can a pc add on a magic weapon enhancement to a Specific Magic Weapon such as Javelin of Lightning? like if he wanted the javelin to have the returning property ???
named items are not only for pfs, but any deviation from printed information is 'ask gm first' basically.
do note that since the javelin is consumed by throwing it , most GM would say it's not there to return.
(now there raw are ways around this, but they come close to exploits)
it says its a weapon
it says its a weapon
it is a weapon, but it is consumed in the attack, so even it had returning, there would be nothing to come back.
Maybe you can get your GM to allow the lightning bolt to return to your hand, but you better be wearing a rubber glove. If you guys are playing "high fantasy" game and playing a little fast and loose with the rules to just have a little fun, it would be pretty cool for the lightning bolt to come back and you throw it one more time or you carry a lightning bolt with you forever.
Otherwise, yeah. the javelin is consumed when you throw it, so there's nothing there to have the enchantment on it. Just like if you throw a hammer with returning, but it gets disintegrated.
This javelin becomes a 5d6 lightning bolt when thrown (Reflex DC 14 half). It is consumed in the attack.
While Javelin of Lightning is a weapon the description specifies it is consumed in the attack. In Pathfinder the specific always trumps the general.
As others mentioned the fact it's a weapon doesn't mean it will come back intact. a splash weapon such as holy water is also a weapon. putting returning on it won't gather the water and rebuild the broken vail and send them back to you.
As I said, to work around it you'd need an exploit.
To be fair, in the older editions it wasn't such a junk item as lightening bolt could have been bounced off walls at right angles to hit targets more then once. (and the user as well if he wasn't careful)
Once they took THAT out of the rules, it became an archaic and a lot less useful item.
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To be fair, in the older editions it wasn't such a junk item as lightening bolt could have been bounced off walls at right angles to hit targets more then once. (and the user as well if he wasn't careful)
Once they took THAT out of the rules, it became an archaic and a lot less useful item.
Not right angles. The angle of incidence was equal to the angle of reflection (i.e., it was reflected in the same way as light) if the surface was capable of resisting the damage.
There was some interesting application where you could have it pass two or more times over the same point.And the Fireball had a constant volume. In flat terrain, having it detonate a few feet over the terrain, allowed it to cover a 30' radius dome. In a building, it would affect a lot of rooms.
The nicest thing in mass combat was that you could create a circular Wall of Fire around you, and it would move with you. A druid in falcon form with a Wall of Fire around him was a mowing machine against low to middle level opponents.
A very different game.
P.S.: you must remember that the PC and monsters had way fewer hit points too. A monster with 20 HD had 20d8 hit points, an average of about 90. No constitution bonus at all.
A 20th level Fighter had 9d10+33 hp. His constitution bonus was added only to the HD, not the fixed 3 hp for each level after level 9.
Say we ignore the Javelin of Lightning for a moment and go with some other examples to address the main question.
Trident of Stability is a +1 Trident.
Celestial Armor is +3 chainmail.
How do you add stuff onto those?
I'd probably just handle it as a delta, treating the non-plus abilities as 'paid for'.
A Trident of Stability is a +1 Trident with other stuff, and costs 9,815gp. The difference between a +1 Trident and a +4 Trident is 30,000gp, so a +4 Trident of Stability would be 39,815gp.
Celestial Armor is +3 chainmail, and costs 22,400gp. The difference between +3 chainmail and +5 chainmail is 16,000gp, so +5 Celestial Armor would be 38,400gp.
Say we ignore the Javelin of Lightning for a moment and go with some other examples to address the main question.
Trident of Stability is a +1 Trident.
Celestial Armor is +3 chainmail.How do you add stuff onto those?
I'd probably just handle it as a delta, treating the non-plus abilities as 'paid for'.
A Trident of Stability is a +1 Trident with other stuff, and costs 9,815gp. The difference between a +1 Trident and a +4 Trident is 30,000gp, so a +4 Trident of Stability would be 39,815gp.
Celestial Armor is +3 chainmail, and costs 22,400gp. The difference between +3 chainmail and +5 chainmail is 16,000gp, so +5 Celestial Armor would be 38,400gp.
Got to disagree here, Celestial Armor is more than a +3 Armor, since is also grants fly, with a base cost if 22,400GP, it's really closer to a +4 or +5 value equivalent, Let's pretend it's +4 value already, to make it a +6 equivalent (the same +2 you mentioned, making it +5 with extra), is a Delta of 20,000GP.....
the same works for the trident.
The big thing for Celestial Armor is the maximum dexterity bonus. For a DEX based character it is the ultimate armor. Not even a Mithral chain shirt is as good. The fact it grants flight is minor in comparison to that.
In general, adding qualities (or even improving the enhancement bonus) for specific magic weapons (or armor) is not recommended. Mainly because it is difficult to figure out how to price the specific magic abilities (as an additional gp cost or as a "+x bonus" equivalent). Single-use items like a javelin of lightning are usually not a cost-effective target for improvements.
However, adding a quality with a fixed gp cost is the exception and relatively straightforward, with GM approval.
Another possible route is to ask the GM to create a custom item similar to the specific item, but only using the standard qualities. You may not get the exact mechanics, but you can often get something thematically close.