Creating Magic Arms and Armor - Composite Longbow with three (3) spells and several special abilities


Rules Questions


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Hello All:

I am looking for assistance in creating several special magic weapons for a campaign setting on which I am working. The main topic of discussion for this post is a Composite Longbow with the following spells used during its creation:

1) Haste;
2) Magic Missile; and
3) Sunburst.

I have not yet determined the strength bonus for the bow, but I do know that I also want to have the following special weapon abilities applied as well:

1) Bane(Undead);
2) Distance;
3) Holy;
4) Merciful; and
5) Seeking.

My problems are as follows:

A) For the incorporation of Haste, Magic Missile, and Sunburst, how do I determine the caster level and aura of the completed weapon?

B) For the incorporation of Haste, Magic Missile, and Sunburst, how do I determine the associated enhancement bonus of the completed weapon without any special weapon abilities applied?

C) For the incorporation of Haste, Magic Missile, and Sunburst, how do I calculate the base cost of the completed weapon without any special weapon abilities applied?

D) Do I have to upgrade to a magic weapon in order to add the special weapon abilities listed above to the weapon [i.e. Do I have to pay to make it a +1 magic weapon or will it be a +X magic weapon from the outset due to the spells imbued within it where X is determined based on the answer to B) above]?

What I know so far is as far as cost and bonuses are concerned is as follows:

Total Cost =
100 GP for composite longbow +
100 GP per point of strength bonus added +
300 GP for masterwork quality +
[Cost Based On Enhancement Bonus From Spells] +
[Cost Based On +5 Total Enhancement Bonus From Special Weapon Abilities]

I also understand that the total enhancement bonus cannot exceed +10, but does that apply only to bonuses based on special weapon abilities or also on bonuses based on spell effects?

If any of you could provide a detailed walkthrough addressing my problems and concerns, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

Liberty's Edge

1) You always need to give a weapon at last a +1 magical bonus to make it a magical weapon and add other abilities.

2)
a) Bane(Undead);
+1 enhancement

b) Distance;
+1 enhancement

c) Holy;
+2 enhancement

d) Merciful;
not available for ranged weapons (there are 2 different tables, one for meele weapons and one for ranged weapons)

e) Seeking.
+1 enhancement

3) total enhancement
+1 (base) +1 (bane) +1 (distance) +2 (holy) +1 (seeking) = +6

72.000 gp for those power alone.

4)
a) Haste;
b) Magic Missile; and
c) Sunburst.

Exactly what should do those spells?

a) If haste is user only, always in effect, you should use the speed ability (+3 enhancement)
If it is a spell that the bow user can cast x times a day you should refer to the wondrous item section for his price.

b) magic missile
redundant and counter intuitive in the hands of a archer.

c) sunburst.
If it is a spell that the bow user can cast x times a day you should refer to the wondrous item section for his price.

In alternative you can make the bow intelligent and give it those spells, but that is another set of pricing.

All inclusive you seem to be pricing a artifact level weapon.

Final note:
almost certainly this thread will be moved to the suggestion and homebrew as all custom magic items are considered homebrew.


In addition to what Diego said (although making a bow shoot magic missiles sounds fine to me, even though it makes seeking redundant):

A) For an item with several effects (including the plus equivalent effects) each one has a caster level and an aura. The item as a whole takes the aura (and caster level) of the single highest-CL effect.

B) For x/day abilities, simply add them as a separate, non-plus-equivalent effects. (I'm of the opinion that anything continuous or use-activated on a weapon or armor should be given a plus-equivalence, but there's no guidelines for that.)

C) The item will be the masterwork item price plus the plus-equivalent price plus any other magic prices.

D) You can pay for it in pieces or all at once. It generally won't make any difference in time or money. (Rounding issues can raise the time it takes, but probably not by much relative to the 100 or so days this would take anyway.)

Edit: In general, it's not terribly useful to say you want to incorporate, say magic missile. You really should start with (or state) what you want the end results to be, and then work backwards from there.


Diego Rossi wrote:

1) You always need to give a weapon at last a +1 magical bonus to make it a magical weapon and add other abilities.

2)
a) Bane(Undead);
+1 enhancement

b) Distance;
+1 enhancement

c) Holy;
+2 enhancement

d) Merciful;
not available for ranged weapons (there are 2 different tables, one for meele weapons and one for ranged weapons)

e) Seeking.
+1 enhancement

3) total enhancement
+1 (base) +1 (bane) +1 (distance) +2 (holy) +1 (seeking) = +6

72.000 gp for those power alone.

4)
a) Haste;
b) Magic Missile; and
c) Sunburst.

Exactly what should do those spells?

a) If haste is user only, always in effect, you should use the speed ability (+3 enhancement)
If it is a spell that the bow user can cast x times a day you should refer to the wondrous item section for his price.

b) magic missile
redundant and counter intuitive in the hands of a archer.

c) sunburst.
If it is a spell that the bow user can cast x times a day you should refer to the wondrous item section for his price.

In alternative you can make the bow intelligent and give it those spells, but that is another set of pricing.

All inclusive you seem to be pricing a artifact level weapon.

Final note:
almost certainly this thread will be moved to the suggestion and homebrew as all custom magic items are considered homebrew.

Hey, thanks for the tips. I'm going to move my post to the Homebrew board myself and provide a better explanation of what I'm trying to do there.

It may be that I am creating an artifact type weapon as I originally calculated the weapon to have at least a +11 bonus. Unfortunately, there are no rules concerning the creation of an artifact or weapons beyond the power of the normal rules but just below being an artifact. :/


I will be moving this post to the Homebrew board guys. I'll include quotes of your current advice over there and provide a better explanation of what I am intending to create.

Thanks for your help so far.


If you have been following this thread, it has been moved to the Suggestions/House Rules/Homebrew board. You may use the following link to navigate to the feed: http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2pti0?Legendary-Bow-for-NPC-Character-Based-On

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