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The Guide to Organized Play says:
For ease of play in Pathfinder Society, a masterwork
item can always be upgraded to a +1 item without paying
for the masterwork cost again. Instead, you pay the
difference between the cost of the +1 item and that of the
masterwork item. This rule also applies to upgrading
from a +1 item to a +2 item and so on—you never have to
repay the original cost or sell your current item for half
to upgrade to the next step. Note that this only applies to
items of the same kind—you can’t, for example, turn your
masterwork rapier into a +1 greatsword. A mundane item
can not be upgraded to masterwork, nor can non-magical
aspects of equipment be upgraded (such as the strength
rating on a composite bow).
That seems straightforward enough. My barbarian already bought a masterwork greataxe for 320 gp (20 base + 300 masterwork cost). Now I can pay 2000 more gold to have someone at the Pathfinder Lodge in Absalom enchant it for me, to make it +1 magic, and that's always available. After that, I could pay 6000 more to upgrade it to +2 magic, once I have enough Fame to buy items of that price.
But how much fame is enough to do that? A 22 fame score is enough to buy things up to 8000 gp, so would my 6000 gp upgrade be available once I hit 22 Fame?
But wait! The total value of a +2 greataxe is actually 8320 (20 base cost for a greataxe + 300 masterwork cost + 8000 cost for +2 magic bonus). So does that put it over the 8000 limit to be able to buy it with 22 Fame, even though 2320 of that was paid as part of previous purchases?
I guess that's the first question: Does the fame limitation on purchase price apply to the price of just the upgrade, or the total value of the item after the upgrade?
Also, the quote above specifically talks about generic numeric bonus upgrades in magic level +1 to +2, but what about upgrading other magical properties of an item? What if I want to make my +1 greataxe into a +1 flaming greataxe, which adds 2000 gp to the price. Does the "just pay the difference" rule still apply (in story, I pay someone to add additional enchantments to my existing magic greataxe), or would I need to sell my old +1 greataxe and buy a new +1 flaming greataxe? Same question about intelligent magic weapons, since that recently came up in another thread.
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Fromper, you caught a subtle twist in the rules and interpreted it accurately. You must have enough Fame to afford the cost of the total item, not just of the upgrade.
Enhancements such as flaming & frost are available if you have the requisite Fame. Flaming is a +1 enhancement but can only be added to a weapon that is already enchanted. So the cost of a +1 flaming greataxe and a +2 greataxe are identical. The cost of a +2 flaming greataxe is the equivalent of a +3 weapon enhancement, or 18,320gp. Does that make sense?
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Fromper, you caught a subtle twist in the rules and interpreted it accurately. You must have enough Fame to afford the cost of the total item, not just of the upgrade.
I suspected as much. Otherwise, people could game the system by splitting up a big magic item cost by splitting into multiple smaller purchases, to get around the Fame limitation. Why do I have the feeling the 8000 gp limit at 22 fame was chosen specifically to prevent players at that level from getting +2 weapons?
What about my second question? Can magic items be "upgraded" in other ways, besides just numeric bonuses? Or do you have to sell and replace an item to get a new one with special qualities besides just a numeric bonus?
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Magic items like armor can be upgraded with enhancements like shadow, slick & glamered simply by paying the upgrade cost. What other non-numeric upgrades did you have in mind?
I thought so, but I just wanted to be sure. That probably answers my question.
The only other odd thing I was thinking of was an intelligent magic weapon, which actually isn't as expensive as I thought it would be. Someone in another thread suggested that an intelligent composite longbow could be built to cast Gravity Bow on itself 3 times per day, and it really wouldn't be that expensive, relatively speaking. GB is a great spell - it upgrades medium longbow damage from 1d8 to 2d6 damage per arrow for 10 rounds, so this would be totally worth it.
For instance:
Composite Longbow, built for +2 strength bonus: 300 gp
Masterwork cost: 300 gp
+1 magical: 2000 gp
Intelligent: 500 gp
Telepathic (so I can tell it when to cast the spell and when to hold off, rather than the bow always wanting to boost itself every fight): 1000 gp
Ability to cast level 1 spell 3 times per day: 1200 gp
Total cost: 5300 gp
And I'm not sure if the +1 magic bonus is even necessary, or if I can make it magical, intelligent, and casting without that.
Now this discussion of intelligent weapons has me wondering what my barbarian could get done to his greataxe. The only downside there is that the axe would end up being smarter than the barbarian. :p
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sort of a related question...
I have a character with +1 full plate - and he just got access to +2 full plate on an AR. I don't know his Fame off the top of my head, but say it's not enough to get access to +2 full plate (5K+ I think).
would the access to +2 plate on an AR give him access to UPGRADE his existing +1 full plate?
Yes.
Would it give him access to other things that are a +1 enchantment (like +1 Slick full plate maybe?)?
No. He would only have access to the specific bonus on the chronicle, until his fame allowed him to purchase it normally.