Help picking non magic armor.

[blelliot]

Well, ive been looking into a system(
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19573314/Low_Magic_D38) where magic items are much more rare than in standard d&d and i was looking at some special materials for weapons and armor. Here's what i have so far. The idea is to make varying degrees of masterwork weapons and armor. what follows is what ive decided to use:
Weapons
Bloodiron: replicates cold iron, bonus to confirm crits. PH
Adamantine: bypasses /adamantine damage reduction, ignores hardness 20 and below when used to sunder items. DMG
Green Steel: enhancement bonus to damage. A&EG
Blueice: Slashing weapons deal bonus damage. FB
Bronzewood: reduces weight. A&EG
Byeshk: deals bonus damage with bludgeoning weapons. ECS
Calomal: overcomes the damage reduction of creatures with the fire subtype. MoE
Darksteel: deals bonus electricity damage. MoF
Dlarun: deals bonus frost damage. MoF
Dragonbone Bow: increases the range by 20' and makes the bow composite. Draco
Dragonfang: grants an enhancement bonus to attacks and energy damage of the respective dragon as an extraordinary ability. Draco
Duskwood: steel weapons weigh half as much. MoF
Fever Iron: deals bonus fire damage. MoF
Frystalline: weapon is considered good-aligned. BoED
Moghuth: penalty to attack and damage, but naturally poisonous. A&EG
Glassteel: makes hidden weapons harder to spot. RoF
Gold, Alchemical: increases the damage dice of a weapon.* MoF
Hizagkuur: deals bonus electricity damage. MoF
Iron, Cold: bypasses /cold iron damage reduction. DMG
Mournlode: overcomes undead damage reduction as silver or cold iron. MoE
Pearlsteel: reduces the penalties of using a weapon underwater. SW
Platinum, Alchemical: increases the damage dice of a weapon.* MoF
Rimefire Ice: deals bonus cold damage. FB
Silver, Alchemical: bypasses /silver damage reduction, reduces weapon damage. DMG
Serren: adds the ghost touched property. BoED
Starmetal: replicates adamantine, but deals extra damage to extraplanar creatures. CAr
Armor
Adamantine: grants damage reduction based on armor category. DMG
Arandur: grants sonic resistance. MoF
Blended Quartz: reduces ASF. A&EG
Blueice: reduces armor category, ACP, and ASF (for cold spells) and increases MDB. FB
Bronzewood reduces weight, doesn't affect hide in woodlands. A&EG
Camoflauge Dye: grants a hide bonus (only with specific light armors). RoF
Chitin: replaces metal, increases MDB. RotD
Copper, Alchemical: grants cold resistance. MoF
Darkleaf, Elven: reduces ASF, ACP, armor category and increases MDB. A&EG
Darksteel: grants acid resistance. MoF
Darkwood (Zalantar): reduces weight and ACP (shields only). DMG
Dlarun: grants fire resistance. MoF
Dragoncraft Armor/Shield: grants energy resistance 5 against the respective dragon as an extraordinary ability. Reduces armor category and ACP, only available for certain armor types. Draco
Dragonhide: replaces metal to craft most armors. Immune to the breath weapon of the respective dragon species (armor only). DMG/Draco
Dragonhide Mantle: grants energy resistance as dragoncraft armor, but uses the shoulder body slot. Draco
Duskwood: breastplate only; reduces armor category, ASF and ACP, increases MDB. MoF
Elukian Clay: increases ACP, does not apply ACP to swim. A&EG
Entropium: increases armor category and Str ACP, reduces Dex ACP, ASF and increase MDB. A&EG
Fever Iron: grants fire resistance. MoF
Flametouched Iron: grants a saving throw bonus vs. evil outsider spells, SL and supernatural abilities. ECS
Glassteel: reduces armor category, ACP and ASF, increases MDB. RoF
Gold, Alchemical: grants fire and acid resistance, increases armor category, ACP and ASF, decreases MDB. MoF
Leafweave, Elven: reduces ASF and ACP, increases MDB, cannot replace metal armors. A&EG
Mithral: reduces armor category, ACP and ASF, raises MDB. DMG
Mournlode: resistance bonus vs. the spells, SL and supernatural abilities of undead. MoE
Platinum, Alchemical: grants cold and sonic resistance, increases armor category, ACP and ASF, decreases MDB. MoF
Shadowsilk: can only be used to make certain light armors, grants a bonus to hide/move silently, increases MDB, reduces ACP and ASF (in shadows/darkness). ToM
Starmetal: replicates adamantine. CAr
Thistledown: used for padded armor, provides a bonus to hide checks in shadowy/dark areas. RotW

So with this i think ive got a good idea going. With varying degrees like this, and a reduction of WBL for charachters, and A reduced treasure output from creatures, This is the start of my new worlds economy. A world where magic items must be made or stolen, not bought. The varying degrees of masterwork will involve normal masterwork at +1, dwarvencraft at +2, then idk where to go from there. PLMK what you may think and if there is anything you would change or add. Thanks!

