(Please clarify rules) Issue with enchancement bonus on unfinished 3rd party product.


Advice and Rules Questions


(Posting this, tho with hidden name of item, since it's unfinished playtest, so probably no full version anywhere... at least noone managed to find it so far)

"may be enchanted as if they were masterwork weapons to gain enhancement bonuses to attack and damage or weapon special abilities. See Table: Melee Weapon Special Abilities (see Paizo: Pathfinder Core Rulebook ) for a list of abilities. Special abilities count as additional bonuses for determining the market value of the item, but do not modify attack or damage bonuses. An [[NAME]] cannot have a modified bonus (enhancement bonus plus special ability bonus equivalents) higher than +5."

Question is, would that +5 restriction apply all the time, or only to pernament enchantments?


Flagged for wrong forum and without full info it would be difficult for a definite answer.


Since normal magic weapons can have combined up to +10, and cannot exceed that even with spells/abilities, I'd say this is likely intended to be max +5, and cannot exceed...

Still, this feels more like a question for the developer than the forums since unless someone from their team is on here (likely but not guaranteed) none of our answers will ever be diffinitive.


Presumably (and by that I mean what the others have said, that we can't be certain), the +5 is meant to be a hard cap, like the +10 modified bonus for enhancements and equivalent enhancement from abilities on weapons and armor. So the item could grant a +2 enhancement bonus to attack and damage and have keen (+1) and flaming burst (+2) for a total modified bonus of +5.

As for whether temporary effects can raise that above +5 modified, it would seem to be No.

Magical Weapons wrote:
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.

The wording of the item you quoted seems to be pretty boilerplate and identical (other than as noted). From the reading, it would appear that temporary enhancement increases won't work if the item is already +5 (or would go over it). Such instances might include a magus increasing their weapon's enhancement bonus with their arcane pool, or a high-level caster trying to use greater magic weapon on a low enhancement but ability-heavy magic sword.

From the reading, this may or may not also prevent a bane weapon from getting it's +2 higher enhancement to attack and damage against its specified foe if it would take the bonus higher than +10 (or +5 in the case of your item), but that's just from a quick reading. The provided quote doesn't mention weapon abilities, only character abilities and spells, so your GM may have to make their own call on such situations. This may or may not have been the intention (or even considered) by your item's author.


a lower cap is possible, it is just not done in core Pathfinder products to date. It might be sensible for some oddball special material or tech items. Consult your publisher.

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