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Is the 300gp for the masterwork weapon before or after the doubling of the weapon cost for Cold Iron?
i.e.
Longsword (15gp x 2 for Cold Iron) + 300gp Masterwork = 330gp
or
Longsword (15gp + 300gp Masterwork) x 2 Cold Iron = 630gp
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I would be inclined to double the entire cost. The reason for the increased cost is not because the material is rare (it's just normal iron) but because of how much more difficult it is to work it without heat (hence COLD iron).
Thus, making a weapon of exquisite craftsmanship out of cold iron, which is already difficult to work with, would be exceedingly labor-intensive.
So, IMO, double the entire cost. (15gp + 300gp) x 2 Cold Iron = 630gp.
Good question.
I THINK that it's 630. The reason I say that is "Weapons made of cold iron cost twice as much to make as their normal counterparts."
The "normal counterpart" being the steel masterwork longsword.
However, I'd like to see an official ruling.
EDIT: then again, I could see the argument that since you apply the +2000 cost to add a magical enhancement AFTER the x2 price increase, why not the +300 masterwork bonus? Also, the argument could be made that raw materials (cold iron) comes before finished product (masterwork).
So, now that I've completely confused you...and myself... I await an official ruling.
Double edit: got ninja'ed twice, BY THE SAME GUY.
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Upon reading the PFSRD, it looks like this particular version of cold iron is actually mined specially for this purpose and is not the "cold iron" of the real world.
In light of that, perhaps simply doubling the base cost (for the rarity of materials) and adding the flat 300gp masterwork cost would be fair.
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AHA! I have an official answer!
In the "magic items" section, you will find under the "weapons" section a masterwork, cold iron longsword. It is listed as having a price of 330 gp. There's your answer.
AHA! I have an official answer!
In the "magic items" section, you will find under the "weapons" section a masterwork, cold iron longsword. It is listed as having a price of 330 gp. There's your answer.
Thanks for the digging, I didn't think of looking there for it.
AHA! I have an official answer!
In the "magic items" section, you will find under the "weapons" section a masterwork, cold iron longsword. It is listed as having a price of 330 gp. There's your answer.
So it does. Page 471 of the hard copy.
does it add + 1 to hit and damage?
That seems kind of low considering according to UE a lb of cold iron cost 50 GP and a long sword is 4 lb. So you get 200 GP worth of cold iron for 30GP? Something is wrong here. Also is the question as to the availabilty of it. It is supposed to be a rare metal, meaning not widely available.
That seems kind of low considering according to UE a lb of cold iron cost 50 GP and a long sword is 4 lb. So you get 200 GP worth of cold iron for 30GP? Something is wrong here. Also is the question as to the availabilty of it. It is supposed to be a rare metal, meaning not widely available.
The little I know of metallurgy tells me you'd want to make a sword out of an alloy of cold iron and...something (steel's already iron, not sure how that works), not pure cold iron.
Just to add back some confusion...
The 3.5 DMG (and thus Pathfinder) have a masterwork cold iron longsword at 330 gp AND the holy avenger at 120,630 gp.
The former implies that cold iron only doubles the base weapon cost, while the latter implies that cold iron also doubles the masterwork cost.
P.S. I personally hypothesize that the cost of the holy avenger was probably handwaved back in 3.0, not actually calculated in detail, and now its cost has simply been inherited by 3.5 and Pathfinder. Based on the cold iron rules, I would have expected the holy avenger price to end with ..2,330 gp. Perhaps, at an early stage of 3.0 development, magiced cold iron was going to be +300 and not +2000, so the holy avenger was 120,000 for its powers and 630 for the magiced cold iron longsword.
That seems kind of low considering according to UE a lb of cold iron cost 50 GP and a long sword is 4 lb. So you get 200 GP worth of cold iron for 30GP? Something is wrong here. Also is the question as to the availabilty of it. It is supposed to be a rare metal, meaning not widely available.The little I know of metallurgy tells me you'd want to make a sword out of an alloy of cold iron and...something (steel's already iron, not sure how that works), not pure cold iron.
