One of my players is attempting to have a magic weapon built, and we're in disagreement on some of the technicalities. He wants to have a +3 weapon with +7 in abilities, which is problem one. I've always been told you can only have up to +5 in special abilities, just like enhancements, otherwise you could put +9 total abilities on a +1 weapon, which seems silly and imbalanced. However, I cannot find this stated explicitly anywhere, and would like confirmation on which is correct, as I'm only finding the +5 enhancement limit mentioned specifically.
Secondly, we're in disagreement on how certain abilities work when factoring in special ability enhancement numbers. Certain abilities are placed into the tables with an amount of money rather than an effective +. Do they still count as that amount of +, or can they be added with impunity? The particular ability in question right now is Dueling, which in the +4/5 table, but has a listed base price modifier of 14k gold. If he were to get a Dueling weapon would that influence the + total of his special abilities or can he add it even if he's at his maximum?
Your player is correct on the +3 enhancement/+7 in abilities.
A magic weapon is enhanced to strike more truly and deliver more damage. Magic weapons have enhancement bonuses ranging from +1 to +5. They apply these bonuses to both attack and damage rolls when used in combat. All magic weapons are also masterwork weapons, but their masterwork bonuses on attack rolls do not stack with their enhancement bonuses on attack rolls.
Weapons come in two basic categories: melee and ranged. Some of the weapons listed as melee weapons can also be used as ranged weapons. In this case, their enhancement bonuses apply to both melee and ranged attacks.
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.
Other than the +1 minimum enhancement bonus before adding special abilities, there is no other limit beyond the +10 total (just remember the "including those from character abilities and spells").
As far as abilities with set costs instead of a "+X equivalent," they can be added with one caveat: as GM, you can limit any PC created magic item to a market price of [base item price + 200,000 gp in magic]; note that other than three staves, every other non-artifact item in Ultimate Equipment is 200,000 gp or less.
Special Abilities with flat gold costs don't add to the weapon's base price bonus, and can be added in addition to whatever other properties it has.
Such things are only in the enhancement bonus tables for the purposes of randomizing whatever weapon properties a given random weapon might have.
As far as abilities with set costs instead of a "+X equivalent," they can be added with one caveat: as GM, you can limit any PC created magic item to a market price of [base item price + 200,000 gp in magic]; note that other than three staves, every other non-artifact item in Ultimate Equipment is 200,000 gp or less.As a GM you can impose whatever limit you like, but can you point to the specific rule limiting weapons under 200k?
It's from 3.x, but generally it's a good rule of thumb: pretty much any magic item over 200,000 gp would be an artifact (and impossible to create with "mortal" magic).