Magic armor + weapon special abilities

[Theodoxus]

My DM is concerned with the following text in Ultimate Equipment:
"* Add to enhancement bonus on Table 3–1: Armor and Shield
Pricing by Bonus to determine total price" It's an asterisk on every line of special abilities that have a gold piece cost rather than an enhancement bonus (+1, +2, etc.)

Her interpretation is that since the gold piece costs are itemized on the charts under various bonuses (for instance, Glamered is on the +2 bonus chart, but noted as 2700 gold pieces) that the total cost is 2700 plus a +2 bonus cost.

Now, I can see glamered adding to the total enhancement of a piece of armor (say, a +3 breastplate) for a total bonus of +5 for consideration of further improving the armor - but actually having a gold cost of 6,700 seems pretty ridiculous for the ability (4000 for +2 and the 2700 base cost).

I can't seem to find anywhere where it specifies one way or the other - the quote above is as close to an explanation as there is, and it's fairly clear that by that, her interpretation is correct.

[Kalshane]

Enhancements that have a cost simply add that cost to the armor/weapon in question. The number of pluses on the item is irrelevant (as long as it's at least +1).

The language is saying that to determine the cost of the item, you get the price from all the plus-value enhancements, then add the cost of the additional enhancements that don't have a plus value.

[ryric]

Ok, I see a couple misconceptions here, both on your part and your GM's.

First, the glamered special property is just a flat 2700 gp. Any special ability with a set price just costs that price and has no effect on the "+s" of the weapon/armor. The ability's location on the +2 table is just a shortcut for GMs wanting to roll random items - it gets put on a table with abilities of approximately the same power level. This alos lets a GM eyeball a possible magic item more easily before placing it as treasure.

Then we have your statement here:

Theodoxus wrote:

Now, I can see glamered adding to the total enhancement of a piece of armor (say, a +3 breastplate) for a total bonus of +5 for consideration of further improving the armor - but actually having a gold cost of 6,700 seems pretty ridiculous for the ability (4000 for +2 and the 2700 base cost).

Adding a +2 ability to a +3 armor does not cost 4000. It costs 16000. You add together all the total "+s" of abilities, and determine the final armor price based on that total - so a +3 armor costs 9000gp, and a +3 armor with a +2 special ability costs 25000gp, the same as a +5 armor. Yes, this makes stacking those sorts of abilities get exponentially more expensive. This is intentional.