I believe this is the correct idea. After all, a silver weapon is not made of pure silver, it is just a silver coating, otherwise it would be useless as a weapon. So it makes sense that cold iron weapons are not pure cold iron, just enough to give it that special something.
I believe this is the correct idea. After all, a silver weapon is not made of pure silver, it is just a silver coating, otherwise it would be useless as a weapon. So it makes sense that cold iron weapons are not pure cold iron, just enough to give it that special something.That seems kind of low considering according to UE a lb of cold iron cost 50 GP and a long sword is 4 lb. So you get 200 GP worth of cold iron for 30GP? Something is wrong here. Also is the question as to the availabilty of it. It is supposed to be a rare metal, meaning not widely available.The little I know of metallurgy tells me you'd want to make a sword out of an alloy of cold iron and...something (steel's already iron, not sure how that works), not pure cold iron.
Since cold-iron is still iron, it is still hard, well as hard as iron. And as it has to be forged at low temperatures, creating an alloy would be somewhat difficult (you melt metals to create alloys, I suppose magic could do it, but that would ramp up the cost, and as cold-iron is thematically anti-magic, I don't think it would fit).
I suppose it makes as much sense as the other way around.But remember, this is a system where if you take two 10-foot-poles and put them together to make a ladder, you lose money. Or where you can get infinite firewood for free, you just have to burn quarterstaffs instead of designated firewood. (Both holdovers from 3.5, the former was fixed in Pathfinder though, the latter, not so much)
I guess you could argue that instead of an alloy, the cold-iron weapons is forged using small, thin lengths of cold-iron, heating the regular iron up, forging the weapon with small grooves where the cold-iron will fit, then heating it up again, and hammer in the cold-iron, thus preventing it from being too hot, and still fuse it to the weapon, while keeping it hard.
Just to add back some confusion...
I dug out actual physical copies of the DMG, to see if their was more detail than the online SRDs.
- DMG (3.0):
- Cold iron is not listed as a special material anywhere in the book.
- Holy Avenger, is not made of a special material, has weaker powers (than 3.5), and is priced/costed at 120,315/60,315 gp. (so 315 gp for the masterwork longsword)
- DMG v.3.5:
- Iron, cold is described as a special material with an example not included in the SRD:
"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. For example, a +2 longsword made of cold iron would cost 10,330 gp, because the price doubles for the longsword itself (15 gp to 30 gp), the +2 enhancement bonus costs 8,000 gp, and enhancing cold iron costs an additional 2,000 gp. (The price includes 300 gp for the masterwork component.)"
- Masterwork Cold Iron Longsword, is made of cold iron, is nonmagical, and is priced at 330 gp.
- Holy Avenger, is made of cold iron, has stronger powers (than 3.0), and is priced/costed at 120,630/60,630 gp. (this implies 630 gp for a masterwork cold iron longsword, contradicting the cold iron rules)
Given the written example, it is clear in the DMG v.3.5, how cold iron costing should work, but the price of a holy avenger may by an error that has never been corrected.
The holy avenger should either be priced at 122,330 gp (adding the correct cost of enhanced cold iron to the 3.0 power valuation), or its powers in 3.5 were revalued at 118,300 gp (3.5 price − 2,330 gp for an enhanced cold iron longsword).
AHA! I have an official answer!
In the "magic items" section, you will find under the "weapons" section a masterwork, cold iron longsword. It is listed as having a price of 330 gp. There's your answer.
Yeah, that makes sense. Looking at the craft skill, you make the masterwork component (300 for weapons) as if it were a separate item. It seems weird, but I suppose that was added in precisely for this situation.
The price for cold iron by the pound is also weird, but that can just be attributed to general oversight for the elements that do not usually come up that much.
There is nothing the requires an entire sword is made out of one material. The Tang and Ricasso wouldn't need to be Cold Iron as well. Heck, it probably wouldn't need more than what is folded into the edge. The rest of the blade could be steel. Don't read too much into it.
It was cleared up in one of the last printings: "Weapons made of cold iron cost twice as much to make as their normal counterparts (not counting masterwork costs). (emphasis mine)
-CRB pg 154