Do Transfer Magic and Enchant Magic Item work together?

Question

This is a question concerning 2 different rituals and if they work in conjunction with one another, namely, Transfer Magic and Enchant Magic Item.

If I understand the reading of the spells correctly, Transfer Magic lets you transfer the properties, powers and enhancements associated with an item to a magical or mundane item of the same type that is your level or lower.

E.G. --- I transfer my Armor of Dark Majesty +1 (level 4 item) to a piece of level 0 Leather Armor. I now have level 0 Leather Armor with all the properties of my level 4 Dark Majesty. The two items are now identical.

Next, Enchant Magic Item changes a normal item into a magical item of equal or lower level to you.

E.G. --- I am a level 7 warlock, I change my level 0 Leather Armor into Magic armor +2 which is a level 6 item for the difference in cost between Leather Armor (25g) and MA+2 (1800g) or in otherwords, the ritual costs 1775g).

Finally, the question: If I combine those two actions by first transferring the Armor of Dark Majesty +1 to Level 0 Leather Armor, then using Enchant Magic Item to change the Leather Armor into Magic Armor +2, do I now have a level 6 Magic Armor +2 with all of the same stats as a Armor of Dark Majesty +2 (Which is a level 8 item that costs 4200g)?

Answer 1

No, it does not work quite like that.

Firstly, 4th edition does not allow multiple enchantments to be placed on an item, you can only ever have a single enchantment on an item (although you can upgrade that enchantment, see below).

Secondly Transfer Enchantment (from Adventurer's Vault pg 199) specifically states:

You transfer the magical qualities (properties, powers, and enhancement bonus) of an enchanted item into another object.

The act of transferring the enchantment to the leather armour makes the leather armour magical, it is no longer a mundane item, and thus could not receive an enchantment exactly as you expect it. The original armour is now mundane and no longer has an enchantment, the ritual transfers the enchantment from one item to another, it does not copy, clone or replicate the power so at no point would the items be identical.

The leather armour would also no longer be a level 0 item, it would be a level 4 item as dictated by the enchantment. From the PHB (pg 225):

A magic item’s level and its enhancement bonus are associated.

A Dark Majesty +1 item is always level 4, so the leather armour is now level 4 also.

However the official errata for Enchant Magic Item adds:

Alternatively, you can use the ritual to upgrade a common, uncommon, or rare item to a more powerful version of the item that is 5 levels higher. The new version must be your level or lower, and the component cost equals the difference in gold piece value between the old version and the new.

Thus at level 9 you could upgrade your level 4 leather armour of Dark Majesty +1 into a level 9 leather armour of Dark Majesty +2 by spending 3360gp (4200 for level 9 - 840 for level 4).

Answer 2

I think there are some misunderstandings in how the rituals work.

1. There are no level 0 magical items. There are normal items (non-magical and without level), and there are magical items (with a minimal level of 1). This means you cannot have a magical item without level.
2. Item level comes from the enchantment, not from the base item. A Leather Armor of Dark Majesty +1 is always level 4, and to raise it to +2 using Enchant Magic Item, you need to increase its level from 4 to 9.
3. Transfer Enchantment moves enchantment, does not create copy.

   You transfer the magical qualities (properties, powers, and enhancement bonus) of an enchanted item into another object. You can transfer an enchantment to an item that already contains a lower-level enchantment, but the receiving item's previous magic is lost.

   When you transfer an Armor of Dark Majesty +1 (level 4) to a normal Leather Armor, you end up with one normal armor (originally magical) and one Leather Armor of Dark Majesty +1 (originally non-magical, now level 4). You do not get two copies, and as stated above the target item's new level always match the new enchantment.