[Thunderfist12]

I did something like this for a no-magic setting I made. I'll reference Ye Olde Notebook for the specifics when I get home.

[blelliot]

Thanks thunderfist!

[Thunderfist12]

Let's see... please don't do dwarf-craft. My brother made that "+2 dwarf-craft" mistake before. It makes it so that either dwarves are OP (because most of their items are dwarf-craft) or arbitrarily different from others of their race (why doesn't that dwarf have dwarf-craft like the others?). Unless dwarves in your campaign world are a non-player race, or well-integrated into human society, don't use dwarf-craft (unless it has a balancing penalty, simply making it different [ie. +1 damage or DR1/-, -1 to hit or AC]).

These are the kinds I used. Adjustments for armor and shields are in bold.


Crude: -1 to hit or -1 AC, half price.
Smith's Craft: Standard.
Master Craft: +1 to hit or +1 AC, +300gp.
Battle Craft: +2 to hit or +1 AC and DR 1/-, +500gp.
Citadel Craft*: +2 to hit and +1 damage or +2 AC and DR 1/-, +1,000gp.
Vanguard Craft**: +1 to hit and +2 damage or +1 AC and DR 2/-, +1,000gp.
Noble Craft: +2 to hit and +2 damage or +2 AC and DR 2/-


* Citadel Craft was made for protectors of the Great Citadel in Redsun. This is ideal for elite soldiers that focus on hitting and remaining untouched rather than dealing and sustaining damage. Alternate Name: Soldier Craft.

** Vanguard Craft was made for the Vanguard of Dusk, a group of renegade citadel guards from Redsun that now serve under the flag of Mordem, spending most of their time in the border-city of Dimsdale. This is ideal for elite guards that focus on dealing and sustaining damage rather than hitting and remaining untouched. Alternate Names: Brute Craft, Skull Craft, or Vicious Craft.

I also used a separate list of special materials (because I used different, non-magical ones).


Darksteel: A strong metal mined from the depths of the world, in a region far beneath the Darksteel Mountains (which coincidentally got their name from this metal). Darksteel adds the following traits to any item: Hardness +5. Armor and shields also gain DR 1/-. Weapons gain +1 damage. Items made of darksteel weigh 150% as much as normal, and cost 200gp more.
Ironwood: A wood so strong, so enduring, and so keen that it can only be called Ironwood. This wood is found exclusively in the Draednir Woods. Ironwood adds the following traits to any item: Hardness -5, HP +5. Armor and shields also gain +1 AC. Weapons gain +1 to hit. Items made of ironwood weigh 50% as much as normal, and cost 400gp more.

[blelliot]

thanks again! I was actually thinking of using dwarvencraft as the stage after masterwork. I appreciate the heads up.

[johnbragg]

Let's see... please don't do dwarf-craft. My brother made that "+2 dwarf-craft" mistake before. It makes it so that either dwarves are OP (because most of their items are dwarf-craft) or arbitrarily different from others of their race (why doesn't that dwarf have dwarf-craft like the others?). Unless dwarves in your campaign world are a non-player race, or well-integrated into human society, don't use dwarf-craft (unless it has a balancing penalty, simply making it different [ie. +1 damage or DR1/-, -1 to hit or AC]).


Or...what is known as "dwarvencraft" is only produced by the most elite dwarven master smiths, used and owned by the very upper echelons of dwarven society. (Like how "mithril" used to be "elven chain mail"--ECM was a lot rarer than elves were.) So it's not just the PC dwarves who don't have dwarvencraft--go to the city of Dwarfburg and you've got 10,000 dwarves, 5000 of them own studded leather armor, 100 have chain mail or a steel breastplate and five guys have dwarvencraft armor.

Of course, if we're making special materials that big a pain in the butt to obtain, you might as well let the PCs make magic weapons, but require that magic weapons use special materials.

[Alexkubel]

I have a rule, dwarven crafted equipment is better but requires extensive training and pre requisites, elven crafted have similar conditions, I also do more focus on the quality of metal used, using Iron, it's Ionic compounds and alloys as my material mainly, aluminium appears as well as a few others like titanium and copper, brass, tin, zinc, bronze ect. because of this my materials can all be real! I stick to genuine materials in low magic, unless I've overhauled physics for the world, in which case, LOL at first then a study on how to make things work... fun.