Looking for opinions and advice.

[Aleolus]

So, I am considering bringing in a new material for equipment to be made out of in a face-to-face game I'm running, and I wanted to get peoples opinions on it, as well as some suggestions for how to handle rings and jewelry made from the pure material.

Orichalcum
This rare metal, also known as Wizard's Bane, is highly prized among those planning to pursue magic users of all kinds, due to the fact that, for unknown reasons, it absorbs all magic nearby. The metal is too soft to fashion into effective weapons or armor on its own, but can be combined with copper to create an alloy that is equivalent to steel.
In its pure, unworked form, Orichalcum absorbs all magic spells within 5 feet per pound of the metal (minimum 5 feet). This functions as an Antimagic Field centered on the material. When worked into a weapon, it has the ability to dispel magical effects on whatever the weapon strikes, functioning as the targeted version of Dispel Magic. It makes its dispel checks using a modifier of 5, plus the weapons enhancement bonus (if any). So a +2 Orichalcum sword striking someone wearing enchanted armor would make its Dispel check at a +7.
When fashioned into armor, it is treated as automatically having the Spell Resistance property. The Spell Resistance bestowed is 13 for light armor and shields, 15 for medium armor or heavy shields, and 17 for heavy armor or tower shields. This Spell Resistance does not stack with itself, nor with the Spell Resistance enchantment.
Any weapon or armor made primarily of metal can be made of Orichalcum, and Orichalcum weapons and armor are automatically of masterwork quality. Orichalcum adds to the cost of the armor or weapons as if it were Adamantium. Enchanting Orichalcum weapons and armor is exceptionally taxing on the enchanter, requiring double the normal cost in both gold and XP. Items made from pure Orichalcum cannot be enchanted

[Buufreak]

So couple of things. First, you left out a C. Its orichalcum.

Your item explanation got wordy in parts, perhaps rephrase and simplify where you can.


Orihalcum absorbs all magic spells within 5 feet per pound of the metal (minimum 5 feet).

Particularly this sentence. What does it mean? All magic? Truly any and all? Will it rip enchantments off items? Does it absorb spell like and supernatural effects or abilities? What does it mean per pound? Is it an effect per pound? A spell? A spell level? Just really unclear.

General, it takes less metal to make a blade than it does armor. Also, as you go up in weight categories, it takes even more metal. That's why if you check the DMG you see there are different amounts listed for the cost adjustment of different types of items, not just a single flat rate.

[Aleolus]

So couple of things. First, you left out a C. Its orichalcum.

Your item explanation got wordy in parts, perhaps rephrase and simplify where you can.



Particularly this sentence. What does it mean? All magic? Truly any and all? Will it rip enchantments off items? Does it absorb spell like and supernatural effects or abilities? What does it mean per pound? Is it an effect per pound? A spell? A spell level? Just really unclear.

General, it takes less metal to make a blade than it does armor. Also, as you go up in weight categories, it takes even more metal. That's why if you check the DMG you see there are different amounts listed for the cost adjustment of different types of items, not just a single flat rate.

OK, I fixed the spelling issue, and the pricing. Looking at the list for Adamantium, it seemed about what I was wanting, so I just used it. As for the magic absorbing effect, the very next sentence specifies that it functions as an Antimagic Field within the designated area. I thought that pretty clear to mean that within 5ft/lb of pure Orichalcum was treated as though permanently affected by the spell Antimagic Field. So a 2lb chunk of raw adamantium would have a field 10 ft wide, et al.

[Rynjin]

This is the kind of material that is setting-breaking if it's affordable AT ALL. I would be extremely wary of introducing this unless you want to go with some kind of "magic apocalypse" story.

Being able to carry around eg. a 5 lbs. chunk in a backpack and blank all magic within a 25 ft. radius is WILD in terms of power level.

You could essentially make entire armies immune to magic just by having 1 in 100 (or more) soldiers carry sufficiently big hunks of this new orichalcum.

[Pezzo]

Orichalcum absorbs all magic spells within 5 feet per pound of the metal (minimum 5 feet). This functions as an Antimagic Field centered on the material. When worked into a weapon, it has the ability to dispel magical effects on whatever the weapon strikes, functioning as the targeted version of Dispel Magic. It makes its dispel checks using a modifier of 5, plus the weapons enhancement bonus (if any). So a +2 Orichalcum sword striking someone wearing enchanted armor would make its Dispel check at a +7.

imho the AMF part is too broken, the weapon in the example would lose its enhancement bonus whenever it shares the same space with itself. And you'd have to convince your players that crafting a magic sword inside an AMF is all good and normal.

[Prime32]

Other ways you could pull off the "magic sink" effect:

Make the metal itself immune to all effects that allow spell resistance, similar to a golem. Compare dragonscale armor being immune to elements without extending that to its wielder.
Greatly increase the Arcane Spell Failure % of armor crafted from it, to the point where the heaviest armors hit 100% and can be placed on spellcasters to disable them.
Weapons grant the wielder the Arcane Strike feat or a similar effect, allowing them to pour some of their magic into the weapon to empower their attack
The rod of absorption is crafted from it. Or possibly it functions as a weaker reusable version, similar to the effect of the Spellfire Wielder feat.
Costs twice as much to enchant as magic armor (including shields), but its enhancement bonus also applies to touch AC vs spells and spell-like abilities.

