Hello everyone, I have a question regarding the black blades (intelligent weapons form the BladeBound magus archetype ) :
In the table for the progression of the black blade we can read "enhancement bonus" but is it an alteration bonus or can i choose any propertie with the same cost (eg : flamming or keen) ?
I've never heard of an "alteration bonus," but the Black Blade is definitely gaining an enhancement bonus. You can't exchange the enhancement bonuses for special abilities like flaming or keen. You can still temporarily add those abilities using your Arcane Pool if your level is high enough.
I have a list of ways to add enhancements and special abilities that you might find useful.
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The enhancement bonus listed for the Black Blade is an enhancement bonus, nothing more. At fifth level, the Blade is a +2 weapon.
However, a fifth level magus can add two points to the weapon by spending a point from his arcane pool, and he can use some or all of that enhancement for other properties.
For example, the Flaming enchantment is the equivalent of a +1 enhancement, so the magus can make his +2 weapon a +4 weapon, or a +3 Flaming weapon, or a +2 Icy Burst weapon, for example.
If the weapon were not magical, the magus would need to use one point of enhancement to make it magical before adding other enchantments, but his Black Blade is already magical, so he does not have that restriction.
Ok thanks for the answer.
I think my misunderstanding come from the translation of "enhancement" in my language :)
Just another question : the rules for the magus arcane pool ability say "These bonuses can be added to the weapon, stacking with existing weapon enhancement to a maximum of +5". But what if my weapon is already a +3 and I want to add a speed bonus (+3). Can i make a "+2 speed" (and remove a +1 enhancement from the weapon) or i just can't use this ability ?
If I can't do that, then the arcane pool loose a lot of interest at high level.
Ok thanks for the answer.
I think my misunderstanding come from the translation of "enhancement" in my language :)
Translation issues would explain the confusion. :) I wonder which English word was causing the ambiguity.
Just another question : the rules for the magus arcane pool ability say "These bonuses can be added to the weapon, stacking with existing weapon enhancement to a maximum of +5". But what if my weapon is already a +3 and I want to add a speed bonus (+3). Can i make a "+2 speed" (and remove a +1 enhancement from the weapon) or i just can't use this ability ?
If I can't do that, then the arcane pool loose a lot of interest at high level.
As Saryn Kippli said, you can't "borrow" the enhancement bonus from a weapon to make special abilities. This is true whether you are using a Black Blade or a more conventional enhanced weapon.
But you don't need to lower your weapon's enhancement bonus. If you are a 9th level Bladebound Magus, then you have a +3 Black Blade and your Arcane Pool lets you apply +3 worth of bonuses. You can't have an enhancement bonus greater than +5, but your "enhancement equivalent" bonus can still go as high as +10. In this case you have a total of +6 worth of bonuses, +3 of which are "locked in" as an enhancement bonus.
So you could use your Arcane Pool to have...
(1) A +5 keen Black Blade
(2) A +4 flaming, keen Black Blade
(3) A +4 flaming burst Black Blade
(4) A +3 speed Black Blade
or any other combination that adds up to +6 or less and which has a minimum of a +3 enhancement bonus. By 17th level your Magus could, for example, be using a +5 flaming, keen, speed Black Blade. That is a +10 equivalent weapon which cost you 0 g.p.! Arcane Pool is an awesome ability.
Translation issues would explain the confusion. :) I wonder which English word was causing the ambiguity.
"Enhancement" is translated as "altération" in the D&D books in my language but it's not the real translation. (and "alteration" is also an english word with another meaning ...).
You can't have an enhancement bonus greater than +5, but your "enhancement equivalent" bonus can still go as high as +10.
Ok that's the answer I was looking for :)