again, turning it into the 1st round of the new cycle.
CONSTRUCTION
Requirements Craft Magic Arms and Armour, Chill Metal; Cost ????gp
So for a price point, I'm going off the fact that a +1 Frost dagger costs 8,302gp. Do you think that the above weapon is equal to/less than/more than that?
Thanks for your help
I'd price it as less. With a frost dagger, you always get the frost damage and a higher damage die at that and it can be turned on/off when desired. I'd probably price it closer to 6k.
It's a 7 rounds cycle, so let's compare the weapons extra average damage over 7 rounds.
For the knife, total of 4d4 over 7 rounds, so that's 10 cold damage on average over 7 rounds(4x(1+4)/2).
And 2 little dices (2 times 1d4) and one slightly bigger, so for purposes of overcoming frost resistance it would be around the same than just d6.
Uses a swift action every cycle.
Frost: 7d6, so that's 24.5 (7x(1+6)/2).
In the end, your knife deals less than half damage compared to frost and uses a swift action. I'd price it around 5.802GP.
PS: Cute use of the d4, they don't get enough love these days.
@golden pony: It doesn't take a swift action each round, just one on the first round and another on the eighth round (if necessary). Also, technically, a regular frost dagger takes a standard action to activate (by RAW, but not RAI). 5800 gold is a pretty good price though.
Also, thanks for showing the math I didn't want to type out.
doh I meant every cycle, not round.
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I'm going to go against the grain here and suggest you just price it the same as the frost dagger. Rounds 6-7 are going to see little use since combat is generally over in 3-5 rounds. Round 1 is probably going to be a standard action not a full attack so the dagger is only getting one potential attack or if it's the off hand weapon it won't attack at all. The rounds of combat that matter most it's going to be averaging higher damage than the straight frost dagger.
The rounds of combat that matter most it's going to be averaging higher damage than the straight frost dagger.
oops I totally didn't see that the 2d4 rounds were a few, thought it was just one.
And yeah, I agree with Ogre's logic to some extent (my combats are not usually over after 3-5 rounds, but the second cycle's not gonna happen most of the time). Not sure if it would be the same price though 'cos it's kinda boring.
Call it 7500 gold (10% price break for not being able to shut it off when you want) and, with Ogre's logic, I'd call it a day.
Wow,
I didn't want to put in my estimate in case I coloured other people's thoughts but I have to say that these pretty much mirror what I came up with myself.
I think I'm going to price it at 7,002gp. I figure that a full grand less than a typical +1 frost dagger makes it an interesting choice rather than a subpar one. If it cost 7,500 or so, many players would probably think "I'll just wait and buy a real one when I acquire the rest of the gold".
Thanks for the help everyone, I appreciate the feedback.