[RNightstalker]

The AMF effect is way broken. By mid levels you can basically nerf any magic that opposes you. I think it would be good to incorporate it into boosting a Rod of negation or other spell draining effects and enhancements, like the dispelling weapon enhancements.

[Crake]

Have the AMF part come with side effects, like being unable to benefit from magic items for a period of time proportional to how long you spent under the AMF or perhaps taking no save con damage from radiation or something, or some other penalty for those immune to con damage, and probably use that version of con damage that can only be recovered naturally, not through any magical means, so no cheesing with naberious.

You could maybe even have the damage be tied to spells negated by the AMF, as a sort of “absorb and then radiate” effect.

Also, since the metal absorbs magic, shouldnt it actually be EASIER to enchant? But as a side effect, it slowly radiates out the magic, making the enchantments require upkeep to be maintained, perhaps in the form of expending spell slots, or, for weapons, dispelling a sufficient amount of spells per day, or for armor, negating a sufficient amount of spells via SR per day

[Aleolus]

This is the kind of material that is setting-breaking if it's affordable AT ALL. I would be extremely wary of introducing this unless you want to go with some kind of "magic apocalypse" story.

Being able to carry around eg. a 5 lbs. chunk in a backpack and blank all magic within a 25 ft. radius is WILD in terms of power level.

You could essentially make entire armies immune to magic just by having 1 in 100 (or more) soldiers carry sufficiently big hunks of this new orichalcum.

I already thought of this, which is why the metal is incredibly rare. It is only ever found in copper veins over a mile below the surface, and only about 1 out of every 1000 veins will have a usable amount within it. The alloy I mentioned is roughly 1 part Orichalcum to 10 parts Copper, so getting even just 1 pound of the pure stuff is going to take a long time, and a lot of money.


imho the AMF part is too broken, the weapon in the example would lose its enhancement bonus whenever it shares the same space with itself. And you'd have to convince your players that crafting a magic sword inside an AMF is all good and normal.

It's only the raw, unworked Orichalcum that has that effect, once you mix it with the copper to make the alloy it no longer has sufficient strength to generate that field.



The AMF effect is way broken. By mid levels you can basically nerf any magic that opposes you. I think it would be good to incorporate it into boosting a Rod of negation or other spell draining effects and enhancements, like the dispelling weapon enhancements.

That actually makes a lot of sense, I might just bring that in as well. The wheels are already turning :D


Have the AMF part come with side effects, like being unable to benefit from magic items for a period of time proportional to how long you spent under the AMF or perhaps taking no save con damage from radiation or something, or some other penalty for those immune to con damage, and probably use that version of con damage that can only be recovered naturally, not through any magical means, so no cheesing with naberious.

You could maybe even have the damage be tied to spells negated by the AMF, as a sort of “absorb and then radiate” effect.

Also, since the metal absorbs magic, shouldnt it actually be EASIER to enchant? But as a side effect, it slowly radiates out the magic, making the enchantments require upkeep to be maintained, perhaps in the form of expending spell slots, or, for weapons, dispelling a sufficient amount of spells per day, or for armor, negating a sufficient amount of spells via SR per day

Hmmm, a negative side effect definitely sounds like a good idea, though I'm not sure I want to go with Con damage. As for the enchanting part, because the metal absorbs the magic as you are trying to put it into the item, it means you have to put a lot more force into it to make it stick. That being said, I do really like the maintenance idea, I might just switch to that, instead

[icefractal]

I wouldn't call the AMF part broken. I mean, it depends on the cost, but Antimagic Shackles, for example, aren't broken.

Used as a personal defense, it has the major drawback that the wearer can't use magic (including magic gear) either. So while they can trash any mage they can corner, they're in a bad position against one who bombards them from a distance (with spells like TK or conjurations) or sends planar bound creatures against them. And the fact that you can't store it in an extradimensional space (because the entrances close when it gets close) means there's no way to be subtle about it - people will usually know you have Orichalcum on you.

Depending on the cost, it might be practical to ward castles or at least certain portion thereof with AMFs. Again, that is a trade-off because it means no magical strengthening of the walls, no anti-teleport wards, no magic alarms, etc. And also not something I see as a problem - is it a bad thing if castles aren't a dumb idea in a D&D setting?

You know who it's really a silver bullet against, though? Incorporeal creatures. Get a chunk within range of them, leave it there, and they're trapped forever in non-existence.

[Vaern]

Used as a personal defense, it has the major drawback that the wearer can't use magic (including magic gear) either. So while they can trash any mage they can corner, they're in a bad position against one who bombards them from a distance (with spells like TK or conjurations) or sends planar bound creatures against them. And the fact that you can't store it in an extradimensional space (because the entrances close when it gets close) means there's no way to be subtle about it - people will usually know you have Orichalcum on you.

The material's effect functions as an antimagic field, which is an emanation and therefore requires line of effect. Normally AMF is centered on the caster so there's no way around it, but a chunk of material emanating the effect could be mounted in something like a bullseye lantern to produce only a forward-facing conical field that can be pointed at a specific target without affecting the person holding it. Closing the shutter on the "lantern," or simply wrapping a loose piece of orichalcum in a piece of cloth or enclosing it in some other container, would wholly block the AMF effect's emanation and allow it to pass through the opening to an extradimensional space without disabling it.