101 Alternate Materials [Archive] - Wizards Community

101 Alternate Materials [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Vharuck
09-28-05, 05:44 PM To add a more open-ended method of creating neat items, let's put some more spins on the ones we got. A way to do this that this thread will focus on is using alternate materials.

By alternate material, I mean a special (usually rare, magical, and expensive) type of material that normal items (swords, clubs, armor) can be crafted from. The alternate materials detailed in the DMG are adamantine, darkwood, dragonhide, cold iron, mithral, and alchemical silver. Personally, I feel that there are far too few alternate materials and that their special properties are kind of dull. An item weighing half as much is statistically nice, but not really something heroic. You remember the guy whose blade shined in the dark more than the guy whose shield was surprisingly lighter than it looked. The harder materials are good too, with adamantine's DR property being cool. Alchemical silver and cold iron aren't really cool in and of themselves, as they're only special against baddies whose DR they bypass.

So, what I'm requesting is that everyone imagine, create, write out, and post their own ideas for cool special materials! A few guidelines:

A) Name. Make it good. "Windwood" is nice, but "tough rock" isn't.
B) Power. The ability should not be better than any +1 armor or weapon ability. Doing so could possibly screw up the item's power/cost ratio, as special materials always cost the same amount to use and aren't exponential.
C) Ingenuity. Like I said before, we have enough "this weighs less" and "this is harder" materials. Let's come up with genuinely unique materials and abilities.
D) Pricing. Please list a market price modifier for something made of your material.
E) Craft DC. List the increase (if any) to the DC of the Craft check to create an item of the material.

And now on to the list!

1. Bloodwood: Harvested from the rare crimson tree called the Blood Ash, bloodwood, though not as hard or as sturdy as steel, is used often to make clubs or staves for use in armies. Whenever a person is killed by a blow from a bloodwood weapon, the wielder regains 1d4 hp. Only weapons normally made of wood can be crafted be bloodwood. In order to retain their magical nature, bloodwood weapons are always of masterwork quality. A weapon or suit of armor made of bloodwood has a market price modifier of +500 gp (this doesn't include the masterwork price modifier) and a Craft DC modifier of +3. Bloodwood has hardness 5 and 10 hit points per inch of thickness.

2. Rakshasa Skin: Magical leather created from treating the skin of a rakshasa with special chemicals, rakshasa skin is coveted by sorcerers and wizards. The skin, even unenchanted, glows with a minor magical aura when analyzed with detect magic. This is because a small amount of the rakshasa's shapechanging powers still flows throughout the skin. Once per day when wearing a leather item made from rakshasa skin, a character may choose to cast a transmutation spell targeting himself at +1 caster level. Though studded and normal leather armor crafted from rakshasa skin exist, robes benefit the most from this material. Robes crafted from the tough skin grant the bearer a +1 armor bonus to AC, though they cannot be enhanced with the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat like regular armor (in other words, it can only grant a +1 armor bonus to AC). All items cratfed from rakshasa skin must be of masterwork quality. A suit of armor crafted from rakshasa skin has a market price modifier of +1,000 gp and a Craft DC modifier of +5. Robes crafted from rakshasa skin cost 1,000 gp and require a Craft (tailoring) check against a DC of 25. Because of the rakshasa's naturally tough skin, items made from rakshasa skin have hardness 10 and 30 hit points per inch of thickness.
Antioch
09-28-05, 06:07 PM Actually, the rakshasa skin seems more like a component require to craft glamered armor, or the druid wild-shaping armor.
Patrick Draken-Korin
09-28-05, 09:57 PM here're some of mine. i'm only listing the weaker ones because you stated limiting them to being as powerful as a +1 enchantment.

Astral Silver: metal equipment only. astral silver naturally has the ghost touch property, and any incorporeal creature that touches astral silver takes 1d3+1 damage each round it remains in contact (the creature only takes damage once per round if attacked multiple times with a specific astral silver weapon; multiple astral weapons would deal seperate damage though)- this damage can’t be healed by regeneration or fast healing.
hardness 8, 15 hit points per inch, -1 to break DC, +1 max dex for armor
astral silver costs +200 Gp per pound of the object, plus the cost to masterwork the item (or +30 Gp per unit of ammunition). when making weapons or armor out of astral silver, the craft DC is increased by +2 (astral silver requires special care, but is a softer metal). astral silver can only be forged on the astral plane
notes: this stuff was rare beyond it's cost in one campaign, due to the fact that a dozen ghosts ruled the campaign's main empire.

