Creating an alloy

[Yogibear41]

So I'm talking with my Dm about creating an alloy of mithral and adamantine down the line so I can gain the benefits of both types of armor.

I plan to make a mithral/adamatine breastplate so I will have the acp and higher max dex from mithril and the dr2/- from the adamantine.

He has said that I will need to make some sort of knowledge check in order to properly blend the two materials. He said something about maybe knowledge metallurgy or something. I was wondering if any of the already established basic knowledges would fit this kinda of knowledge I need to know.

[Emperor Tippy]

The listed Knowledge skills aren't a complete list, the PHB and SRD flat out call that out. They are just the typical fields of study.

Knowledge (Metallurgy) is a perfectly viable Knowledge skill.

You might be able to argue that Arcana, Geography, and Nature all cover some or all of it.

I would just make you invest some points in it upon level up and represent it as learning and experimenting with metals so that you have some idea what you are doing.

[themourningstar]

Architecture and engineering seems the most relevnat, though maybe you could get a synergy bonus with a high History skill. I think a more "realistic" way to do this would be to use Craft skill checks though. Maybe you could spend money and time investigating it, similar to how a wizard invents a new spell. Invest your time and gp, then make a check to see if you succeed. If not, try again next level.

[Fouredged Sword]

I would personally have it be a craft check with a very high DC. Craft checks are used to cover the knowledge of how to make things. Making a new thing is a very high craft check.

I would put it somewhere like DC40-50, and 1 month per check, 3 successes in a row required. Maybe 4000gp per moth research expenses.

[SciChronic]

alchemy could fit, as experimentation with metals was a huge part of it, including mixing metals together.

[CaladanMoonblad]

Except that alloys don't work that way. Alloys are always trade offs.

For instance, iron by itself is soft and malleable. It oxidizes easily. Steel is an alloy that is mostly iron, but includes carbon and nickel. Steel oxidizes less, but it still oxidizes. Steel is also stronger than iron, but it is also heavier (due to more protons in the overall atomic counts). Steel is more rigid than Iron, and can break more easily than Iron. Too much carbon for instance, makes Steel brittle. There's a happy medium somewhere... but it's always a tradeoff between the parent metals' properties to get an end result (the alloy).

As a GM, I would never allow mithral and adamantine to mix... simply because these are already specific alloys (they don't exist in the periodic table). This would be similar to trying to merge Bronze (Copper/Tin) and Steel (Iron/Carbon/Nickel) to form Bronze-Steel (cannot exist). Another case for this argument is right in the game rules for the Metalline property for magic weapons- this +2 property changes the metal upon command to be cold iron, steel, silver, adamantine, etc.... these are considered separate substances. Shouldn't metalline, because its magic, be able to combine ALL of the properties at the same time? (a rhetorical question)

There are tradeoffs for Mithral and Adamantine... taking away the penalties for two choices that retains the pros and negates the cons... is ridiculous. There's a reason why there are choices... allowing for what the OP wants to do means that no one would ever use Mithral or Adamantine alone, favoring this new god-material. Ridiculous.

[jindra34]

Caladan: You really want to argue HARD REAL EARTH SCIENCE in a world where there are (disputably) either 4 or 6 fundemental building blocks of matter? That are more in line with Greek science than modern? And using the periodic table to back it up?

[Kane0]

The homebrew section has already done this, which may help you out. Linky. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=14740370).

Depending on your DM you might need a mighty high skill check (Probably a mettalurgy or smithing craft or profession, possibly alchemy or magic) if it is possible in his game at all.

[Mithril Leaf]

Except that alloys don't work that way. Alloys are always trade offs.

For instance, iron by itself is soft and malleable. It oxidizes easily. Steel is an alloy that is mostly iron, but includes carbon and nickel. Steel oxidizes less, but it still oxidizes. Steel is also stronger than iron, but it is also heavier (due to more protons in the overall atomic counts). Steel is more rigid than Iron, and can break more easily than Iron. Too much carbon for instance, makes Steel brittle. There's a happy medium somewhere... but it's always a tradeoff between the parent metals' properties to get an end result (the alloy).

As a GM, I would never allow mithral and adamantine to mix... simply because these are already specific alloys (they don't exist in the periodic table). This would be similar to trying to merge Bronze (Copper/Tin) and Steel (Iron/Carbon/Nickel) to form Bronze-Steel (cannot exist). Another case for this argument is right in the game rules for the Metalline property for magic weapons- this +2 property changes the metal upon command to be cold iron, steel, silver, adamantine, etc.... these are considered separate substances. Shouldn't metalline, because its magic, be able to combine ALL of the properties at the same time? (a rhetorical question)

There are tradeoffs for Mithral and Adamantine... taking away the penalties for two choices that retains the pros and negates the cons... is ridiculous. There's a reason why there are choices... allowing for what the OP wants to do means that no one would ever use Mithral or Adamantine alone, favoring this new god-material. Ridiculous.

Except good old glassteel was absurdly expensive. It was originally in Races of Faerun as a total merger of both positives from Mithril and Adamantine. They later reprinted it as YAMM (yet another mithral material) in Champions of Ruin. Claiming that everyone would only use this god-material is what's truly ridiculous.

[Lightlawbliss]

Caladan: 90% of IRL medieval people wouldn't of had enough to buy a sword and still have an income. Enough of this "god metal" to make a dagger would likely cost more then an entire village. A lvl 5 adventurer is worth more then some IRL medieval towns.

on topic: If I had to dm this: to get the full properties of both, that would be a massive dc and take a lot of both metals in your research. Partial would be exponentially easier and cheaper.