is there a limit to the number or power of enchants you can put on a peice of armor/shield/weapon??
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+10 coming from all sources (the item itself, spells and class special abilities).
In addition to an enhancement bonus, armor may have special abilities. Special abilities usually count as additional bonuses for determining the market value of an item, but do not improve AC. A suit of armor cannot have an effective bonus (enhancement plus special ability bonus equivalents, including those from character abilities and spells) higher than +10. A suit of armor with a special ability must also have at least a +1 enhancement bonus.
As with armor, special abilities built into the shield add to the market value in the form of additions to the bonus of the shield, although they do not improve AC. A shield cannot have an effective bonus (enhancement plus special ability bonus equivalents) higher than +10. A shield with a special ability must also have at least a +1 enhancement bonus.
Some magic weapons have special abilities. Special abilities count as additional bonuses for determining the market value of the item, but do not modify attack or damage bonuses (except where specifically noted). A single weapon cannot have a modified bonus (enhancement bonus plus special ability bonus equivalents, including those from character abilities and spells) higher than +10. A weapon with a special ability must also have at least a +1 enhancement bonus. Weapons cannot possess the same special ability more than once.
So then what do u count the gold only prices for some enchants as?
So then what do u count the gold only prices for some enchants as?
You count the combined value enhancement + value.
As an example if the item is a +10 value for enhancements then I can not add any more enhancements that have a + value, but I can add enhancements that only have gp prices.
Example: If I have armor with +10 worth of enhancements then I can still add glamor because it is strictly gold piece based, but I can not add another +1 or another enhancement that is said to equal a +1 value.
Thank you for the quick and thorough responses!
I have one more question: if the (enhancement + special ability bonus)<=10, why ever go above +1 anything? special abilites are far more powerful, why not have +1 enhancement and +9 worth of special abilites? Anything less seems like a waste considering how expensive everything gets after +2
Damage Reduction
Better chance to hit
More damage
Probably other things
Edit: thought of another (I knew there was more)
Special abilities that key off the weapons +X
Thank you for the quick and thorough responses!
I have one more question: if the (enhancement + special ability bonus)<=10, why ever go above +1 anything? special abilites are far more powerful, why not have +1 enhancement and +9 worth of special abilites? Anything less seems like a waste considering how expensive everything gets after +2
For weapons the +1(numbers) has a good affect on your DPR(damage per round), and is equal to about 3 points of damage IIRC. It also allows you to bypass damage reduction by having your weapon pretend that it counts as something else for the purpose of bypassing DR. Many special abilities on weapons are cooler such as flaming, but I would not say they are "better".
Most martial builds just benefit more from higher "to hit" numbers. As an example if I am using a barbarian, and I power attack and use dazing assault that is a large penalty to my attacks, but the +'s help negate that.
As for armor I think it depends on your character, and your GM. If you can get really high AC then you wont take as much damage, but otherwise you may be better with other options.
Greater Magic Weapon (CL 20) will make any weapon a +5 all day, so if you have that capacity, running with a +1 enhancement with +9 equivalent abilities is a better choice.
Can a Paladin with bonded sword or armour stack his Paladin bonuses on an item that is already +10 equivalent?
Yet GMW's +5 will not bypass DR types that a normal +5 weapon will.
Greater Magic Weapon (CL 20) will make any weapon a +5 all day, so if you have that capacity, running with a +1 enhancement with +9 equivalent abilities is a better choice.
Can a Paladin with bonded sword or armour stack his Paladin bonuses on an item that is already +10 equivalent?
Nope, and GMW doesn't overcome DR (except magic).
Greater Magic Weapon (CL 20) will make any weapon a +5 all day, so if you have that capacity, running with a +1 enhancement with +9 equivalent abilities is a better choice.
Can a Paladin with bonded sword or armour stack his Paladin bonuses on an item that is already +10 equivalent?
Weapon Bonuses: Can weapon special abilities (such as bane) or class abilities (such as a paladin's divine bond) allow you to exceed the +5 enhancement bonus limit and the +10 bonus-equivalent limitation?
For the enhancement bonus limitation, it depends on the specific effect or ability that's altering the weapon.Bane: This allows the weapon to exceed the +5 limit, but only against the designated creature type. For example, a +5 dragon-bane longsword is normally a +5 weapon, but has a +7 enhancement bonus against dragons and deals +2d6 points of damage against dragons.
Paladin: The divine bond ability says "These [enhancement] bonuses can be added to the weapon, stacking with existing weapon bonuses to a maximum of +5." That means if a paladin has a +5 longsword, she can't use her divine bond to increate the enhancement bonus to +6 or higher (but she could use her bonuses to add abilities such as flaming to the weapon).
The +10 bonus-equivalent limitation is a hard cap for all weapons; you can't exceed that even with class abilities or other unusual abilities.
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Thank you for the quick and thorough responses!
I have one more question: if the (enhancement + special ability bonus)<=10, why ever go above +1 anything? special abilites are far more powerful, why not have +1 enhancement and +9 worth of special abilites? Anything less seems like a waste considering how expensive everything gets after +2
The reason that some people choose to go with higher magic bonuses rather than a variety of special abilities is that they prefer the static advantage of the bonus, rather than the situation-based benefits of special abilities. The magic bonus will apply in almost every situation, whereas special abilities are frequently nullified by a target's own special abilities or various circumstances.
So it comes down to a matter of preference and character design. Many players probably have some characters that focus on the static advantage and others that focus on specialized benefits of special abilities.
Generally speaking a flat enhancement bonus is substantially better than the special enhancements.
There are few exceptions, but they're generally very specific. Bane against your target is obviously better than a +1 enhancement, but only works against one enemy type. Flaming, frost, etc are all virtually worthless. Too many creatures have 5 resist against the various energy types to make it valuable.
Furious, courageous, hurtful, Seeking, and (others that I'm not thinking of at the moment) can be useful for specific builds. But they are not generally useful to everyone.
In general the +1 to attack and damage and increased potential to bypass DR makes the flat enhancement generally better.