Enchanting a black blade

[Gjorbjond]

My opinion is that it's essentially a +5 weapon that you haven't unlocked all the bonuses on. If you wish to enchant it further, treat it as going from +5 to +6. Also, by doing that you'll be losing some of your arcane pool flexibility since you're still capped at a +10 total.

[Diego Rossi]

Vestrial wrote:

Geistlinger wrote:

The GM can house rule anything they like, that's like Rule 0 (or 1, I forget which).

At any rate, Ashram said that the devs had said a Black blade can't be further enchanted, and RD asked for a link and quote.

I never said it was faq/errata/whatever, I was just providing a link where a dev (James Jacobs) said, basically, you couldn't further enchant a Black Blade, unless your GM house rules it that you can.

This isn't just a standard case of Rule 0, though. This isn't a player asking for something forbidden by the rules, or the rule being ambiguous. This is a case of the rules simply not saying one way or another. So whether he says yes or no, it's purely the GMs decision.

And as pointed out, James is not a dev. I wish he'd stop answering questions about rules in such authoritative-sounding ways. He could have said, 'not at my table,' or some such, making it clear that it's just his opinion, not RAW or RAI.

Open the Core rulebook.

Second page, under credits: Additional design: James Jacobs.

He is not the lead designer or one of the designer that mainly do FAQ like SKR, but he is still a designer of the game.

Vestrial wrote:

Skylancer4 wrote:

Absolutely there are rules and I touched on that point if you quote my entire post.

Your masterwork long sword that you want enchanted requires you to have a feat, a caster level and access to certain spells or skills when you want to get it improved depending on what you want added. You may have noticed none of those are prerequisites for the Bladebound when you read through the description of the class ability that grants a very specific intelligent companion which happens to have very specific rate of increase in power (per the table). It would also be wise to note there are specific abilities the weapon has access to, both in 'permanent' and 'temporary' fashion.

Just because the companion can be used as a weapon, has weapon like qualities and has a set enhancement bonus does not mean it is the 'standard' magic weapon and you can do whatever you want with it. A flameblade is a spell and it gets treated like a weapon (scimitar) but you couldn't enchant it like one. The rules constantly borrow from each other as it is easier to keep the word count down and explain something by relation to something that is already pre-existing. Just because something 'is like' something else doesn't mean it follows the same mechanical game definition.

To get your sword enchanted you do not have to have a feat or access to spells. All you need is money.

And that is a very interesting take on the BB, but it's not supported by RAW at all. RAW doesn't once use the word companion in the description. It's an intelligent sword, ie; a magic sword. And magic swords, by RAW, can be further enchanted.

PRD wrote:

Black Blade Basics: A black blade is bonded to a particular magus, much like a familiar, but in more of a partnership than a master-servant relationship.

It don't use the word companion, but that seem the meaning of that phrase.

[Vestrial]

LazarX wrote:

The Blackblade seems to be in flavor not an item that began as an ordinary blade as more of a sentient being that has taken the form of a sword and placed itself in conjoining it's destiny with that of your magus.

That's your interpretation (and a fair one), but not supported in any way by the rules. By the rules, every magic item begins as a mundane masterwork item.

Diego Rossi wrote:

1) reading the black blade description I don't see any point where it say it is a masterwork weapon. It say: "A black blade normally refuses to use any of its abilities when wielded by anyone other than its magus, and acts as a masterwork weapon of its type."

Except the part where it says it's magic. And by the rules, to enchant a weapon it must be masterwork, ergo the sword is masterwork. Yes, it acts like a masterwork weapon, because it cant suppress that part, because it's masterworkness is not magical.

'Much like a familiar' does not somehow make it 'not a sword.' It's a sword. It's magic. There are rules for dealing with such things. You want to read more into it, cool. But that ain't raw.

[Matrix Dragon]

Diego Rossi wrote:

To sum it up, I would allow the enhancement of a black blade, but I would price the cost as enhancing a +5 weapon, regardless of the current weapon bonus and wouldn't allow the addition of straight plus, only of special abilities.

This is the most sensible solution for adding straight weapon special abilities onto the black blade, since this way you don't have to worry about cost recalculations when the sword gains higher bonuses.

As for calculating the cost of upgrading a Black Blade into a Specific Magic Weapon, I would say the same as upgrading a basic magic weapon to the specific weapon... with the requirement that the black blade at least have that starting enchantment bonus of the specific weapon.

Of course, you have to have a flexible GM in order for any of this to be allowed. There is no official pricing system for upgrading a Black Blade (if there was, we wouldn't be having this discussion) and since there is no way to price it you can't do it without GM houserules.

[Azaelas Fayth]

My thought is it is a Masterwork weapon that you bond part of your soul to and awaken the blade.

@Diego Rossi: He part of the Campaign Setting and the CRB references the Iconics(Part of the Campaign Setting).

[blackbloodtroll]

So, it's an idea that manifests itself in a weapon-like form that can deal damage, but is never actually a weapon, object, or creature?

This pseudo-existence of the Blackblade confounds me.