From the SRD:
"Iron, Cold: This iron, mined deep underground, known for its effectiveness against fey creatures, is forged at a lower temperature to preserve its delicate properties. Weapons made of cold iron cost twice as much to make as their normal counterparts. Also, any magical enhancements cost an additional 2,000 gp.
Items without metal parts cannot be made from cold iron. An arrow could be made of cold iron, but a quarterstaff could not.
A double weapon that has only half of it made of cold iron increases its cost by 50%.
Cold iron has 30 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 10."
From the Official 3.5 FAQ:
"I’m unclear about the exact cost of adding enhancements to a cold iron weapon. Page 284 in the DMG says any magical enhancements to a cold iron item cost an additional 2,000 gp. I am unclear as to whether this is a one-time cost or if it applies to each enhancement. For example, would a +1 cold iron frost longsword cost the same as a +2 cold iron longsword (10,330 gp) since both are “+2” weapons, or would it cost 12,330 gp (2,000 extra for the +1 enhancement, and 2,000 extra for the frost enhancement)? Also, is the extra cost (whatever it might be) added to the magic item’s base (so that it takes longer to make a cold iron item), or just to the total price?
You pay +2,000 gp each time you enhance the item, not for each magical property. When you first create the item, you add +2,000 gp on top of the cost of all other enhancements you add to the weapon, and that 2,000 gp increases only the item’s market price. So your example +1 cold iron frost longsword would have a market price of 10,330 gp
(30+300+8,000+2,000). The cost to create the sword would be 6,330 gp (30+300+4,000+2,000) and 320 XP (1/25th of the 8,000 gp cost for the enhancements). The sword would take 8 days to make (the 8,000 gp divided by 1,000).
If you later went back and added another +1 enhancement, you’d have to pay the extra 2,000 gp again."
This is extremely complex, and also a bit silly. What, you find a +2 Cold Iron Long Sword and you do not know its exact value (you can easily Appraise most magic items with a high Appraise check) because it has a 'fluctuating' value ? Worse yet, you create you own +1 Cold Iron Long Sword (because it's the maximum bonus you can enchant it with), pay the extra price, and then you power up the item later and pay the extra price again?
IMHO, this is extremely unnecessary, and forces the GM to extra-bookkeeping (and the players to pay unnecessary amount of gp for nothing). Is this going to change in Pathfinder? What are your thoughts about it?
Isn't perhaps better to create a fixed table (like crafting Adamantium or Silver items) and get rid of this annoying mechanism?
It seems fairly clear to me. If every additional enhancement costs +2000 GP, that's +2000 GP per enchantment, and you don't get a bulk discount because you decide to do a whole batch of enchantments at once, rather that going at it piecemeal.
From the SRD:
"Iron, Cold: This iron, mined deep underground, known for its effectiveness against fey creatures, is forged at a lower temperature to preserve its delicate properties. Weapons made of cold iron cost twice as much to make as their normal counterparts. Also, any magical enhancements cost an additional 2,000 gp.
Items without metal parts cannot be made from cold iron. An arrow could be made of cold iron, but a quarterstaff could not.
A double weapon that has only half of it made of cold iron increases its cost by 50%.
Cold iron has 30 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 10."
Um, but, but, "cold iron" in real life is simply cast iron, as opposed to wrought iron! You know, smelt the iron out of the ore, get it into a mold of the finished piece, grind an edge on it or whatever you need to do to finish it, and never work it with a hot forge, thus not messing about too much with its molecular properties! It's "cold-worked" (and more brittle, by and large [if you work iron in a forge fueled by either charcoal or coal, you will get some carbon in there, making it an alloy, or steel, and more forgiving]; I'd recommend adding some penalties to it, frankly, like after 10 fumbles rolled while using it, it breaks or something) because that's how 95% of the work on it was done, cold, without a forge, not because it's a different "type" of iron!
Now, granted, making the original mold in the first place could be tricky, requiring high-level quality work, and keeping it "cold" when enchanting it could be an issue, so I guess I could live with the extra costs. But jeez...kinda wished the original 3.5 book writers did more homework. :-/
Lady Bluehawk
A bladesmith apprentice--in real life
Well, Lady Bluehawk, in D&D 3.5 defense Cold Iron in D&D isn't actual iron, it's another 'mystical' substance, so it may not even follow the normal characteristics we know about Iron 'in real life'.
Beyond that Cold Iron is one of the things I see wrong with the revival of the "Magic can pierce damage reduction".
Why even buy a Cold Iron weapon? Just get a + 3 weapon and you don't need the Cold Iron, as + 3 weapons are "magic enough" to bypass Cold Iron damage reduction (which just sounds stupid -- this is so magic it can bypass damage reduction based on something that is anti-thetical to magic).
In fact the only weapon you really need is a + 5 weapon. You bypass all except X/- damage reduction. Which defeats the purpose of giving some monsters damage reduction 10/evil and magic (note that you need a magic evil weapon to bypass this damage reduction... or just a really magic weapon).
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Well, Lady Bluehawk, in D&D 3.5 defense Cold Iron in D&D isn't actual iron, it's another 'mystical' substance, so it may not even follow the normal characteristics we know about Iron 'in real life'.
Beyond that Cold Iron is one of the things I see wrong with the revival of the "Magic can pierce damage reduction".
Why even buy a Cold Iron weapon? Just get a + 3 weapon and you don't need the Cold Iron, as + 3 weapons are "magic enough" to bypass Cold Iron damage reduction (which just sounds stupid -- this is so magic it can bypass damage reduction based on something that is anti-thetical to magic).
In fact the only weapon you really need is a + 5 weapon. You bypass all except X/- damage reduction. Which defeats the purpose of giving some monsters damage reduction 10/evil and magic (note that you need a magic evil weapon to bypass this damage reduction... or just a really magic weapon).
Cold iron (and silver) weapons provide a low cost alternative for lower level games. Sure, a +3 or +5 weapon might meet all of your needs, but a +3 weapon costs 18K. A cold iron or silver weapon is easily affordable by 2nd level, should you need one.