Silver weapons?

[Tinalles]

I've been reading the third Carrion Crown module (spoilers: there are werewolves in Ustalav!) and I keep coming across weapon descriptions like this:

+1 silver longsword, 1d8+3

Previously, I thought the options for silver weapons consisted of:

1) Alchemical silver (-1 damage on slashing/piercing weapons);
2) Silver weapon blanch (wears off after one hit);
3) Silversheen (wears off after one hour);
4) Mithral weapons (no penalty, but expensive).

But none of those are indicated. Is it just made from regular old silver? Sterling silver or unalloyed? Most importantly, what does that do to its stats? If someone tries to sunder it, would it have different hardness or hit points than a regular steel longsword? If a PC loots it and tries to sell it, what's the price for a silver longsword compared to a plain longsword?

[Cheapy]

That is alchemical silver.

[Tinalles]

Then someone forgot the damage penalty -- the NPC has a 15 STR (+2), and the weapon has a +1, so the damage should be 1d8+2, not +3. Must be typo.

Is it standard practice to omit the word "alchemical" from descriptions of silvered weapons?

[Jeff1964]

Yes, it is fairly common to omit the word 'alchemical' when referring to alchemical silver. Is the NPC wielding the sword in two hands, or has weapon focus maybe? Both would give an additional +1 to damage.

[Paraxis]

There are also silversheen weapons that cost 750gp and are masterwork. But it is probably just that they forgot to do the -1 damage, I forget most of the time and it is a pointless penalty anyway.

[Kaisoku]

Jeff1964 wrote:

Yes, it is fairly common to omit the word 'alchemical' when referring to alchemical silver. Is the NPC wielding the sword in two hands, or has weapon focus maybe? Both would give an additional +1 to damage.

Weapon Focus gives +1 to attack, not damage (IMO the +attack is better).

The two-hands thing might be a good call though. Str damage would be +3, with a +1 magic weapon, and a -1 alchemical silver.

But unless it states it's being used two-handed, it likely was just a typo.

[Tinalles]

The NPC uses a shield, so not a two-hander. Just a typo.

Glad to get that cleared up anyway. It's a pretty minor point, but I like to know these things.