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Maquise
2013-02-11, 03:12 PM
Let's say I wanted to award my characters with a set amount of a raw special material (For example, ingots of adamantine). They could take it to a smith (Or use it themselves if they have the skills/feats) and have it made into weapons and/or armor at a reduced cost. How would I go about determining how much of the metal they had, and how much they could use it for?

Adam...?
2013-02-11, 03:23 PM
The simple way would be to simply measure it by its cost in GP. For instance, you could describe them finding several ingots of pure adamantine, and let them know (maybe after an appraise check?) that it is about 15000 GP worth of the stuff. Based on the chart in the DMG, they can use all of it to craft one suit of heavy armor, or make five separate adamantine weapons, or whatever combination of goodies they want.

Edit: that works if you're playing 3.5, at least. Can't recall the relevant rules for any other systems at the moment.

hymer
2013-02-11, 03:24 PM
My suggestion would be to be abstract about it. Say, for example, they have enough for one suit of armour, or two big weapons, or four onehanded weapons. A shield might count as a big weapon.

Otherwise, you need to look into weight - what is the weight of this material compared to iron/steel (or whatever you need to compare to). Then look at items and what they weigh (to be found in most game manuals). A suit of armour's weight is almost entirely the metal, and so is a sword's. A lot less so for a spear.
Then you have to look into purity. How much of those ingots are actually adamantine?
And waste. How much is wasted in production?

Edit: If you're playing D&D 3.X, I agree with Adam, GP may be the best way to go. It helps keep you in view of WBL.