Creating new Enchantments

[CAHaugen]

I wasn't sure if this would be best suited for Rules, or Homebrew, so I'm merely putting it into General.

This isn't a thread on how to build Enchanted gear. Rather, is there any "method" to creating new Enchantments to be put on the gear?

With the Race Builder, and with Homebrewed Classes / Feats, it's pretty clear people like to come up with new things.

Is there any established method for creating new Enchantments to place on items?

For example, let's say I want to put Frost Fall on a Warhammer. My character gets surrounded and uses a Standard Action to strike the ground with great force, radiating a chilling frost that deals 2d6 Cold Damage in a 5' radius and possibly becomes Staggered for 1 Round.

I'd even be willing to drop Frost Fall's 2d6 down to 1d6, to keep it in line with the already-existing Enchantment Frost uses. This way, it's almost like using "Cleave", only with Cold Damage. While some may argue that you should use the Spell's Damage as is, I'd argue that it could be "deluded" to become more liberal and along the lines of pre-existing standards.

Now, personally, I'd argue that is a +4 Enchantment Bonus. I say this because for a +2 Enchantment Bonus you can get Icy Burst. This is dependent on (really) whether or not you score a Critical and, furthermore, what your Multiplier is.

For a +3, I could see dealing some sort of radial damage. However, being that it's also able to Stagger, I'd have to push this up to a +4, since that's an additional effect.

Basically;

>+1 for the 1d6 Cold that Frost offers.
>+2 for the additional Critical Cold Damage that Icy Burst causes.
>+3 would have been for Frost Fall, had it only been a Radial effect.
>+4 because it's not just a Radial effect, but also Staggers.

What do you all think? Does this seem fair? Sort of a progressive flow based upon not just the strength, but each new addition that the Spells bring?

[Amanuensis]

For an item like this, instead of using the +x enhancement bonuses as a guideline for pricing, I would take a look at the magic item creation rules.

You are adding a use-activated spell that can be activated at will:
2(SL)*3(minimum CL)*2,000 = 12,000
Increasing CL increases duration and price accordingly.
You could even make the frost fall effect 3/day only, which reduces the price to 7,200 gp.

That is a lot cheaper than your calculation, but keep in mind that the spell DC is rather low (Fortitude DC 13). Seems fair in my book.

[Efreeti]

How often do you want to do the "strike the ground, radiate frost" trick?

If it's only every once in a while, or as long as it's no more than once per fight, you might be better off with the "spell storing" weapon property. It's more versatile,and already has a prize assigned.

[Knight Magenta]

Its not +4. This is because you are giving up an attack to activate it, so it is not correct to use the +X system to price it. Amanuensis provides a good alternative. Though If the weapon was also magical, you would have to multiply the cost of the lower of the weapon price or frost-fall by 1.5.

That said, I think both frost and frosty burst are mediocre enhancments. If you wanted your frosty burst weapon to cast frostfall on a crit, I would probobly allow it.

[Amanuensis]

Knight Magenta wrote:

Amanuensis provides a good alternative. Though If the weapon was also magical, you would have to multiply the cost of the lower of the weapon price or frost-fall by 1.5.

I thought so as well, but check out the pricing of the Flame Tongue. It's a +1 flaming burst longsword (18,315 gp) that basically allows you to cast scorching ray once per day (3 * 2 * 1/5 * 2,000 gp = 2,400 gp), for a total of 20,715 gp.