Hello,
I´ve had this doubt literally for years. It must be somewhat obvious, because even though I´ve searched clarification before, I haven´t understood it perfectly. It´s abaout the enhancement bonus for magic weapons.
Just tell me if I´ve got it straight:
Say you have a +2 Holy Flaming Longsword.
1. Is this longsword considered a +5 longsword (+2 enhancement, +2 from holy, +1 from flaming)?
2. How much damage does it deal to an evil creature? I´m thinking 1d8 +2(enhancement)+1d6(flaming)+2d6(holy). Is that correct?
3. What is its bonus to attack rolls? +2 from enhacement or +5 from the weapon "magical level"?
Thanks!
Hello,
I´ve had this doubt literally for years. It must be somewhat obvious, because even though I´ve searched clarification before, I haven´t understood it perfectly. It´s abaout the enhancement bonus for magic weapons.
Just tell me if I´ve got it straight:
Say you have a +2 Holy Flaming Longsword.
1. Is this longsword considered a +5 longsword (+2 enhancement, +2 from holy, +1 from flaming)?
2. How much damage does it deal to an evil creature? I´m thinking 1d8 +2(enhancement)+1d6(flaming)+2d6(holy). Is that correct?
3. What is its bonus to attack rolls? +2 from enhacement or +5 from the weapon "magical level"?
Thanks!
The damage you stated is correctr and it is +2 to hit and is +5 for total cost.
As an additional explanation, it can bypass DR as a +2 weapon, and for Sunder rules it is considered a +2 weapon. It is considered a +5 weapon for the cost and the maximum bonuses you can still add, though.
You can find the complete text on PRD -> Magic Items -> Weapons:
"A magic weapon is enhanced to strike more truly and deliver more damage. Magic weapons have enhancement bonuses ranging from +1 to +5. They apply these bonuses to both attack and damage rolls when used in combat. All magic weapons are also masterwork weapons, but their masterwork bonuses on attack rolls do not stack with their enhancement bonuses on attack rolls.
(...)
Some magic weapons have special abilities. Special abilities count as additional bonuses for determining the market value of the item, but do not modify attack or damage bonuses (except where specifically noted). A single weapon cannot have a modified bonus (enhancement bonus plus special ability bonus equivalents, including those from character abilities and spells) higher than +10. A weapon with a special ability must also have at least a +1 enhancement bonus. Weapons cannot possess the same special ability more than once."
Basically, for all rules that require an enhancement bonus, you have to consider ONLY the 'straight' enhancement bonus of the weapon (+1, +2, +3... in this case, +2). In order to bypass damage reduction, for example, the rules specifically say that your weapon must have an enhancement bonus of at least +3 to bypass cold iron and silver, and so on (so, in the case of this weapon, no luck).
For all other cases (max bonuses of the weapon, cost of the weapon, and so on) you have to consider the 'total' enhancement bonus, which is the sum of the effective enhancement bonus AND Special Ability bonus equivalents. In your case, this is a +5 weapon - +2 enhancement, Flaming (+1 equivalent) Holy (+2 equivalent); in order to add an additional +1 bonus (enhancement or special ability equivalent, like Keen) you have to calculate the cost to bring a +5 weapon to +6 (which is 22.000 gp), and you can add only an additional +5 enhancement bonuses (effective enhancement, up to a maximum of +5, AND Special Ability bonus equivalents) to this weapon, since it can only have a maximum of +10.
Hope this can be of some help.
That was great, thanks for the clarification!