Are silvered weapons too expensive?

[Greywander]

IIRC, it costs 100 gp to silver a weapon, plus you have to already have the weapon. To be fair, there weren't really a lot of common magic weapons when the PHB was released, but XGtE added a bunch. Common magic items are meant to cost about 50 to 100 gp, according to the DMG. So it should actually be cheaper to buy a common magic weapon than it would be to get a mundane weapon silvered. And silvered weapons only work on a few enemies.

Though there is still one use case for silvered weapons, although it's pretty niche. And that's inside an anti-magic field. Inside such a field, a magic weapon would lose its magical properties, and thus no longer be able to bypass BPS resistance/immunity, while silvered weapons are not magical and would still work.

Potential fixes include things like reducing the cost of silvering a weapon (e.g. down to 25 gp or even 10 gp). But what I'd really like to see is monsters that require a silvered weapon; a magic weapon won't work. I'd also like to see this expanded to cover other special weapons. Such as cold iron, wooden, or gilded with gold. It's kind of disappointing that so much of these were cut out and everything was just mashed into either silvered or magical, and magical covers anything that silvered does.

[PhoenixPhyre]

IIRC, it costs 100 gp to silver a weapon, plus you have to already have the weapon. To be fair, there weren't really a lot of common magic weapons when the PHB was released, but XGtE added a bunch. Common magic items are meant to cost about 50 to 100 gp, according to the DMG. So it should actually be cheaper to buy a common magic weapon than it would be to get a mundane weapon silvered. And silvered weapons only work on a few enemies.


Silvered weapons are a player-side mechanic. You can, barring active DM counterplay, get a silvered weapon. Despite the prices, buying magic items of any kind is purely up to the DM. That is, getting a silvered weapon is on by default; buying a magic weapon is off by default.

Plus, the only common magic item (that I'm aware of) that works as a magic weapon is the moon-touched blade, which is explicitly a sword. You can silver just about anything, including ammo. Sure, a DM can decide otherwise, but that's another layer of relying on DM intervention.

[Mastikator]

3.5e had monsters that required weapons that were made of specific materials, sometimes materials + magic, sometimes even materials + magic + alignment.

Sounds nice in theory, messy and annoying in reality.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

Like everything it depends on your adventures but its distinctly possible.

I think it rides with the question, should a commoner be able to afford silvered weapons?

Then, what kind of loot have you been finding? In some campaigns adventurers are ridiculously wealthy and run out of things to spend money on. In one I was in thank goodness my Bard performed because we never got the big payouts and we spent some serious time fighting fiends.

[5eNeedsDarksun]

Yes they are. As is the base poison in the Player's. I just find the whole thing isn't set up to be a low magic gritty game, as you can't really afford to set up your characters to fight some of the baddies at low levels without getting magic. It seems like a race to get to level 4 or 5 where the DM can just say, ok everyone can now have a +1 item.

[Sigreid]

Yes they are. As is the base poison in the Player's. I just find the whole thing isn't set up to be a low magic gritty game, as you can't really afford to set up your characters to fight some of the baddies at low levels without getting magic. It seems like a race to get to level 4 or 5 where the DM can just say, ok everyone can now have a +1 item.

In a low magic, gritty game I could see the village the party is trying to save from the werewolves gathering all of the silver in the town and taking it to the blacksmith to make the silvered weapons without charge. Because you know, if they're going to try to save everyone from the werewolves or whatever, it's just a good idea.

[Kane0]

Dozen silver coins and a club

[Greywander]

Dozen silver coins and a club
I'm not sure why you couldn't melt down silver coins into balls and use them as sling ammo. I get that maybe it takes a skilled smith to apply a layer of silver to a weapon without it just falling off or whatever. It's probably not easy to do. But is it really a 100 gp job?

I also understand that your campaign might not have a magic mart. But can you buy potions of healing? Those are common magic items. If you can buy potions, I'd expect to be able to find other common magic items for sale as well. I'd also expect to find common magic items as loot before I'd find a +1 weapon. Either way, it seems like it would be easy enough to get a magic weapon that silvered weapons wouldn't really serve much of a purpose. By the time you can afford to get a weapon silvered, you should already have a magic weapon.

[Mastikator]

I'm not sure why you couldn't melt down silver coins into balls and use them as sling ammo. I get that maybe it takes a skilled smith to apply a layer of silver to a weapon without it just falling off or whatever. It's probably not easy to do. But is it really a 100 gp job?

I also understand that your campaign might not have a magic mart. But can you buy potions of healing? Those are common magic items. If you can buy potions, I'd expect to be able to find other common magic items for sale as well. I'd also expect to find common magic items as loot before I'd find a +1 weapon. Either way, it seems like it would be easy enough to get a magic weapon that silvered weapons wouldn't really serve much of a purpose. By the time you can afford to get a weapon silvered, you should already have a magic weapon.

It's worth 100gp for an adventurer who expects to face some fiends and werewolves. The labor and material cost has nothing to do with what an adventurer pays, not in D&D. This also holds true for treasure, the amount of treasure a party can expect to find in a dungeon has no correlation with how much treasure can sensibly be stored in a treasure.

In fact if you try to simulate an economy based on real world values and economics you quickly run into a campaign where the incentives go against standard adventuring and in favor of turning it into a war game.

[Leon]

With 5e Lycanthropes being outright immune to damage if you don't have X or Y then yes its worth it. Only reason we didn't have a TPK when we met some in the current game was i had a necklace of Fireballs and when the ones that were left kept gunning for the sorcerer we kept the lil twerp up and alive. That was a rude shock to find out about the immunity when i was expecting a resistance based off what 3.5 Lycanthropes were like.


