Non-metal Weapons

[Yogibear41]

Trying to throw a list together of decent non-metal weapons that are not in the PHB, things that are made of bone, stone, wood, etc.

Few examples would be the Bonebow and the Suglin from frostburn. If anyone has any suggestions of things that you might use if iron or steel weren't readily available to you that would be great.

[Renen]

Isnt there ironwood or something? Thats like iron... but is actually wood. And you can just make weapons out of it.

[Seerow]

Mundane Crystal is one of my favorites. It costs the same as steel, but the aesthetic is much cooler. You can have crystal swords, hammers, armor, etc, straight out of the gate at level 1.

[Yogibear41]

Those are good suggestions, but I am looking more for stuff made out of wood, bone, or stone that can be made by level 1 or so people surviving out in the wilderness after say a catastrophic event that pretty much wiped out civilization. Ironwood is a high level spell, and crystal isn't really going to be laying around, although if they happen to explore a cave or something where a large quantity of crystal could be found that could work.

[Flickerdart]

Trying to throw a list together of decent non-metal weapons that are not in the PHB, things that are made of bone, stone, wood, etc.
A sword made of bone is one of the most metal things there are. :smallamused:

[Seerow]

Those are good suggestions, but I am looking more for stuff made out of wood, bone, or stone that can be made by level 1 or so people surviving out in the wilderness after say a catastrophic event that pretty much wiped out civilization. Ironwood is a high level spell, and crystal isn't really going to be laying around, although if they happen to explore a cave or something where a large quantity of crystal could be found that could work.

Well there is Stone Armor in a few different places (A&EG and Races of Stone specifically that I know offhand), but I can't think of any sources with normal bones/wood being used for weapons/armor. D&D tends to only provide stats for things better than steel, if you want stone/bone/wood weapons, you're probably looking at homebrewing up some penalties for using poor quality material.


Edit: I did just remember that the Bone Knight prestige class can make Weapons/Armor out of bone. But they are strictly superior to metal and can only be used by a character with Bone Knight levels, because magic.

[Curmudgeon]

Isnt there ironwood or something? Thats like iron... but is actually wood. And you can just make weapons out of it.
Yes, but Ironwood (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/ironwood.htm) is a temporary spell product, so Dispel Magic makes it disappear. Certainly not a desirable occurrence in the middle of a battle.

[Xsatra]

Not 3.5, but Pathfinder has some rules for primitive armor and weapons (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateCombat/combat/primitiveArmorAndWeapons.html) in Ultimate combat. The core book and equipment book from Athas.org (http://www.athas.org/products?publisher=Athas.org) also contains some rules for making weapons from non-standard materials, as well as a number of weapons designed for being crafted by bone, stone or the like.

[Troacctid]

Blue ice is a naturally occurring material found in frostfell areas that is as strong as iron and perpetually cold. It can be used to make weapons and armor, although armor made of blue ice imposes penalties unless the wearer has cold resistance. Slashing weapons made of blue ice deal +1 damage. (The stuff is also great for refrigeration, as it keeps food cold and never melts.)

[zergling.exe]

Arms and Equipment has some stuff for low technology equipment for 3.0 D&D. It has some stats for bone, stone, and bronze weapons; as well as a bunch of different types of armor. Wicker, cord, bone, etc. it has a lot.

[Darrin]

I'm fond of the Tigerskull Club (Frostburn). Similar to the Morningstar (bludgeoning and piercing damage) but you can trip with it, and it gets a +2 bonus on trip/disarm attempts. Plus, it's a SKULL ON A STICK, which is seven flavors of awesomesauce.

[DrMotives]

In 3.0, the Oriental Adventures lists bone armor. This is a basically a big black cloth or leather coat with sliced bone strips tied all over in horizontal bars. It's both primitive, and screams "necromancer".
Light armor, 20 gp, +3 AC, max dex +4, armor check -3, spell failure 15%.

[Hazrond]

Trying to throw a list together of decent non-metal weapons that are not in the PHB, things that are made of bone, stone, wood, etc.

Few examples would be the Bonebow and the Suglin from frostburn. If anyone has any suggestions of things that you might use if iron or steel weren't readily available to you that would be great.

pathfinder has stats for bone, stone, bronze, copper, and a bunch of other materials for weapons, if you are able to use that

[CIDE]

I'd second mundane crystal. It fits visually with the likes of obsidian weapons as well if a bit sturdier.

[Coidzor]

Bronzewood works for some uses, mostly armor though, IIRC.

Boomerangs are decent if one invests in Boomerang Daze to attack people and daze them. I think Xen'Drik boomerangs have metal but standard boomerangs and Talenta boomerangs both are non-metal.

Truncheons are decent non-lethal weapons for people who wanna Power Attack and don't need metal per se.

Lassos are much like nets in that they're good weapons that are cheap and good for debuffing enemies with, especially at low levels.

[WeaselGuy]

Stormwrack has armor made from sharkskin, eelhide and cordage. I seem to recall seeing a weapon somewhere made by attaching teeth to a wooden haft. I'm AFB though, so I can't check on it. You could look in Sandstorm too for stuff, I do know there is a Feather Cloak suit of armor, made from thousands of scavenged feathers, providing +2 Armor, +6 Max Dex, -2 ACP and 10% spell failure, light armor.

I'm actually using an enchanted Feather Cloak for my Factotum's armor, just because it's ridiculous.

[Tarlek Flamehai]

Celt, Stone; Dr#331
Gauntlet, Sharktooth; Dr#315
Gythka, Obsidian; SavS
Japute; Dr#352
Handaxe, Stone; Dr#331
Kaua'koi; Dr#352
Shimalo'koa; Dr#352
Staff, Sharktooth; SavS
Thrombash; SandS
Caber, Warsling, Halfling Warsling, Flint/Obsidian Arrowheads, Skiprock

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?392587-Special-Materials-Compendium
http://www.realmshelps.net/cgi-bin/weapons.pl

DMG, weapons made of bone or stone have a –2 attack and damage penalty (with a minimum damage of 1). Bone has a hardness of 6 and 10 hit points per inch of thickness. Stone has a hardness of 8 and 15 hit points per inch of thickness.

Bronze Weapon rules available on page 12 of A&EG