New material

[tricktroller]

Hey folks of the playground!

I am running an E6 campaign currently wherein the magic is extremely low but at one time there had been an ancient civilization that existed that crafted magic of a higher order, etc. In this world, I have the idea for a different type of metal called "Ancientcraft". Here are the stats I have listed for it.

Ancientcraft Metal

Ancientcraft metal is a black metal with a green patina/shine across its surface. It is strong than any other metal and the crafting process is lost to time. As such each piece of Ancientcraft metal is a priceless relic. There are only vague rumors of ancientcraft having been found in the world, every piece has been hidden from the public eye to prevent warlike nations from invading.

Armor
Double hardness of Adamantine, double HP of steel.
Light and Medium armors weigh 1 lb
Heavy armors weigh 5 lbs.
Changes from Standard
-2 acp, Light and medium have no max dex, heavy has a max dex of 6. 0% arcane spell failure as long as you are proficient with the armor. Speed is not reduced in any version of the armor unless the armor type would reduce it(I.e. Mchanus plate/battleplate/etc.) The armor is impervious to the effects of time. Most armors made from ancientcraft metal are roughly 24 gauge.

Weapons
Ancientcraft weapons have their critical multiplier increased by one and have their damage increased by one additional die of whatever they do, i.e. an Ancientcraft shortsword deals 2d6 whereas an Ancientcraft greatsword does 3d6, a greataxe does 2d12 and a large bastard sword would do 3d8, etc.)

Ancientcraft weapons cannot be sundered and their weight requires the exotic weapon proficiency “Ancientcraft weapons” feat to use properly. Without the feat they function as if they were a normal version of the weapon without the increased damage and with the normal penalties for being non-proficient. Any weapon that would weigh 25 pounds or less, weighs 3 lbs. All ancientcraft weapons are extremely thin to the point of being partially translucent like black glass with a green tinge of “fire”

This metal will be extremely rare int he world, i.e. there might be one suit of armor and maybe one weapon ever found up to this point in the gameworld (Hidden and hoarded by powerful nations) in the thousand years since the ancient civilization has been gone. However, the party has stumbled upon an area where they might(Huge stress on might) get access to a piece of armor made out of ancientcraft metal.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

[John Out West]

My main problem with this is that its "2x Hardness of Adamatine." which, as defined in the dictionary and mythology as an "Unbreakable Metal." The idea that this metal is harder to break than a metal that is literally impossible to break (without magic) is kind of redundant.

That being said, if you framed it to be more like Vibranium, which is not only invincible but also absorbent, then it would make more sense in context to be a better defense than an already unbreakable metal.

I too made an ancient metal in my world, which I called Lunarite, largely because it was what the moon was made of. (Place here "long story about an explosion that launched the material into space while destroying the ancient civilization") In the context of an ancient civilization, Lunarite is a Magic Metal, that makes magic more powerful, as it was created by ancient magic users for ancient magic. Lunarite Armor allows magic users to include the wearer as targets without expending extra energy, and lunarite weapons that have magic channeled through them will act as though they were a spell of one level higher. They are similarly rare in the modern world, as in an age before Consuming Lunarite was the only cure for the rampant Spell Plague.

This is all to say, why, in the cannon of your universe, does this ancient civilization require a metal stronger than an already unbreakable metal, or could the metal do something else like channel magic, increase speed, create telepathy, etc.

Lastly, i'm not a huge fan of the name "Ancientcraft" for a metal. Mythril, Adamantine, Orichalcum all sound both mythical and impressive, but I'm not feeling "Ancientcraft." Maybe Ancientine, or Relicum (Just spit-balling here) but I would generally give the name more thought, at least to what the "Street Name" of the metal would be.

[tricktroller]

Ah! Thanks for your reply! Yes there was indeed a reason for making such metal!

I don't want to go too in depth about it in case my players find this thread haha. Suffice to say there is a back story for the material. The anciet culture had a name for it, but no one knows it, the name is a "direct translation" of the runes describing it.

[Quarian Rex]

Just specify the stats of the material. If you want Hardness 40 and 60 hp/inch, just say so. For the weight reduction just say that it is reduced to 10% (round up to the nearest pound). Differences in armor bulk are meaningful and should be preserved, even if less meaningful. For the Max Dex, just add +5, removing Dex limits if the final bonus is +9 or higher. There are pros and cons to each armor, preserve some of them.

For weapons, just double the dice, all of them. That is what the functional effect is for most weapons, there is no reason to penalize those with a narrower probability curve (multiple damage dice).

Requiring a separate exotic weapon proficiency for a weapon made of this material is just a horribly bad idea. An extra damage die for a single weapon is really not worth it, additionally it would mean that any potential user would have to spend a full level or three with the weapon essentially being a piece of sh!t. That is the complete opposite of making the players see this as a weapon of power.

As for the value of this material... meh? It's effectively super-mithral. Armor made of this is only really useful for niche characters, those capable of wearing heavy armor who also prioritized Dex. Weapons get a damage boost but without the ability to make larger sized ones to leverage greater output it is far less of an advantage. This isn't really something to get excited about. A weapon may be an advantage (a slight one) depending on the type of weapon (the players won't be able to choose) and armor made of this material will probably have virtually no impact on a character's combat ability.

Don't over-value the effect of this on the players.

[King of Nowhere]

My main problem with this is that its "2x Hardness of Adamatine." which, as defined in the dictionary and mythology as an "Unbreakable Metal." The idea that this metal is harder to break than a metal that is literally impossible to break (without magic) is kind of redundant.



Adamantine in D&D has nothing to do with unbreakable. In fact, anyone with power attack can break adamantine fairly easy. So no, having something stronger than adamantine is not redundant.




As for the value of this material... meh? It's effectively super-mithral. Armor made of this is only really useful for niche characters, those capable of wearing heavy armor who also prioritized Dex. Weapons get a damage boost but without the ability to make larger sized ones to leverage greater output it is far less of an advantage. This isn't really something to get excited about. A weapon may be an advantage (a slight one) depending on the type of weapon (the players won't be able to choose) and armor made of this material will probably have virtually no impact on a character's combat ability.

Don't over-value the effect of this on the players.

Consider it's E6, so you don't get +5 stuff. with that constrain, +6 average damage from a greatsword (if the suggestion is taken to double the dice) is nothing to scoff at, and I'd consider it worth a feat.

I agree, though, on the armor part; if you don't have high dex (likely, E6 means no +6 enhancements to stats nor tomes) the armor is not at all better than a regular one. It should get some flat AC bonus

[tricktroller]

Well then would you thnk that instead of giving it a bonus to max dex it instead just gets a flat armor rating? Like instead of giving +5 armor bonus and +3 max dex a breastplate just gives a flat +8 armor bonus? Or do you mean something like +6-7 armor bonus and normal max dex?

Keep in mind the weapon adds an additional die and increases the multiplier on crits by 1. Just for the price of a feat.

[tricktroller]

Hoping to get some more opinions on this. The players actually managed to solve a fairly complex puzzle I created and recovered the armor that was in the puzzle trapped chest.