Living Iron: metal equipment only. living iron heals 1 hit point every minute. objects crafted from living iron are living objects (they have a constitution score but no wisdom or charisma, like trees; this means that living iron is tangible to brilliant energy weapons). druids can freely wear armor crafted from living iron without losing access to class features.
hardness 12, 30 hitpoints per inch, +1 to break DC, +1 max dex for armor (doesn't manifest until armor has been worn for at least 40 hours by a single individual, doesn't have to be consecutive). -1 AC pen (disappears after armor has been worn for at least 25 hours by a single individual, doesn't have to be consecutive).
living iron costs +400 Gp per pound of the object (living iron objects may or may not be masterwork, if they are you must add the additional cost and craft DC increase). when making a object out of living iron, the craft DC is increased by +5 (it is harder than steel, and constantly heals). living iron is crafted from common iron ore, but must be accomplished by a druidic spellcaster (nature mage), though no spellcasting is required.
notes: i made this stuff up for a campaign with a monster that had brilliant energy claws- they were quite common in a certain jungle, so natives had developed the secret of living metal. just wait till i work on my living iron warforged.

Red Gold: metal weapons only. a creature dealt damage with a weapon froged from red gold will bleed 1 damage each round for 1d6+3 round. multiple bleeding wounds stack (3 wounds bleeds 3 damage each round). a successful heal check DC 15 stops the bleeding of one wound or a DC 25 heal check can heal all wounds- only one heal check can be made each round per wounded creature.
hardness 12, 25 hit points per inch, 2x weight, -1 on attacks with red gold weapons (this includes the +1 enhancement bonus due to masterworking).
light weapons crafted from red gold cost +2,500 Gp, one-handed weapons crafted from red gold cost +5,000 Gp, two-handed weapons crafted from red gold cost +7,500 Gp, ammunition crafted from red gold costs +50 Gp per unit of ammunition (this includes masterwoking costs). when making a weapon out of red gold, the craft DC is increased by +1 (it is harder than steel). red gold is created by mixing gold and demon's blood.
note: interestingly enough, devil's blood, or blood from other evil outsider's won't due. it has to be blood of a tanar'ri (usually a dretch is the... doner). evil cultists favor red gold weapons.

well those are the only weak one's i've got to offer. if you'll expand to stonger materials i've got another half dozen.
OrbitalB
09-28-05, 09:59 PM Items which need to be masterwork to include a material should not be worded that way. The presedent is set. Roll the masterwork cost into the cost of the item and state that items made of this material count as masterwork.

Also, try to consider if a material can be used to make other things. It always feels sloppy to me to omit possibilities with materials. (example: cold iron armor)

Try include costs for weapons, ammunition, armors by size, and shields.
RavenDrake
09-28-05, 11:33 PM Quinine: Quinine(KWIE nine) wood is derived from a rare strain of tree, presumed to be an offshoot of oak or ash, that only grows in or near anti-magic zones... though whether the zone facilitates the tree's growth, or the growth of a copse of these trees can cause the zone is still debated by scholars. Regardless, all things Quinine absorb and negate magical energy.

Shields made of Quinine grant a resistance bonus of +1(for Small shields) or +2 for (Large and Tower Shields) to all saving throws against Spells and Spell-like and Supernatural abilities. Armour made of Quinine-wood grants either a +1 or +2 bonus(for Light and Medium, or Heavy armour, respectively) to all saving throws against Spells and Spell-like and Supernatural abilities... though wooden armours are rare. [Note: As in, I can't think of any, except ironwood.]

Weapons made of Quinine(completely made of Quinine, like staffs and clubs, but not capped or tipped like arrows or axes). Bypass all magical armour, shield, and deflection bonuses to AC. Weapons made of capped Quinine(like arrows or axes) ignore 2 points of total AC due to magical Armour, Shield, or Deflection bonuses. Weapons made primarily of metal (like Swords) cannot be made of quinine.

Quinine itself is hardy and resistant to magic. Any magical effect that would normially affect it is instead subject to Spell Resistance 25. Even then, Quinine has Resistance 15 to all magical damage. If attacked by a magical weapon, increase the item's effective hardness by 1 point for each point of Enhancement bonus the weapon has.

Quinine is as easy to work with as normal wood and normal and masterwork versions exist. Quinine has the same hardness and hitpoints per inch as normal wood. Because Quinine is so inherently anti-magical, you cannot enchant it with ANY special bonuses. Quinine can be affected by the Ironwood spell, but the Druid affecting it must overcome Spell Resistance 25 for the spell to take hold. Quinine cannot be made into Ironwood permenantly.

