Treasure for new characters, runes, and vastly overpriced special materials

[Colette Brunel]

I am trying to parse how the rules for treasure for new characters (page 348), runes (pages 370 to 375), and vastly overpriced special materials (pages 354 to 356) all slot together.

Page 370 says, "The level of an item with runes etched on it is equal to the highest level among the base item and all runes etched on it; therefore, a +1 mace (4th level) with a disrupting rune (5th level) would be a 5th-level item."

Let us put the above into practice. A master-quality weapon is a 7th-level item, and can accommodate two property runes. A +1 weapon potency rune is a 4th-level item, a +2 weapon potency rune is an 8th-level item, and frost and shock runes are 9th-level items. That means that a master-quality weapon with a +1 weapon potency rune, a +2 weapon potency rune, and frost and shock runes is a 9th-level item. That is a value of 360 gp master-quality weapon + 65 gp first potency rune + 400 gp second potency rune + 700 gp frost + 700 gp shock = 2,225 gp! That is crazy. Is a PC starting at 10th-level really entitled to start with such a 9th-level item?

For that matter, page 348 says, "In the case of items made from special materials, items should be selected based on the table in which they appear, not their item level." This applies only to items made of (vastly overpriced) special materials. But while there are specific examples in page 356, the tables in pages 354 to 355 give no item levels. So how does this work?

Suffice it to say, weapon-using PCs starting at, say, 10th level will be very happy if they can declare a +2 master-quality frost shock weapon to be their 9th-level item.

[Fuzzypaws]

I would tend to think a weapon with two level 9 runes would actually consume two level 9 item picks. Or one level 11 pick since that is the equivalent cost. Or one level 9 pick plus paying gold to make up the difference.

The same philosophy would also apply to special materials; a 1 bulk adamant item is the same price as a level 9 item.

Similar logic seems to be used in Doomsday Dawn, where one of the adventures lets PCs choose between their choice of either a +3 starting weapon or a +2 with flaming or etc starting weapon.

[Colette Brunel]

That seems like a reasonable interpretation. It seems that by RAW though, a +2 master-quality frost shock weapon would nevertheless be a 9th-level item, thus making it fair game as a 9th-level item selection, no?

[Flames of Chaos]

Sooo what level would a basic mithral chain shirt be considered to be level-wise? Could a 5th level character get a mithral chain shirt, or would they have to wait until say 10th?

[Damanta]

Mithral chain shirt is a level 7 item. (page 356)
Edit 2: The reason this is level 7 is because a master quality light armor is level 7 (page 372) to which you simply add the mithral material.

Edit: that said, I'm in favor of the combining stuff to be their item.

Because if that's not the case, a +4 sword is 5 items:
master quality weapon
+1 rune
+2 rune
+3 rune
+4 rune

This is because you need to put a +1 rune on an item before you can upgrade it to +2, and so on.

As long as the official rule is that you look at the highest itemlevel when combining that level 9 weapon is indeed a +2 master frost shock weapon which a player can use to start with if they have a level 9 item according to the table.

Keep in mind that the WBL for a starting character is lower than the expected party treasure of that same level.

Since we are using the 10th level characters as an example:
As a party they are expected to have 2 11th level and 2 10th level permanent items, 2 11th, 4 10th, and 2 9th level consumables, and a party-cash reserve of 2000 gp.