3.5e had monsters that required weapons that were made of specific materials, sometimes materials + magic, sometimes even materials + magic + alignment.
Sounds nice in theory, messy and annoying in reality.

Hardly, could be a hindrance but wasn't a show stopping if you didn't have the right one and there was a very neat and reasonably priced Magic enhancement that made it easy (Metaline)

[CapnWildefyr]

IIRC, it costs 100 gp to silver a weapon, plus you have to already have the weapon. To be fair, there weren't really a lot of common magic weapons when the PHB was released, but XGtE added a bunch. Common magic items are meant to cost about 50 to 100 gp, according to the DMG. So it should actually be cheaper to buy a common magic weapon than it would be to get a mundane weapon silvered. And silvered weapons only work on a few enemies.

Though there is still one use case for silvered weapons, although it's pretty niche. And that's inside an anti-magic field. Inside such a field, a magic weapon would lose its magical properties, and thus no longer be able to bypass BPS resistance/immunity, while silvered weapons are not magical and would still work.

Potential fixes include things like reducing the cost of silvering a weapon (e.g. down to 25 gp or even 10 gp). But what I'd really like to see is monsters that require a silvered weapon; a magic weapon won't work. I'd also like to see this expanded to cover other special weapons. Such as cold iron, wooden, or gilded with gold. It's kind of disappointing that so much of these were cut out and everything was just mashed into either silvered or magical, and magical covers anything that silvered does.

I've always thought it was way too pricey. I mean, slings are underrated but still they're they only thing you can get cheap silver ammo for. IIRC older editions used to have penalties associated with silvered weapons that were not expertly made, because silver's not as good for holding an edge compared to steel and adamantine. But 5e doesn't have that, so why so expensive if not avoiding a game mechanic?

They also nixed any vulnerabilities, too, if I read the stat blocks right.

I'm with you, I'd rather have specific weaknesses and the ability to do something about it, without a spell or magic, and without lots of cash (compared to the base prices). Magic is cool but so are silver caltrops.

[Pildion]

Silvered Weapons, I don't think are bad at 100gp, but Ammo is. 100gp for 20 shots? Na that's crazy when them melee guys get unlimited for the same price.

[Willie the Duck]

I also understand that your campaign might not have a magic mart. But can you buy potions of healing? Those are common magic items. If you can buy potions, I'd expect to be able to find other common magic items for sale as well. I'd also expect to find common magic items as loot before I'd find a +1 weapon. Either way, it seems like it would be easy enough to get a magic weapon that silvered weapons wouldn't really serve much of a purpose. By the time you can afford to get a weapon silvered, you should already have a magic weapon.

Fundamentally this is going to be a statement with no consensus. Some gaming groups are going to have ubiquitous silver weapons and healing potions but have common magic items only when the DM remembers to throw them in the treasure pile (yes, possibly making them the least common of magic items). Other groups are going to have them be as common as healing potions. Other groups are going to have everything go by the PHB and XGtE cost guidelines and then just have availability based on town size or something ('this town has anything under 900 gp', etc.). It's all going to depend on whether the group opened up XGtE and saw that section as expanded rules, optional rules, or suggestions. There isn't consistency there, as far as I can tell, and arguments like healing potion is a common magic item so why not others probably aren't going to sway a group to change how they do things.

And if your group does allow minor magic item purchases, this is hardly the only inconsistency created. Isn't one of the mithril armors cheaper than buying a regular set of the armor?

[KorvinStarmast]

In a low magic, gritty game I could see the village the party is trying to save from the werewolves gathering all of the silver in the town and taking it to the blacksmith to make the silvered weapons without charge. Because you know, if they're going to try to save everyone from the werewolves or whatever, it's just a good idea. +1


I'm not sure why you couldn't melt down silver coins into balls and use them as sling ammo. We used to do that in AD&D 1e.
I get that maybe it takes a skilled smith to apply a layer of silver to a weapon without it just falling off or whatever. It's probably not easy to do. But is it really a 100 gp job? Yes it is, per the PHB. Gold isn't a pure economic metric, it's also a game token.

But can you buy potions of healing? In our first campaign, no, we could not. The DM did not treat the PHB as a guaranteed shopping list.


Those are common magic items. If you can buy potions, I'd expect to be able to find other common magic items for sale as well. Not so. They are a notable exception.

I'd also expect to find common magic items as loot before I'd find a +1 weapon. Like healing potions? :smallwink:

Either way, it seems like it would be easy enough to get a magic weapon that silvered weapons wouldn't really serve much of a purpose. By the time you can afford to get a weapon silvered, you should already have a magic weapon. Not necessarily. The default assumptions of 5e aren't that magic weapons are easy to come by.

Silvered Weapons, I don't think are bad at 100gp, but Ammo is. 100gp for 20 shots? Na that's crazy when them melee guys get unlimited for the same price. But the are also up face to face versus the enemy, not hiding behind the tank and throwing stones/launching arrows. :smalltongue:

[kingcheesepants]

Definitely in the typical DnD game where Artificers are a thing and common magic items are just that, silvered weapons are unusually expensive. I do believe that the pricing is a holdover from the time before Artificers and common magic items and that silvered weapons shouldn't cost more than whatever common magic items cost in your game. So in very low magic games sure 100 gp, in games that follow the guidelines as set out in official materials, maybe half that.



And if your group does allow minor magic item purchases, this is hardly the only inconsistency created. Isn't one of the mithril armors cheaper than buying a regular set of the armor?

Much like silvered weapons the cost for Mirhril/Adamantine/magical variant armor is the base cost of the armor + the cost for being a magic item. Uncommon magic items might have a stated value lower than plate but Mithril plate should cost that plus whatever plate costs in your game.