Material

As stated previously, objects have several factors to them, including shape, material and association to their true Forms. Because of this, the material used to forge armor and weapons become very important when crafting them.

The prior equipment lists assumed the common material, which is usually iron. Other materials could be used; however, it will change several factors about the object created with the alternate. Steel is a more expensive process than iron; thus, obviously, the market price and maintenance will be the first notable difference. Moreover, steel is an improvement upon iron, which results in a higher quality metal product. How this translates to the game is a +1 value gets added somewhere.

When a different metal has a higher quality, the default for the bonus is Base Defense for armor and a bonus to hit per d20 on attack for weapons. Therefore, for steel, the result is a slightly higher Defense value if it were a chain shirt made of steel. The standard chain shirt has an armor base of 12; however, if it were forged in steel rather than iron, its armor base would be 13 instead. Likewise, a normal dagger gains no special bonuses on the d20 attack rolls, but a steel dagger would be +1 to for each of the dice rolled.

Of course, items made from steel are less common, and not just because the alloy is not natural making it more rare but also because the skills of the craftsman must be improved to be able to forge with steel. The armoring skill allows one to forge metal armor out of iron, but to work with steel to craft an armor, an armoring II skill is required. Since fewer smiths can produce steel instead of iron, the products are more rare.

Another enhancement to iron is a process known as silvering. Every adventurer knows there are foul monsters that have resistances against standard weapons and something magical or at least divinely-pure from a cosmological view is needed to harm these creatures. Werewolves, wraiths, night hags are just a few examples where one might need a silver weapon. Of course, the cost of silver compared to iron would make these weapons ridiculously expensive. Thus, years ago, the silvering process was discovered.

Silvering also requires an armoring II skill. What it does is uses a small amount of silver in the forging with iron as an alloy, and after the item has been shaped, the smith adds a coat of silver plating on the outside, perhaps along the edge of the blade or on the flat of the striking-head. This allows the weapon to act with the special properties of purity to chastise such evil monsters.

The next obvious step would be to upgrade the silvering process to merge it with steel instead of iron. However, this remains the metalsmith’s pipe dream. The ratios tried to date have been unsuccessful. It seems that something in the charcoal when combined with silver defiles the purity factor from the precious metal. A few experiment with this goal, but metalworkers have to make a profit to survive and have all but given up on hope.

However, there are yet a few more mystic ores that exist, albeit rare. What should become obvious is that many magical items, specifically for arms and armor, the creation process is not a wizard-enchantment but rather a skilled process of forging. Many of the metals which detect as magic naturally require even higher skills, like armoring III and others.

As for these mystic ores themselves, there is one called electrum, which should not be confused with the real-world alloy of gold and silver. In the Enchanted Realms world, electrum is a naturally-occurring greenish metal. Orichalcum his is a yellowish, lightweight and semi-porous metal, which by itself is brittle and almost powdery; however, it can be mixed with iron to make a magical steel. Sometimes called thunder-metal or sky-ingot, meteore has no natural deposits in the ground, as this falls from the sky in chucks, ranging from a pound up to a rare 50-pound rock. It is heavy but offers endurance and tensile strength to the alloys with which it is made. Scarletite is a rare red ore used to create a flame-blade. And there are still more.

Another detail that smiths must consider when crafting with different ores is that each has different properties of density, malleability, and so on. A pound of iron does not fill the same volume as does a pound of steel. Iron is slightly heavier. Thus, the “pinkie-finger cube” was created as a standard of comparison. It is far more precise than the measurement of a finger, but jargon of yesteryear gave it the name. The cube is a solid six-sided block, 1½-inches in height, length and depth. When forged in iron, it weight precisely one pound. Thus, when forged from other metals, it provides the ratio for the amount of alloy needed to create a weapon or armor of identical size.

At this point, players should be able to manage the general market for equipment that is not standard -- or even if encountering a merchant who is trying to sell a magical blade. Keep in mind that just because the players know that blade is worth around 7,000 bits, the one’s character may need an appraisal or bartering skill to have this information.

Now it is time to discuss other materials. Especially types which are not metallic. Leather, as defined in the standards of armor, is assumed to be from some sort of bovine, porcine or caprine. However, there is a tanning process known to produce something called “heavy hide.” This comes from the skins of dire sharks, gorgonopsids, sarcosuchus and other dangerous beasts. It can essentially be used as a replacement for the leather material of an armor to increase the Base Armor value by +1. However, it weighs a bit more and is not as supple, which lends to the reason why the maximum time worn is half of normal leather.

