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Dragon9 wrote:

Q. Can I upgrade a magic item by paying the difference in cost?
A. Yes, with some limitations. The campaign allows you to upgrade an item's enhancement bonus (and only the enhancement bonus) by paying the difference in cost. If you wish to upgrade anything else, you must utilize the Enchant Magic Item ritual and follow the rules published for it in the Player's Handbook (page 304) and in Adventurer's Vault (page 198). If those rules do not allow you to do something (for example: upgrading from a flaming weapon to a Sunblade) then you cannot do it.

I would probably phrase this answer slightly differently:

Q. Can I upgrade a magic item by paying the difference in cost?
A. You can upgrade the enhancement bonus (and only the enhancement bonus) of your weapon, implement, armor or neck item (e.g., turn a +1 longsword into a +2 longsword) without the need for any ritual, by simply paying the difference in cost between the two items, so long as the level of the upgraded version is less than or equal to your level.

Q. What if I want to make other changes to a magic item?
A. The Enchant Magic Item ritual can be used to add a property to a magic item without one (e.g., turn a +1 longsword into a +1 flaming longsword). The Transfer Enchantment ritual can be used to move magical qualities from one magic item to another (e.g., move the "+1 flaming" from a longsword to a javelin). In either case, you must follow the rules for these rituals, as given in the Player's Handbook (page 304) and Adventurer's Vault (page 198). If those rules do not allow you to do something without DM approval (e.g., turning a +1 thundering weapon into a +1 thunderburst weapon) then you cannot do it.

Rather soon, the campaign is also going to need to deal with the question of "Can I upgrade a non-enhancement bonus item (like a shield or gauntlets) to a higher-level version of that item?" Since the current answer to that question would be "Sorry, while Adventurer's Vault says that you can use the Enchant Magic Item ritual to upgrade an item to a version 5 levels higher, non-enhancement bonus items go up in 10 level increments, so strictly speaking, no", which is a fairly nonsensical (though correct) answer, we should probably leave that question aside for the moment.

I would also add a question after the "how to handle disease" question, referring to the post Shawn Merwin did about NPC ritual performance (even though I'm not really a fan of this rule nor the lack of any official inclusion in the CCG), something along the lines of:

Q. Can I pay an NPC to perform Cure Disease or some other ritual for me?
A. If it is not stated in the module, whether you are able to find an NPC able to perform a particular ritual is up to the DM, as is the NPC's level and skill. The standard price for an NPC-performed ritual is 120% of the component cost, as confirmed by LFR admin.

-- Brian Gibbons.

Kurald_Galain wrote:

I suppose that also applies to upgrading items, for those characters who are unable to use the Enchant Item ritual themselves?

If you are upgrading an item pursuant to the "Magic items that have an enhancement bonus can be upgraded" rules in the RPGA CCG, you follow the rules given in the CCG. (You pay the difference in cost between the items, and we don't know or care how this was accomplished in-game.)

If you are making changes to an item pursuant to the Enchant Magic Item ritual, you follow the rules given in the ritual. (If you are performing the ritual yourself, you pay the difference in cost between the items; if you can't perform the ritual on your own, you either use a scroll and pay 175 gp + the difference in cost, or hire an NPC to perform the ritual and pay 120% of the difference in cost.)

-- Brian Gibbons.