Gold Weapons

[KyleG]

This came up the other day during a game...using an existing rapier can the forge cleric turn it into gold with his blessing of the forge? Arguably the answer is yes IF a gold rapier would be worth 100gp or less. So the question is...What does a golden non magical weapon cost?

[Merudo]

"As part of this ritual, you must lay out metal, which can include coins, with a value equal to the creation"

So you don't even need an old rapier really, just 100gp.

To keep the cost below 100gp maybe you can have the golden rapier look terrible? Like an awful looking handle or something, to lower its price.

[Elysiume]

This came up the other day during a game...using an existing rapier can the forge cleric turn it into gold with his blessing of the forge? Arguably the answer is yes IF a gold rapier would be worth 100gp or less. So the question is...What does a golden non magical weapon cost?There are fifty gold pieces to a pound, so a golden weapon would be in the ballpark of 50gp per pound. You still need to factor in the craftsmanship to create the item, and if you assume (arbitrarily) that half the cost of the item is from labor, a gold rapier would cost 112.5gp.

[Ganders]

That's a good estimate, although I'd assume that parts of the hilt/handle would still be leather rather than gold.

However, gold weighs more than twice as much as steel. So a gold rapier would be more like 5 pounds by the book. And btw, two pounds for a rapier is kinda silly in the first place. A rapier is not a Light weapon, it should not weigh less than a Light weapon. But that's a different discussion.

Also, a solid gold weapon would be so soft as to be nearly useless. It wouldn't hold a point, and would bend rediculously easily. However, a gold-plated weapon, rather similar to the process of making a 'silvered' weapon for fighting lycanthropes, would be interesting.

[Elysiume]

That's a good estimate, although I'd assume that parts of the hilt/handle would still be leather rather than gold.

However, gold weighs more than twice as much as steel. So a gold rapier would be more like 5 pounds by the book. And btw, two pounds for a rapier is kinda silly in the first place. A rapier is not a Light weapon, it should not weigh less than a Light weapon. But that's a different discussion.

Also, a solid gold weapon would be so soft as to be nearly useless. It wouldn't hold a point, and would bend rediculously easily. However, a gold-plated weapon, rather similar to the process of making a 'silvered' weapon for fighting lycanthropes, would be interesting.I'd considered the hilt wrapping, but figured it'd be a negligible weight. Somehow overlooked the fact that steel and gold are wildly different weights, which feels silly in hindsight. As for the weight of a rapier, the sources I'm finding online are 2-4lbs, with Wikipedia pegging them at 2.2lbs on average.

Steel is 8.05g/cm3 while gold is 19.32g/cm3, or 2.4x as dense. So yeah, a gold weapon would cost 120gp per pound that ends up gold. And be a totally worthless weapon, as you said. At least it wouldn't rust.

[KyleG]

The forge cleric was asked to make a aesthetic modification to another players weapon. As a follower of garl glittergold he thought he entertaining to not only embrace the gold but also play a trick on the other player interms of the durability of his weapon. Here is hoping the dm approves for the entertainment value.