Mithral Tower Shields?

[Lord Ravinous]

Since there are no construction rules for this, I'm assuming it fits here, so anyways...

Given the lightweight nature of Mithral, and the poor ability of wood to withstand damage, would you consider it out of the question to craft a tower shield entirely out of Mithral (given that the owner can afford this venture) replacing all of the wood components, thus giving the Tower Shield an equal if not lighter weight, better max dex, and ACP?

The only problem I see with this is coming up with the weight, since the tower shield is normally made of mostly wood, and the ammount of mithral a project like would take, I'm thinking it would have a slightly higher price modifier than a regular Mithral shield.

What do ya'll think?

 

[XCorvis]

I see no problem with how you want to do it. I would make it cost as much as adding mithral to heavy armor.

The main problem with the tower shield is not necessarily its weight, but its size, so I wouldn't make any other changes to the rules for using it, other than the regular mithril bonuses.

 

[Lord Ravinous]

I see no problem with how you want to do it. I would make it cost as much as adding mithral to heavy armor.

The main problem with the tower shield is not necessarily its weight, but its size, so I wouldn't make any other changes to the rules for using it, other than the regular mithril bonuses.

Yeah, I didn't plan to change any of the stats outside for the regular Mithral stuff. So you think I should keep the weight at 45 lbs?

 

[XCorvis]

Yeah, I didn't plan to change any of the stats outside for the regular Mithral stuff. So you think I should keep the weight at 45 lbs?

Hmm...

I know this isn't particularly accurate, but:
A heavy steel shield weighs 15 lbs
A heavy wooden shield weighs 10 lbs
A wooden tower shield weighs 45 lbs
so, a steel tower shield could weigh about 67.5 lbs.
A mithral tower shield would then weigh 33.75 lbs, or just call it 34 lbs.

Lighter than the wooden version, but not by half. In this light, it might be resonable to reduce some of the mithril bonuses slightly, seeing as how those are normally based off a mostly metal item. I think your goal here is durability, tho, so that's not necessarily that bad.

 

[Lord Ravinous]

Hmm...

I know this isn't particularly accurate, but:
A heavy steel shield weighs 15 lbs
A heavy wooden shield weighs 10 lbs
A wooden tower shield weighs 45 lbs
so, a steel tower shield could weigh about 67.5 lbs.
A mithral tower shield would then weigh 33.75 lbs, or just call it 34 lbs.

Lighter than the wooden version, but not by half. In this light, it might be resonable to reduce some of the mithril bonuses slightly, seeing as how those are normally based off a mostly metal item. I think your goal here is durability, tho, so that's not necessarily that bad.

Correct, durability is the main area I was interested it. As far as the Price Modifier, I was thinking 1,500-2,000gp. Mainly for the sheer ammount of Mithral that'd go into a project like this.

 

[XCorvis]

Correct, durability is the main area I was interested it. As far as the Price Modifier, I was thinking 1,500-2,000gp. Mainly for the sheer ammount of Mithral that'd go into a project like this.

Well, making light armor out of mithril costs 1000 gp, but that's less than a quarter of the weight. A steel tower shield weighs more than the heaviest armor, so you need a lot of mithril for it - like about 9000 gp worth, which is what the DMG lists for the cost of mithril heavy armor. The workmanship is less intensive than heavy armor, but the amount of metal is higher. This isn't gonna be cheap...

 

[Lord Ravinous]

Well, making light armor out of mithril costs 1000 gp, but that's less than a quarter of the weight. A steel tower shield weighs more than the heaviest armor, so you need a lot of mithril for it - like about 9000 gp worth, which is what the DMG lists for the cost of mithril heavy armor. The workmanship is less intensive than heavy armor, but the amount of metal is higher. This isn't gonna be cheap...

Aight, I'll start saving up now

 

[AeroDm]

Although it says +1000 gp for shields, it also says +500 gp/lb for other items. I think the tower shield could be treated as an 'other item'. On the other hand, it doesn't seem like you are really trying to gain any benefit from this other than the hardness and hp over wood (I take it your DM likes sunder). To that end, I would go with a more reasonable rate. The prices are listed for balance and fairness for the power garnished, so in this case I think a compromise would serve all parties best.

 

[Lord Ravinous]

Yeah, I havn't played under my current DM in about a year or so, and he's got a habit of using every option at his disposal to make it hard us, and since I'm gonna be using a Tower Shield alot, I'd rather be safe than sorry.

 

[drdevoid]

Am I being obtuse?

Why not use darkwood for the tower shield?

From the 3.5 SRD:

Darkwood: This rare magic wood is as hard as normal wood but very light. Any wooden or mostly wooden item (such as a bow, an arrow, or a spear) made from darkwood is considered a masterwork item and weighs only half as much as a normal wooden item of that type. Items not normally made of wood or only partially of wood (such as a battleaxe or a mace) either cannot be made from darkwood or do not gain any special benefit from being made of darkwood. The armor check penalty of a darkwood shield is lessened by 2 compared to an ordinary shield of its type. To determine the price of a darkwood item, use the original weight but add 10 gp per pound to the price of a masterwork version of that item.
Darkwood has 10 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 5.

Simple analysis bears out that it's far cheaper by pound (Darkwood @ 10 gp/lb vs. Mithral @ 500 gp/lb) which assumes that making large beams of mithral should be difficult hence not ideal for making 'portable walls' (tower shields).

If Sunderability is the big issue here:

-Mithral has 30 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 15
-Darkwood has 10 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 5.
-And (thrown in for good meaure) Dragonhide has 10 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 10

(Dragonhide is twice mstwk value and offers no other benefit)

The net bonus of mithral over darkwood:
-1 off armor check (-3 vs. -2)
+2 max dex (darkwood doesn't decrease this)
-10% arcane spell failure (darkwood doesn't decrease this)

But with the money saved one could enchant said shield, right?

The mithral over darkwood benefit then revolves around the max dex bonus which is laughable at lower levels for standard fighters or ASF percentages in which case, well, you're screwed any which way.

Combined with promoting believability against a skeptical DM (tower shields are listed as wooden after all) as well as cost effectiveness as a concern, I would say darkwood is a soft sell.