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Thief of the Light: This +2 defending longsword
is made of dark gray steel engraved with the symbol of Mask and has a hilt
wrapped in black leather. Created by one of the Shadowmasters of Telflamm,
the sword was stolen by a tiefling worshipper of Tymora, which Mask finds
annoying and yet ironic. Its location is not known at this time, and the
tiefling may have taken it almost anywhere in Faerûn.
Its magic enables the weapon to be wielded as if
it were a short sword with respect to weight and ease of use. (In other
words, the weapon appears to all viewers to be a longsword, and deals longsword
damage, but the wielder feels and reacts as if the weapon were a short
sword.) Any individual able to use either a longsword or a short sword
with proficiency is proficient in the use of this weapon. Likewise, Weapon
Focus and Weapon Specialization in short sword and longsword apply equally.
Once per day, the sword can be used to cast blacklight.
Caster Level: 8th; Prerequisites:
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, blacklight, shield/shield of faith;
Market Price: 32,315 gp; Cost to Create: 16,315 gp + 1,280
XP.
Pricing:
This is a fun one. The item
has a base plus of +2, defending is +1, for a total of +3.
The "virtual size change"
property is just like that of the sun blade. If we reverse engineer
the price of the sun blade (50,000 gp), we see that its price is
a +5-equivalent weapon. Obviously +2 of it is from the enhancement bonus.
Its bonus against evil creatures is similar to bane, although you
don't get bonus damage. The damage multipliers make this property essentially
equal to bane, so that accounts for another +2 of the weapon's cost.
That leaves +1, and it's a reasonable estimation that that last +1 covers
both the "virtual size change" and the ability to make light in that weird
way. Since continual flame and daylight are both 3rd-level
cleric spells, it's a reasonable assumption to say that since blacklight
is also Clr 3 we can just swap out our spell for the one in the DMG. So
the Thief of the Light gains another +1 property. (Yes, I'm aware
that the prereq for the sun blade is continual light, which
is no longer a spell in the PH, but the "replacement" spells above are
the same level so that's OK).
+2 enhancement +1 defending
+1 virtual size change & blacklight=+4. Finally, a simple
cost!
Total magic price is 32000
gp.
Half of that is the cost to
create, or 16000 gp.
1/25 the magic price is the
XP cost, or 1280.
Add in the 315 gp for a masterwork
longsword and you get the final costs.