Tuesday Magic Item – Wicked (Weapon Enhancement)

A little something to make weapons more dangerous.

The light caught the blade and it seemed to glint evilly off the edge; which was not a clean, straight edge but subtly jagged as if to cause greater damage when it was pulled from a wound.   The swordsman wielding smiled wickedly and flourished the sword.  “Are you next?” he asked.

Wicked (Weapon Enhancement): Weapons with this magic ability cut deeper and inflict greater wounds than other weapons of their type.  They even seem to sense weakness and inflict greater wounds on those who are weak.

Weapons with this enhancement improve their damage die by one step.  Further, any weapon damage rolls (but not sneak attack damage dice) made against a flat-footed opponent or on a critical hit allow any die that comes up a “1” to be rerolled once.

Moderate transmutation; CL 7th; Craft Arms and Armor, cat’s grace, true strike; Price +4,000 (or +1 bonus for a weapon with a base damage of 1d12/2d6 or higher).

Notes: Alright, the first design goal of this enhancement was just to be able to have a +1 wicked rapier, is that wrong I ask you?

Actually making it work was a bit of a challenge.  In most cases increasing the die type of a weapon is worth an extra +1 average damage which is just not as good overall as having an additional +1 enhancement and it certainly does not match the extra damage from flaming/frost/shocking.  Therefore, it should not cost as much as a +1 enhancement.  After giving it another minor ability (the reroll for criticals and against flat-footed opponents) it seemed that 4,000 was a fair price unless you were using it to really expand you weapons damage range (as 1d12/2d6 weapons go to 2d8 weapons with this, a slightly greater gain than going from 1d4 to 1d6 for a wicked dagger).