Mithral and Adamantine

[Corwyn]

The origin of my question is this picture of a squad of elite dwarven warriors wearing mithral armour and brandishing mithral weapons.

Now I check the special materials section in the dmg and read there that mithral gives these bonuses to armour check penalty’s, it weigh less and de max dex goes up.
But you don’t get any bonuses on either armour or damage. So for all combat purposes these dwarves could just as well have worn normal steel weapons and armour.

Or they would have had to use adamantine equipment. For that does confer bonuses.

Way would dwarves want mithral??
Ok is weighs less, that is good. But for the not that dextrous dwarves the rest of the bonuses don’t mean that much.

Is it just me or did I miss something ??

 

[trentonjoe]

Edit: Removed incorrect info

 

[Darklone]

Well...

Since mithral weapons are lighter... A fighter with TWO dwarven waraxes twohanded without the penalties for twoweapon fighting with heavy weapons ?

Btw: That's a wonderful area for houserules

 

[StealthyMark]

Mithril is the perfect material for armor (lesser arcane spell failure, armor check penalties and higher speed). Adamant is perfect for weapons (natural enhancement bonus, very high hardness and hit points).

 

[Macbrea]

Ah, why would dwarves wish to use Mithril?

Ah, watch this.

Mithril Full plate: Armor Bonus +8 Max dex: +3 Ch. Pen: -3 Move: 15ft Weight: 25 lbs Medium armor prof required

Mithril Breastplate: Armor Bonus: +5 Max dex: +5 Ch. Pen: -1 Move: 20ft Weight: 15 lbs Light armor prof required

Mithril Chainmail: Armor Bonus: +5 Max dex: +5 Ch. Pen: -2 Move: 20ft Weight: 20 lbs Light armor prof required

Mithril Chain shirt: Armor bonus: +4 Max dex: +6 Ch. Pen: 0 Move: 20ft Weight: 12.5 lbs Light armor prof required


As you can see those armor are very useful to dwarves. The lighter wieght plus heaver hardness makes then very useful. Also, a rogue, barbarian or ranger may wish to use much heavy armor then normally allowed by their class. For the dwarven barbarian Mithril full plate could be a life saver.

Macbrea

 

[Ravellion]

As you can see those armor are very useful to dwarves. The lighter wieght plus heaver hardness makes then very useful. Also, a rogue, barbarian or ranger may wish to use much heavy armor then normally allowed by their class. For the dwarven barbarian Mithril full plate could be a life saver.

Macbrea

Great. Rogue Barbarian and ranger.

What about the favoured class of fighters: Fighters? What about their premier prestige class: Defenders? WHat about their second most popular class: clerics?

Dwarven Steel. As normal steel, but twice the hardness and hitpoints. Expensive, but not as expensive as Mithri... er... Mithral.

(House item of course, to me, mithril didn't make any sense at all.)

Rav

 

[Reaver]

The weight savings for those characters without a high strength. For a cleric with a 10-12 strength, 50lbs for full plate is to damn much. Always being higher than lightly encumbered really sucks. And for dwarves mithral should be a cheaper and more readily avaliable alterative to belts of giant strength.




Reaver

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Once it's enchanted, Mithral is 10X more useful than adamantine for armor purpose.

And considering the cost of a fullplate mithral armor, adding a +2 enchantment only bumps the price by 40%!

Yep, Mithral armor rocks.

 

[Macbrea]

Great. Rogue Barbarian and ranger.

What about the favoured class of fighters: Fighters? What about their premier prestige class: Defenders? WHat about their second most popular class: clerics?

Rav

Welp, I wouldn't sneeze at that ability to move 20ft for a Mithril breastplate. The Dwarf in our party discovered that alot of combat out manuevers him with only a 15ft move. And a 15ft move with only a 45ft run can be bad sometimes.

Yes unenchanted Mithril isn't that great compared to Adamantine. But how long do people stay with unenchanted armor anyways.


Macbrea