Another leather substitute is made from an elfin plant called “darkleaf,” often called goluka because of its native-language name. There are some specialized skills needed to craft from this, but this light-weight fabric is highly coveted by adventurers because of its organic qualities to repair itself, so long as it is watered and kept in sunlight. It also offers the same protection as normal leather; however, it has Receptions that grant +1 against blunt and cold damage. Further, any coriaceous product made out of the darkleaf material will be 30% lighter than normal, but most importantly, when worn during a short rest, the clad one will gain an extra +1 to Body points recovered, which means an extra point of recovery can be obtained daily.

Using the techniques used in the creation of heavy hide, there is yet another advancement, known as iron-skin. It requires more skill as a craftsman than does heavy hide, but iron-skin is the apogee of light armor for the veteran audacious wayfarer. One of the creatures which has the hide to produce iron-skin is the basilisk. Another is the Hesperian gorgon. Thus, gaining the base material for iron-skin is not a simple task. However, once produced, this skin will grant +2 to the Base Armor value of the armor. However, one of the strange properties of iron-skin is how it bonds with one’s lifesong. It forms a tight-fitting layer, almost like a thick, extra tier of skin for the wearer. But it varies in its rigidity based on who has donned the material. In game terms, this means that the sub-attribute modifier used for it is not the standard Agility, but instead iron-skin is adjusted by one’s Resilience modifier score, thickening more when the owner has a sturdier physique.

The elves have more armor secrets than just darkleaf. They hold a secret skill called arbor-forging, which allows them to use feywood harvested from bark of a rare preternatural class of trees. The mystic wood can be fashioned into interwoven rings, similar to chain mail. The elfin hauberk is the mark of a respectable lieutenant-like ranking of an elfin warrior. This armor offers the same protection as a chain shirt but it weighs half as much, and that means the restrictions against using the attribute modifier are lowered.

One can see that the elves have learned how to exploit various magical vegetation to aid their culture. However, no secret remains hidden forever. Elves were once known for the superiority in archery. To be fair, the reputation endures. That said, other cultures learned decades ago that these sylfaen were fletching their ammo from the remnants of fey trees left in their care.

To preserve that reputation, the elves chose to use the greed of other species and began selling some of the specialty arrows and cords of the wooden source. Thus, while expensive, there are several types of mystic timber available on the open market. Daintwood, duskwood, stonewood and flamewood are the most commonly traded resources.

Arrows, spears and other range weapons made from daintwood gain 20% distance on their range, both normal and maximum. Thus, a daintwood arrow fired from a bow would have a (145/360) range.

Duskwood is a supernatural wood that absorbs light, creating partial darkness, similar to the spell, obscuring vision to that of dusk even during midday. However, this wood must be hidden inside a dark container, like a metal jar, which thwarts the woods light-dampening power. This is because duskwood can only absorb about 30 days worth of light before becoming inert. Before that time, a single stick of wood (roughly 1 board foot) will absorb bright light in a 10-foot radius, bringing the visible light to be dim. Dim light will become like darkness. And darkness will act like magical darkness. Multiple amounts of wood do not create a cumulative effect. Finally, making arrows from duskwood is not unheard, delivering the effect upon the enemy.

Perhaps the most prevalent of all the uncanny vegetation, stonewood is under control of humans, jzaka, nhoblits and even the jen’esse. When a grove of stonewood trees is discovered, often a lumber mill is constructed nearby due to the peculiar properties of the tree. Once the wood has been cut away from the trunk, only three days pass before it petrifies. After that point, cutting it and shaping it become nearly impossible as the wood becomes of the same consistency as stone and equally fire resistant. However, even after solidifying, stonewood remains light-weight and will float in water. Wood sculptors work near such groves to carve stonewood blocks into shields then wait for their work to harden. Fletchers have also made arrows of stonewood as well.

Since flamewood has become an open-market product, different governments have been attempting to regulate it, often through taxation. Fire is nothing new; however, the self-ignition, by the mere firing of an arrow made from it, has labeled flamewood the cause of numerous costly non-combat mishaps. However, when used in combat, an arrow of flamewood acts as if it were under an effect of infusion of fire, and it burns up after being launched. While helpful to the archer, there is also a detriment as storing the arrows must be kept in a cooler environment. There have been incidents of flamewood self-combusting due to the temperature being too high.

Finally, there are a few other materials that do not fit the combat model, but are important to list here as well. There ar helmets made that have the chrysoberyl pattern built as part of its design.