Does Truesilver grant Ghost Touch

dnd-3.5emagic-itemsspecial-materials

Truesilver comes from Ghostwalk (page 64):

Truesilver: This ability incorporates magically purified and hardened
silver into the weapon. It is treated as a silver weapon for the
purpose of harming creatures particularly vulnerable to silver, such
as ghosts. Furthermore, a truesilver weapon allows sneak attacks or
critical hits on ghosts. Even though it is a change to the composition
of the weapon rather than simply a magical property, truesilver can be
added to an existing weapon.

Caster Level: 5th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Craft
(metalworking) 5 ranks; Market Price: +1 bonus.

And it is errata'ed to 3.5 thusly:

Page 64, Truesilver Property: Add “No aura (nonmagical);” before
“Caster Level.” Change “Market Price: +1 bonus” to “Price +1,000 gp.”

Does the ability to apply precision damage to ghosts imply the ghost touch ability?

The obvious contrast here is the Truedeath Weapon Augment Crystal from the Magic Item Compendium (page 66):

TRUEDEATH CRYSTAL
Price (Item Level): 1,000 gp (4th) (least); 5,000
gp (9th) (lesser); 10,000 gp (12th) (greater)
Body Slot: — (weapon crystal)
Caster Level: 5th
Aura: Faint; (DC 17) evocation Activation: —
Weight: —

This amethyst is carved in the shape of a humanoid skull.

Clerics craft truedeath crystals to aid themselves and others in
sending undead to their final rest.
Least: A weapon with this crystal
attached deals an extra 1d6 points of damage to undead.
Lesser: As
the least crystal, and the weapon also functions as a ghost touch
weapon (DMG 224).
Greater: As the lesser crystal, and the weapon can
deliver sneak attacks and critical hits against undead as if they were
living creatures.
Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor,
consecrate.
Cost to Create:500 gp, 40 XP, 1 day (least); 2,500 gp,
200 XP, 5 days (lesser); 5,000 gp, 400 XP, 10 days (greater)

If we assume Truesilver has the Ghost Touch, that gives it: overcomes DR/silver, Ghost touch, precision damage vs ghosts. For 1,000gp.

The least crystal is also 1,000gp and gives +1d6 to all undead. The lesser gives that plus ghost touch for 5,000gp, and the greater gives all that plus precision damage against undead for 10,000gp. At first glance it seems like the greater crystal and the truesilver are equal. But the crystal affects all undead, not just ghosts, plus it has that extra damage. The crystal also has the benefit of being modular.

From a price point I think it could be argued one way or the other. Mechanically, that the crystal gives ghost touch before precision damage could be taken as a sign it's a requirement, but it doesn't say that. Unless there's rules I'm unaware of? I think by strictest RAW Truesilver wouldn't have ghost touch simply because it doesn't explicitly say it does. But how would it hold up to RAI?

Best Answer

No, Truesilver does not grant ghost-touch.

First, as quoted in the question, nothing in the description says that it does. It specifically:

is treated as a silver weapon for the purpose of harming creatures particularly vulnerable to silver, such as ghosts. Furthermore, a truesilver weapon allows sneak attacks or critical hits on ghosts.

If truesilver were meant to include ghost touch, it would almost certainly say so.

Second, the Bone Collector prestige class's 2nd level ability Lesser Bone Weapon lets them:

craft certain kinds of magic weapons that imitate undead attacks or harm undead. She can craft weapons with a +1 enhancement bonus or can imbue magic weapons with any of the following properties: flaming, ghost touch, truesilver.

There would be no need to allow both ghost touch and truesliver if the latter included the former.

Third, from a price analysis, truesilver either counts as a +1 enhancement bonus or adds a flat 1,000 gp to the weapon's price. Adding ghost touch to a weapon also counts as a +1 bonus; especially in the Ghostwalk setting, where ghosts are likely to be significantly more common than the "average" setting, ghost touch is likely to be more valuable than "average". So, there's no way a weapon ability that would effectively be "ghost touch, plus some other things" would be valued at - or below! - the value of just ghost touch.

The augment crystal's pricing is largely due to its flexibility: it can be moved to another weapon trivially, and it can be replaced by another augment crystal trivially. That flexibility - plus being able to affect undead other than ghosts - accounts for its increased price. Nothing in the crystal's description says that ghost touch is required to allow a weapon to deal precision damage; rather, the progression simply implies that dealing precision damage is more valuable than ghost touch - which, especially from a rogue's perspective, is quite plausible.

IME, a typical 5th level rogue will do somewhere around 1d6+2 (average 5.5) weapon damage, and 3d6 (average 10.5) sneak attack damage - nearly 2/3 of their damage comes from sneak attack! On average, not having ghost touch will halve an attack's damage, but losing out on sneak attack with a ghost touch weapon leaves 2/3 of the damage on the table, and that ratio favors sneak attack damage more and more as you gain levels (assuming you keep getting sneak attack dice). As a 5th level rogue, I'd much rather do half of a full attack - 16/2 = 8 - than all of a non-sneak-attack's damage; crank that up to 9, with 1d6+4 (average 7.5) + 5d6 (average 16.5) , and I'll take the 24/2=12 damage over 7.5 any day of the week. YMMV, of course, but my experience with rogues is that an attack without sneak attack is barely worth making.

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