Price (Item Level): 6,775 gp (11th)
Body Slot: — (held)
Caster Level: 5th
Aura: Faint; (DC 17) transmutation
Activation: Free (command)
Weight: 8 lb.
This massive bow is made entirely razorsharp steel, yet it clearly functions as a potent ranged weapon.
This +1 composite longbow (+4 Str bonus) changes into a +1 greatsword (or vice versa) when activated. You can interchange bow and sword attacks as part of the same full attack action.
In sword form, the weapon features a bowlike grip and a pommel that resembles the curving tip of a bow. In bow form, the weapon is made of metal, and each limb of the bow resembles a sword blade.
In either form, a great swordbow has the same enhancement bonus. A great swordbow’s enhancement bonus can be improved as if improving two separate weapons (for example, improving a +1 great swordbow to a +2 great swordbow costs 12,000 gp, just as if you were improving two +1 weapons to +2). A great swordbow can have special weapon properties added to it (such as flaming); such properties cost twice the normal amount (again, as if improving two separate weapons) and apply to both weapons if possible. If a property can’t apply to both weapons (such as vorpal or distance), it applies only to the swordbow when it is in an eligible form (for instance, a +1 great swordbow of distance is a distance weapon only in bow form). If a property can apply to the weapon in only one of its forms, it does not cost double the regular price.
Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, shrink item, elf.
Cost to Create: 3,000 gp (plus 775 gp for masterwork composite longbow), 240 XP, 6 days.
Source: Magic Item Compendium, page 61. Originally published in Races of the Wild, page 171.