Adamantine, cold iron & mithril? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Adamantine, cold iron & mithril? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Gemcaster
02-13-06, 12:21 PM What have you pictured these 3 metals to look and feel like? for me:

Adamantine: is a very oily metal with a navy colour, with a coarse and rough surface.

Cold iron: is a metal with a mixed wavy pattern of grey and white, allways slightly cold to the touch and with a woodlike feel.

Mithril: is a bright neon blue metal, with a near frictionless surface and of course very light.
BeyondFated
02-13-06, 12:51 PM I believe, though it is debated, that adamantine is black. There is a picture of a black warforged on the Eberron cover that is though to have the adamantine body feat. And in one of the monster books (I want to say Fiend Folio) there is some sort of adamantine construct insect that is black as well.

For mithril and cold iron, I always assumed grey. Mithril would be shiny, cold iron would be dull.

But that’s just me.
Gemcaster
02-13-06, 01:06 PM :rofl: Exactly the answer I thought I would get, its not the illustrations that we have been given to sway our immagination that I want to talk about, Im asking about what you and other people think they look like. :P
Pandaemoni
02-13-06, 01:59 PM "Cold iron" is simply iron that was not heated to its melting point during the crafting process. It is heated and then hammered into the desired shape while still a solid (albeit the heating softens it considerably). Cold iron really exists and actually has been used to make weapons, and almost always used when making prude iron implements like nails. That is how it entered folklore (in forlklore, fey are rendered powerless when touching cold iron).

Hence "cold iron" looks exactly like (and is in fact) "iron".
Evil DM Mk3
02-13-06, 02:13 PM *Reads Pandaemoni's post.*

Hast thouh no poetry in thy soul?

No? Me neither...

Adamantine: Looks a bit like lead but darker and almost totaly without a sheen. Feels much heavier than you expect.

Cold Iron: As iron but a little bluer :P .

Mithrail: A lot like highly polished steel, but rediculously thin metal. I mean there is no way that a brestplate that thin will resist this hammer blow, watch *swing* WHAT THE?!?! :eek:
masterofmayhem
02-13-06, 03:05 PM What have you pictured these 3 metals to look and feel like? for me:

Adamantine: is a very oily metal with a navy colour, with a coarse and rough surface.

Cold iron: is a metal with a mixed wavy pattern of grey and white, allways slightly cold to the touch and with a woodlike feel.

Mithril: is a bright neon blue metal, with a near frictionless surface and of course very light.
I've pictured adamantine as being the jet-black, incredibly smooth and polished, unblemished surface it is generally portrayed as.

I believe there was once a second edition book that gave a precise description of it, too. It was jet black, with a greenish or purple luster, and it shone green or purple in magical light (green in nonmagical light and purple in magical, or possibly vice versa).

Mithral, to me, is a shiny, silvery metal. It is "true silver" in some stories, after all . . . :D

And I've always seen cold iron as being normal colored iron with a light bluish tint, almost a pale blue sheen of frost.
Fanged Fremont
02-13-06, 04:43 PM Maybe it's just because I'm a boring sod but I've always thought the three to look relatively the same, mithril being the shiniest and adamantine being the dullest. All grey metals, the only real way to tell the difference is weight, sheen, and sound it makes.
Wargamer
02-13-06, 04:52 PM I see Addy and Mith as they appear in Runescape; deep green and deep blue respectively.

Cold iron I picture as shiny black, as if covered by a layer of frost.
Dragonteuthis
02-13-06, 04:56 PM The DMG actually implies that Cold Iron is NOT iron, or at the very least it's a special iron ore.

In any case, I picture adamantine as having a battleship grey color, deep flat dark grey...even polished, it looks dull.

Mithril in my mind has a very bright, silvery sheen. I also house rule* that mithril cannot rust, nor tarnish, and is easy to clean, so Mithril is always "pretty."

I almost never picture a cold iron weapon...they're usually ugly, looking like a wrought-iron weapon in my mind. My Grandfather was an antqiue dealer so I'm very familiar with that appearance, which is probably why I think it looks like that. However, I think the ugliness fits, since it's anathema to fey, who seem to be preoccupied with physical beauty.

*depending on your view of special materials, this might not be considered a house rule.
OgreMonk
02-13-06, 05:38 PM I had always pictured adamanine to be greenish silver, mithril to be blueish silver, and cold iron not to look any different than normal iron.

