Can we equip a character all in metal?

[unseenmage]

Am away from books and had an idea.


Where could we find metal cloth?

Advice on finding/pricing other metallic basic gear also appreciated.

[Pearstriker]

Well sure.

Wire making existed in the middle ages, so you could basically make a thin wire and weave it into a mesh. More likely than not, it would be made out of copper or another soft metal.

Metal is much heavier than cloth. Hemp fiber has a density of about 1.5 grams per cubic centimeter, while copper has 8.9 grams per cubic centimeter. ( Iron would be about 7.8, if you could manage to get it made into the wire. ) That's almost four (three for iron) times heavier, so the end product would have about four times the weight of whatever clothing you're imitating.

Coat, Trousers and Low Boots from the Arms/Equipment guide have a combined weight of 3.5 pounds. In copper instead of cloth, that's 14 pounds, or about 10.5 for iron.

A pound of copper is 5s. Thus, materials for this would be 7g.
A pound of iron is 1s. Thus materials for the iron clothing would be 1g5c.

Obviously there should be some accounting for the labor of stripping the wire and weaving it, as well as for the merchant to make a profit. Price it from there as you see fit :P

Also, the wearer would probably be subject to Arcane Spell failure chance from the... chafing.

[atemu1234]

Well sure.

Wire making existed in the middle ages, so you could basically make a thin wire and weave it into a mesh. More likely than not, it would be made out of copper or another soft metal.

Metal is much heavier than cloth. Hemp fiber has a density of about 1.5 grams per cubic centimeter, while copper has 8.9 grams per cubic centimeter. ( Iron would be about 7.8, if you could manage to get it made into the wire. ) That's almost four (three for iron) times heavier, so the end product would have about four times the weight of whatever clothing you're imitating.

Coat, Trousers and Low Boots from the Arms/Equipment guide have a combined weight of 3.5 pounds. In copper instead of cloth, that's 14 pounds, or about 10.5 for iron.

A pound of copper is 5s. Thus, materials for this would be 7g.
A pound of iron is 1s. Thus materials for the iron clothing would be 1g5c.

Obviously there should be some accounting for the labor of stripping the wire and weaving it, as well as for the merchant to make a profit. Price it from there as you see fit :P

Also, the wearer would probably be subject to Arcane Spell failure chance from the... chafing.

That's material components, so multiply that by 4/3.

[Spiryt]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/images/gold-shirt.jpg

Just because he can. :smallbiggrin:

Somebody would have to dig up the data about if it's actually all gold, or some more ordinary fibers in there as well.


Obviously there should be some accounting for the labor of stripping the wire and weaving it, as well as for the merchant to make a profit. Price it from there as you see fit :P

Without modern technology, the cost of weaving the wire into something resembling textile should be in all honestly insane.

If one wants to keep it 'realistic' at least.

[Pearstriker]

Just because he can. :smallbiggrin:

Somebody would have to dig up the data about if it's actually all gold, or some more ordinary fibers in there as well.



Without modern technology, the cost of weaving the wire into something resembling textile should be in all honestly insane.

If one wants to keep it 'realistic' at least.

Don't know if they could make strands that thin without modern technology. I was thinking it would be a wire mesh- consistantly woven, but very coarse.
And yeah, the manufacturing process would be very expensive- stripping enough wire to make enough fabric to make the clothes would be time consuming, take a lot of materials and tools, and the only people who would know how to do that back then would be people who make it for jewelry.

But it's a small price to pay for glittering brillo panties :smallwink:

[holywhippet]

Aluminium is a metal and a thin sheet of it is pliable enough to wear as clothing. Of course, it's also fragile enough to be easily torn.

[Pearstriker]

Aluminium is a metal and a thin sheet of it is pliable enough to wear as clothing. Of course, it's also fragile enough to be easily torn.

If you're willing to pay for it, yes.
Prior to modern techniques for refining Aluminum, it was considered more valuable than gold or silver.

But yes, if you were willing to pay for it (and could find someone who has it) , it would be easier to make into something wearable, without the added bulk.

[holywhippet]

I'm not sure how getting enough aluminium for a suit would work out in D&D in economic terms. The old method of extraction was expensive, the new method less so. But both are based on chemistry. D&D doesn't have chemistry, it has alchemy which is based on magic.

[Heliomance]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/images/gold-shirt.jpg

Just because he can. :smallbiggrin:

Somebody would have to dig up the data about if it's actually all gold, or some more ordinary fibers in there as well.



Without modern technology, the cost of weaving the wire into something resembling textile should be in all honestly insane.

If one wants to keep it 'realistic' at least.

Fabricate.

And I imagine that's cloth of gold (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloth_of_gold), which is certainly not made entirely of gold.

[Talya]

Fabricate.

And I imagine that's cloth of gold (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloth_of_gold), which is certainly not made entirely of gold.

It appears that it is at least primarily gold: http://www.businessinsider.com/indian-man-gold-shirt-worth-213000-2014-8

Furthermore, it's not the first one: http://www.businessinsider.com/indian-mans-dazzling-gold-shirt-2013-1

Both of them required a velvet undershirt/lining, however. It simply couldn't be spun into a nice enough cloth to be usable as a textile.

[Spiryt]

It appears that it is at least primarily gold: http://www.businessinsider.com/indian-man-gold-shirt-worth-213000-2014-8

Furthermore, it's not the first one: http://www.businessinsider.com/indian-mans-dazzling-gold-shirt-2013-1

Both of them required a velvet undershirt/lining, however. It simply couldn't be spun into a nice enough cloth to be usable as a textile.

Interesting, thanks.

So if those prices are genuine, the cost of actual work was only about 60k.

Not as much as I thought.