Revised Magic Arms and Armor (3.5e Variant Rule)

Revised Magic Arms and Armor
Whenever you buy a magic weapon, you will want to make sure you get your money's worth. This can present many different problems, as the value ascribed to magic items is quite inconsistent from one particular specimen to the next. Take a +5 magical weapon for example. There is no question that +5 to damage means a lot more on a dagger than it does on a greatsword; the dagger's average base damage triples between +0 to +5, whereas the greatsword doesn't even manage to double its base stopping power. In the same way, the flaming quality means a lot more on a +1 weapon than on a +5 weapon, considering that on a +5 weapon you pay 22,000 gold pieces for 1d6 extra damage per hit (as opposed to 6,000 gp on a +1 weapon), which isn't worth the huge investment however you cut it. Why would you have to pay more for the same thing? Hell, why would you want to put that on a +1 weapon knowing full well that in 10 levels' time it'd no longer be worth it? When a weapon becomes more expensive, its special qualities should have power befitting the cost. As such, this variant will redefine magic arms and armor, and rework many special weapon, armor and shield qualities to scale with the item's base enhancement bonus.

Arms and Armor Enhancement
Magical arms and armor have a base enhancement level that ranges from +1 to +5. As normal, a +0 weapon, armor or shield is nonmagical.

Magical Weapons
A magical weapon's enhancement bonus is added to attack rolls made with the weapon. In addition, at every odd enhancement level (+1, +3 and +5) the weapon's base damage increases by one virtual size category, and at every even enhancement level (+2, +4), the weapon's threat range increases by one point (20 becomes 19-20, 19-20 becomes 18-20, and so forth).

For example, a +3 Dagger has a base damage of 1d8 and a threat range of 18-20, and a +3 spear has a base damage of 3d6 and a threat range of 19-20.

''Note that with this rule, it is unwise to allow keen to stack with Improved Critical, as a +5 Keen scimitar will end up with a threat range of 11-20; a 50% chance. Furthermore, the basic critical information for certain weapons may have to be changed or amended for use with this variant to preserve overall game balance.''

Magical Armors and Shields
A creature has a combined enhancement bonus to its AC that is the sum of the enhancement bonus of its armor and the enhancement bonus of its shield. This bonus represents the combined magical enhancement of its armor and shield (if any) and applies to touch attacks as well. A creature wearing a magical armor and/or shield also gains damage reduction/- equal to this combined enhancement bonus, or its existing damage reduction/- increases by this amount. In addition, at every odd enhancement level (+1, +3 and +5), the armor check penalty or any armor or shield decreases by 1 (to a minimum of 0) and at every even enhancement level (+2, +4), the armor or shield's maximum Dexterity bonus to AC increases by 1.

For example, a +4 mithral full plate has an ACP of -3, a Max Dex bonus of +5, and gives a +4 enhancement bonus to (touch) AC and DR 4/-.

''This change in how magic armors and shields work is there partially to allow characters focused on 'tanking' to endure more physical hits, as well as to even out the increased damage output of magical weapons. To maintain a sense of balance, it may be desirable to give creatures DR/- equal to half their natural armor, or grant spells like mage armor and shield a similar damage reduction effect. On the other hand, lightly armed characters may find themselves disadvantaged by these changes.

Special Arms and Armor Qualities
To be Doneblargh.