Cost

Light Shield or Light Armour: +1000gp
Heavy or Tower Shield or Heavy Armour: +2000gp
Weapons: +1000gp

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Vharuck 09-28-05, 05:44 PM	To add a more open-ended method of creating neat items, let's put some more spins on the ones we got. A way to do this that this thread will focus on is using alternate materials. By alternate material, I mean a special (usually rare, magical, and expensive) type of material that normal items (swords, clubs, armor) can be crafted from. The alternate materials detailed in the DMG are adamantine, darkwood, dragonhide, cold iron, mithral, and alchemical silver. Personally, I feel that there are far too few alternate materials and that their special properties are kind of dull. An item weighing half as much is statistically nice, but not really something heroic. You remember the guy whose blade shined in the dark more than the guy whose shield was surprisingly lighter than it looked. The harder materials are good too, with adamantine's DR property being cool. Alchemical silver and cold iron aren't really cool in and of themselves, as they're only special against baddies whose DR they bypass. So, what I'm requesting is that everyone imagine, create, write out, and post their own ideas for cool special materials! A few guidelines: A) Name. Make it good. "Windwood" is nice, but "tough rock" isn't. B) Power. The ability should not be better than any +1 armor or weapon ability. Doing so could possibly screw up the item's power/cost ratio, as special materials always cost the same amount to use and aren't exponential. C) Ingenuity. Like I said before, we have enough "this weighs less" and "this is harder" materials. Let's come up with genuinely unique materials and abilities. D) Pricing. Please list a market price modifier for something made of your material. E) Craft DC. List the increase (if any) to the DC of the Craft check to create an item of the material. And now on to the list! 1. Bloodwood: Harvested from the rare crimson tree called the Blood Ash, bloodwood, though not as hard or as sturdy as steel, is used often to make clubs or staves for use in armies. Whenever a person is killed by a blow from a bloodwood weapon, the wielder regains 1d4 hp. Only weapons normally made of wood can be crafted be bloodwood. In order to retain their magical nature, bloodwood weapons are always of masterwork quality. A weapon or suit of armor made of bloodwood has a market price modifier of +500 gp (this doesn't include the masterwork price modifier) and a Craft DC modifier of +3. Bloodwood has hardness 5 and 10 hit points per inch of thickness. 2. Rakshasa Skin: Magical leather created from treating the skin of a rakshasa with special chemicals, rakshasa skin is coveted by sorcerers and wizards. The skin, even unenchanted, glows with a minor magical aura when analyzed with detect magic. This is because a small amount of the rakshasa's shapechanging powers still flows throughout the skin. Once per day when wearing a leather item made from rakshasa skin, a character may choose to cast a transmutation spell targeting himself at +1 caster level. Though studded and normal leather armor crafted from rakshasa skin exist, robes benefit the most from this material. Robes crafted from the tough skin grant the bearer a +1 armor bonus to AC, though they cannot be enhanced with the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat like regular armor (in other words, it can only grant a +1 armor bonus to AC). All items cratfed from rakshasa skin must be of masterwork quality. A suit of armor crafted from rakshasa skin has a market price modifier of +1,000 gp and a Craft DC modifier of +5. Robes crafted from rakshasa skin cost 1,000 gp and require a Craft (tailoring) check against a DC of 25. Because of the rakshasa's naturally tough skin, items made from rakshasa skin have hardness 10 and 30 hit points per inch of thickness.
Antioch 09-28-05, 06:07 PM	Actually, the rakshasa skin seems more like a component require to craft glamered armor, or the druid wild-shaping armor.
Patrick Draken-Korin 09-28-05, 09:57 PM	here're some of mine. i'm only listing the weaker ones because you stated limiting them to being as powerful as a +1 enchantment. Astral Silver: metal equipment only. astral silver naturally has the ghost touch property, and any incorporeal creature that touches astral silver takes 1d3+1 damage each round it remains in contact (the creature only takes damage once per round if attacked multiple times with a specific astral silver weapon; multiple astral weapons would deal seperate damage though)- this damage can’t be healed by regeneration or fast healing. hardness 8, 15 hit points per inch, -1 to break DC, +1 max dex for armor astral silver costs +200 Gp per pound of the object, plus the cost to masterwork the item (or +30 Gp per unit of ammunition). when making weapons or armor out of astral silver, the craft DC is increased by +2 (astral silver requires special care, but is a softer metal). astral silver can only be forged on the astral plane notes: this stuff was rare beyond it's cost in one campaign, due to the fact that a dozen ghosts ruled the campaign's main empire. Living Iron: metal equipment only. living iron heals 1 hit point every minute. objects crafted from living iron are living objects (they have a constitution score but no wisdom or charisma, like trees; this means that living iron is tangible to brilliant energy weapons). druids can freely wear armor crafted from living iron without losing access to class features. hardness 12, 30 hitpoints per inch, +1 to break DC, +1 max dex for armor (doesn't manifest until armor has been worn for at least 40 hours by a single individual, doesn't have to be consecutive). -1 AC pen (disappears after armor has been worn for at least 25 hours by a single individual, doesn't have to be consecutive). living iron costs +400 Gp per pound of the object (living iron objects may or may not be masterwork, if they are you must add the additional cost and craft DC increase). when making a object out of living iron, the craft DC is increased by +5 (it is harder than steel, and constantly heals). living iron is crafted from common iron ore, but must be accomplished by a druidic spellcaster (nature mage), though no spellcasting is required. notes: i made this stuff up for a campaign with a monster that had brilliant energy claws- they were quite common in a certain jungle, so natives had developed the secret of living metal. just wait till i work on my living iron warforged. Red Gold: metal weapons only. a creature dealt damage with a weapon froged from red gold will bleed 1 damage each round for 1d6+3 round. multiple bleeding wounds stack (3 wounds bleeds 3 damage each round). a successful heal check DC 15 stops the bleeding of one wound or a DC 25 heal check can heal all wounds- only one heal check can be made each round per wounded creature. hardness 12, 25 hit points per inch, 2x weight, -1 on attacks with red gold weapons (this includes the +1 enhancement bonus due to masterworking). light weapons crafted from red gold cost +2,500 Gp, one-handed weapons crafted from red gold cost +5,000 Gp, two-handed weapons crafted from red gold cost +7,500 Gp, ammunition crafted from red gold costs +50 Gp per unit of ammunition (this includes masterwoking costs). when making a weapon out of red gold, the craft DC is increased by +1 (it is harder than steel). red gold is created by mixing gold and demon's blood. note: interestingly enough, devil's blood, or blood from other evil outsider's won't due. it has to be blood of a tanar'ri (usually a dretch is the... doner). evil cultists favor red gold weapons. well those are the only weak one's i've got to offer. if you'll expand to stonger materials i've got another half dozen.
OrbitalB 09-28-05, 09:59 PM	Items which need to be masterwork to include a material should not be worded that way. The presedent is set. Roll the masterwork cost into the cost of the item and state that items made of this material count as masterwork. Also, try to consider if a material can be used to make other things. It always feels sloppy to me to omit possibilities with materials. (example: cold iron armor) Try include costs for weapons, ammunition, armors by size, and shields.
RavenDrake 09-28-05, 11:33 PM	Quinine: Quinine(KWIE nine) wood is derived from a rare strain of tree, presumed to be an offshoot of oak or ash, that only grows in or near anti-magic zones... though whether the zone facilitates the tree's growth, or the growth of a copse of these trees can cause the zone is still debated by scholars. Regardless, all things Quinine absorb and negate magical energy. Shields made of Quinine grant a resistance bonus of +1(for Small shields) or +2 for (Large and Tower Shields) to all saving throws against Spells and Spell-like and Supernatural abilities. Armour made of Quinine-wood grants either a +1 or +2 bonus(for Light and Medium, or Heavy armour, respectively) to all saving throws against Spells and Spell-like and Supernatural abilities... though wooden armours are rare. [Note: As in, I can't think of any, except ironwood.] Weapons made of Quinine(completely made of Quinine, like staffs and clubs, but not capped or tipped like arrows or axes). Bypass all magical armour, shield, and deflection bonuses to AC. Weapons made of capped Quinine(like arrows or axes) ignore 2 points of total AC due to magical Armour, Shield, or Deflection bonuses. Weapons made primarily of metal (like Swords) cannot be made of quinine. Quinine itself is hardy and resistant to magic. Any magical effect that would normially affect it is instead subject to Spell Resistance 25. Even then, Quinine has Resistance 15 to all magical damage. If attacked by a magical weapon, increase the item's effective hardness by 1 point for each point of Enhancement bonus the weapon has. Quinine is as easy to work with as normal wood and normal and masterwork versions exist. Quinine has the same hardness and hitpoints per inch as normal wood. Because Quinine is so inherently anti-magical, you cannot enchant it with ANY special bonuses. Quinine can be affected by the Ironwood spell, but the Druid affecting it must overcome Spell Resistance 25 for the spell to take hold. Quinine cannot be made into Ironwood permenantly. Cost Light Shield or Light Armour: +1000gp Heavy or Tower Shield or Heavy Armour: +2000gp Weapons: +1000gp