Are Wondrous Items Masterwork?

[Dark Immortal]

It seems important to ask since masterwork tools and instruments provide a +2 bonus for their respective skills. Goblin Fire Drums, if masterwork, would also provide this bonus when playing them. I did not do the math to determine the value and reverse engineer the item via price. However, I also did not see any listing for adding masterwork to any item other than weapons and armor, though there are masterwork tools and one of the charts in the crb mentions something about wondrous items and additional costs and masterwork quality but lacked further detail.

Any thoughts? There are tons of items that this could effect.

[Fake Healer]

I don't know if it says it under magic items or not but for all items that I've seen it has to be masterwork before it can be made magical. That is my opinion based on the weapons, armor and other whatnot but I have no RAW to back that statement with.

[Eridan]

All magic armors and weapons are masterwork. That is a general rule. For other items no such rules exists.

The answer is 'no they are not automatically masterwork'.

[wraithstrike]

What Eridan said.. :)

[Marcella]

I was about to ask a similar question: "_Can_ I buy/craft a masterwork Wondrous Item musical instrument, provided I'm willing to pay the extra 95 gp?"

Reasons for various answers to my own question:

"Yes."
1) Wondrous Items are well-made enough to do something special, and that's consistent with being high-quality in general.
2) D&D 3.5 says the Pipes of the Sewers "appear ordinary" (i.e. not masterwork?), but the Core Rulebook based upon it omits that descriptor.

"No."
1) The FAQ state: "Magic items or spellcasting services must be purchased as listed in the Core Rulebook, including wands and scrolls." in answer to a question about applying metamagic. I don't know whether that applies to non-magical properties like masterwork-ness.
2) The FAQ also state, "Named magic items—including specific armor and specific weapons—are not upgradeable. Non-magic specific armor and specific weapons may be upgraded normally." I suppose I'd interpret that as saying you can upgrade a masterwork item to a Wondrous Item, so again, I doubt it applies to our questions.
3) Music is a delicate art, and perhaps physically designing an instrument for a particular purpose (e.g. attracting & controlling rat swarms) precludes it from others (i.e. making good music)?

"All Wondrous Items are masterwork."
1) This is the rule for magical weapons and armor, as you say.
2) Perhaps only the best-crafted items can be given magical properties.
--) However, being a masterwork item makes important differences for a minimal additional cost, so it should be stated if true, but there is nothing in the CRB to directly support that answer.
--) And unlike weapons & armor, playing music for entertainment is distinct from playing it for a magical effect, even though both depend upon the precision that comes with a high Performance roll.

If I were writing the rules without bias, I would say that the magical property is different from a masterwork property, and that a Wondrous Item can be masterwork (but doesn't have to be), but that the +2 performance bonus shouldn't apply to the magical property's DC. For instance, rat swarms can't appreciate good music like sentients can, and neither can a structure you're building with Lyre of Building. Maybe I'd make an exception for magical effects that depend upon playing beautifully for sentient ears.

However, I have my eye on Pipes of the Sewers, so I greatly hope I can buy a +2 bonus for just 95 gp in order to avoid having the rodents turn upon me!

Thoughts?

[Marcella]

Also of note: the Lute of Discord, an intelligent Wondrous Item stated to be a masterwork instrument. It gives a +2 competence bonus to the relevant Perform check, which you must make each time you try to cast a spell with it.

See: http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateEquipment/artifactsAndOthers/int elligentItems.html#lute-of-discord

[Timebomb]

If they aren't masterwork, a casting of Masterwork Transformation will fix that issue quite quickly. There is no clause that the item has to be non-magical, only non-masterwork.

[Qaianna]

Personally, if I were to run things, I'd probably let someone commission a masterwork wonderous item for the normal price difference. I'd base that on the assumption that the item itself was made prior to some magic user mucking about with it. It doesn't have to be masterwork, and I'm not going to try and adjudiciate what a masterwork slipper's effects on things are (maybe a conditional +1 to social skills if your target feels that way about footwear?) ... then again I'm also in favour of prettying up handy haversacks and designer bags of holding, too. (And come on, for what some Coach handbags cost, I'd want to have at least some extradimensional storage in them!)