I have nothing to back up my mental image but obviously I am wrong on the first two.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Gemcaster 02-13-06, 12:21 PM	What have you pictured these 3 metals to look and feel like? for me: Adamantine: is a very oily metal with a navy colour, with a coarse and rough surface. Cold iron: is a metal with a mixed wavy pattern of grey and white, allways slightly cold to the touch and with a woodlike feel. Mithril: is a bright neon blue metal, with a near frictionless surface and of course very light.
BeyondFated 02-13-06, 12:51 PM	I believe, though it is debated, that adamantine is black. There is a picture of a black warforged on the Eberron cover that is though to have the adamantine body feat. And in one of the monster books (I want to say Fiend Folio) there is some sort of adamantine construct insect that is black as well. For mithril and cold iron, I always assumed grey. Mithril would be shiny, cold iron would be dull. But that’s just me.
Gemcaster 02-13-06, 01:06 PM	:rofl: Exactly the answer I thought I would get, its not the illustrations that we have been given to sway our immagination that I want to talk about, Im asking about what you and other people think they look like. :P
Pandaemoni 02-13-06, 01:59 PM	"Cold iron" is simply iron that was not heated to its melting point during the crafting process. It is heated and then hammered into the desired shape while still a solid (albeit the heating softens it considerably). Cold iron really exists and actually has been used to make weapons, and almost always used when making prude iron implements like nails. That is how it entered folklore (in forlklore, fey are rendered powerless when touching cold iron). Hence "cold iron" looks exactly like (and is in fact) "iron".
Evil DM Mk3 02-13-06, 02:13 PM	Reads Pandaemoni's post. Hast thouh no poetry in thy soul? No? Me neither... Adamantine: Looks a bit like lead but darker and almost totaly without a sheen. Feels much heavier than you expect. Cold Iron: As iron but a little bluer :P . Mithrail: A lot like highly polished steel, but rediculously thin metal. I mean there is no way that a brestplate that thin will resist this hammer blow, watch swing WHAT THE?!?! :eek:
masterofmayhem 02-13-06, 03:05 PM	What have you pictured these 3 metals to look and feel like? for me: Adamantine: is a very oily metal with a navy colour, with a coarse and rough surface. Cold iron: is a metal with a mixed wavy pattern of grey and white, allways slightly cold to the touch and with a woodlike feel. Mithril: is a bright neon blue metal, with a near frictionless surface and of course very light. I've pictured adamantine as being the jet-black, incredibly smooth and polished, unblemished surface it is generally portrayed as. I believe there was once a second edition book that gave a precise description of it, too. It was jet black, with a greenish or purple luster, and it shone green or purple in magical light (green in nonmagical light and purple in magical, or possibly vice versa). Mithral, to me, is a shiny, silvery metal. It is "true silver" in some stories, after all . . . :D And I've always seen cold iron as being normal colored iron with a light bluish tint, almost a pale blue sheen of frost.
Fanged Fremont 02-13-06, 04:43 PM	Maybe it's just because I'm a boring sod but I've always thought the three to look relatively the same, mithril being the shiniest and adamantine being the dullest. All grey metals, the only real way to tell the difference is weight, sheen, and sound it makes.
Wargamer 02-13-06, 04:52 PM	I see Addy and Mith as they appear in Runescape; deep green and deep blue respectively. Cold iron I picture as shiny black, as if covered by a layer of frost.
Dragonteuthis 02-13-06, 04:56 PM	The DMG actually implies that Cold Iron is NOT iron, or at the very least it's a special iron ore. In any case, I picture adamantine as having a battleship grey color, deep flat dark grey...even polished, it looks dull. Mithril in my mind has a very bright, silvery sheen. I also house rule* that mithril cannot rust, nor tarnish, and is easy to clean, so Mithril is always "pretty." I almost never picture a cold iron weapon...they're usually ugly, looking like a wrought-iron weapon in my mind. My Grandfather was an antqiue dealer so I'm very familiar with that appearance, which is probably why I think it looks like that. However, I think the ugliness fits, since it's anathema to fey, who seem to be preoccupied with physical beauty. *depending on your view of special materials, this might not be considered a house rule.
OgreMonk 02-13-06, 05:38 PM	I had always pictured adamanine to be greenish silver, mithril to be blueish silver, and cold iron not to look any different than normal iron. I have nothing to back up my mental image but obviously I am wrong on the first two.