What's the deal with adamantine?

[Eko]

According to the MM and several books in the realm of D&D, the drow carry adamantine weapons.

Is adamantine magical? Is it just super rare? DM's, have you ever given your players adamantine weapons? Players, have you ever gotten adamantine weapons?

What kind of effects should adamantine weapons have? Adamantine armor is in the DMG, but weapons if adamantine are never mentioned except in the MM where some creatures are "resistant to BPS except from magical or adamantine weapons"

And what about shields/other gear made it adamantine? Do kings eat with knives and forks made of the legendary metal?

[Zman]

There is Adamantine Armor in the DMG, it is an uncommon magical item that turns Crits into normal hits instead.

Given that, I'd make Adamantine Shields have the same effect as Adamantine Armor and then all we need is an effect for Adamantine Weapons. I'd say maybe count Damage rolls of a 1 as a 2 instead and ignore resistances for non magical substances ie stone, wood, etc. Or double the Damage against objects in addition to a small damage boost. Should be worthy of an Uncommon Magical Item.

[RickAllison]

There is Adamantine Armor in the DMG, it is an uncommon magical item that turns Crits into normal hits instead.

Given that, I'd make Adamantine Shields have the same effect as Adamantine Armor and then all we need is an effect for Adamantine Weapons. I'd say maybe count Damage rolls of a 1 as a 2 instead and ignore resistances for non magical substances ie stone, wood, etc. Or double the Damage against objects in addition to a small damage boost. Should be worthy of an Uncommon Magical Item.

For weapons, maybe the answer is that adamantine weapons simply don't have the same bonus as they do on defense. My reasoning is because adamantine weapons must already exist because several MM monsters are listed as being resistant to nonmagical damage from non-adamantine weapons. From that, we can infer that adamantine weapons get the bonus from higher hardness, but don't have as much synergy as when created for defense. If adamantine weapons were magical, then those lines in the MM would be redundant as all adamantine weapons would get by the restriction due to being magical.

[Zman]

For weapons, maybe the answer is that adamantine weapons simply don't have the same bonus as they do on defense. My reasoning is because adamantine weapons must already exist because several MM monsters are listed as being resistant to nonmagical damage from non-adamantine weapons. From that, we can infer that adamantine weapons get the bonus from higher hardness, but don't have as much synergy as when created for defense. If adamantine weapons were magical, then those lines in the MM would be redundant as all adamantine weapons would get by the restriction due to being magical.

And I read the MM as covering all their bases and givng DMs freedom to describe Adamantine Weapons as something that can simply be forged, ie Adamantine Weapons count damage rolls of a 1 as a 2. They could be mundane and still have a place in overcoming resistances.

Obviously the Devs intended to leave that kind of freedom up to DMs, so whether we treat them as Mundane or Magical it doesn't matter too much except for consistency in our worlds.

[Naanomi]

Except for overcoming resistances in some cases, and potentially selling as loot at a better rate, Adamantine weapons have no inherent properties. As a DM, an adamantine weapon would be a good place to start if you were hoping to make an enchanted weapon

[RickAllison]

And I read the MM as covering all their bases and givng DMs freedom to describe Adamantine Weapons as something that can simply be forged, ie Adamantine Weapons count damage rolls of a 1 as a 2. They could be mundane and still have a place in overcoming resistances.

Obviously the Devs intended to leave that kind of freedom up to DMs, so whether we treat them as Mundane or Magical it doesn't matter too much except for consistency in our worlds.

Let's look back at what makes adamantine unique and why it was used. It's main quality is that it is super-hard, which we can see from the great effect of the Adamantine Armor. For offense, this doesn't do nearly as much, only letting you bypass the hardest materials (which we see represented by bypassing resistances in those cases.

A prominent example of adamantine-users are the Drow, who have access because most nodes in FR are in the Underdark. They then enchant the adamantine. It just seems that a magical adamantine weapon is one that was enchanted rather than having the magic within it.

If I were to give adamantine an extra effect, I would make it something unique like giving advantage to Disarm attempts (for a sunder-like effect) rather than stealing the GWF/Savage Attacker effect.

[Regitnui]

Well;


ad·a·man·tine
ˌadəˈmanˌtēn,ˌadəˈmanˌtīn/
adjective
literary
adjective: adamantine

unbreakable.
"adamantine chains"

It's unbreakable. Legendarily so. If we're looking for an interesting effect for adamantine weapons, why not make them the only metal capable of resisting the effects of a rust monster or ooze? Note I'm not saying they should be completely unaffected, but house rule something like "If this weapon or armour is affected by the Corrode ability of an ooze or rust monster, roll a d4. On a 4, the item resists the effect, losing no bonuses".

[Gurifu]

I'd rule:

Adamantine: A weapon of this metal has Advantage on attempts to Break an Object. (DMG 246-247)

[Slipperychicken]

I have some thoughts on what adamantine weapons should be able to do:

Treated as magical for overcoming damage resistance
Ignores the properties of adamantine armor (i.e. can score critical hits against foes clad in it)
Ignore damage threshold on objects, structures, and creatures
Objects without damage threshold are considered vulnerable to damage dealt by an adamantine weapon

[RickAllison]

I have some thoughts on what adamantine weapons should be able to do:

Treated as magical for overcoming damage resistance
Ignores the properties of adamantine armor (i.e. can score critical hits against foes clad in it)
Ignore damage threshold on objects, structures, and creatures
Objects without damage threshold are considered vulnerable to damage dealt by an adamantine weapon


The magical is rather redundant, since the creatures who are still resistant to adamantine are so due to supernatural properties rather than hardness.

Ignoring the properties of Adamantine Armor is a niche use, but it makes sense. I heartily approve, and suggest using it as a plot point.

Damage threshold ignoring is something I also approve of. It is a really sharp/hard weapon and so isn't turned away like weaker metals are.

It doesn't make sense to inflict double damage. That is the ability of a Siege Monster like the tarrasque rather than a tiny guy wielding a blade.

The middle two are very good, meshing with the fluff and verisimilitude well. The first and last don't.

Part of the reason I think adamantine weapons should be less powerful than magical weapons is because all it takes is one big Adamantine object and a wizard with Fabricate can arm a small army.

[AttilatheYeon]

If you have regeneration, you can have someone fuse it to your bones to make you harder to hurt. But, only in Canada ;)