[Pre-4e] How do You Handle Special Materials?

I have a love-hate relationship with special materials. On the one hand, it sounds cool that silver works well against evil creatures and that mithril allows superior flexibility because of its light weight.

But in actual play, I've never been really satisfied with how it plays out. In 3e, special armor materials become the steel of the world while mundane steel armors becomes the iron -- why wouldn't anyone buy mithril, adamantine or whatever if they can? From a DM/design standpoint, this creates an awkward dynamic because it shifts stat baselines.

As a player, special weapons just feel like a way of making combat all about the weapon rather than about my character. It either feels like a nerf or just another golf club I have to lug around. As a DM, I was never sure how to equip PCs against foes with DR/silver or cold iron. I remember a passage in the 2e DMG that says that every non-caster PC should have access to an appropriate weapon, but then what's the point of the DR in the first place? Just fluff? A pet/cohort nerf? But if I don't give everyone a weapon to bypass the foe's DR, I feel like I'm intentionally screwing them. Either way, this kind of DR is yet another minor non-caster nerf, which I don't much like.

So how do you handle this stuff?

Tequila Sunrise said:

But in actual play, I've never been really satisfied with how it plays out. In 3e, special armor materials become the steel of the world while mundane steel armors becomes the iron -- why wouldn't anyone buy mithril, adamantine or whatever if they can?

...

As a player, special weapons just feel like a way of making combat all about the weapon rather than about my character. It either feels like a nerf or just another golf club I have to lug around. As a DM, I was never sure how to equip PCs against foes with DR/silver or cold iron... But if I don't give everyone a weapon to bypass the foe's DR, I feel like I'm intentionally screwing them. Either way, this kind of DR is yet another minor non-caster nerf, which I don't much like.

So how do you handle this stuff?

Click to expand...

A couple things:

1. Not everyone can afford to buy mithral, adamantine or whatever. Not only that, but it simply isn't always available.

2. Don't be afraid to "screw your players". Good players roll with a challenge and win anyhow. In 2e, the party imc faced a group of (iirc) 4 gargoyles while they were 2nd-4th level, and they didn't have a magic item in the party. Through clever use of spells, psionics, oil, etc, they triumphed.

You're right, there's no point in having DR if it never has an effect.

the Jester said:

You're right, there's no point in having DR if it never has an effect.

Click to expand...

Yup, I agree. I don't think you're technically supposed to bypass every single creatures DR every single time. Their DR is what helps give them their CR. If everyone can bypass it's DR, then their normal CR is not appropriate for your level.

If you don't want to carry a weapon for every occasion, then don't. I don't think you're expected to. That's what I like about 3e vs 2e...in 2e, if you didn't have that +2 weapon or better, you weren't even going to damage a lot of outsiders. At least with DR, you have a chance at doing some damage even if it may not be much.

Tequila Sunrise said:

So how do you handle this stuff?

Click to expand...

I don't worry about it. The PCs can buy the items if they want, and they usually don't. It always works out. If the fighters do little damage due to DR, then it's the casters turn to shine. And on the flip side, there are plenty of times when the casters are less effective due to spell immunities & SR, and then it's the fighters that shine that encounter. This has never been an issue in our game, and I'm always using monsters with DR, SR, Immunity. The PCs have won every battle

As was suggested upthread, just because something is available in game, doesn't mean its available where the PCs are...just like in the RW.

I design jewelry as a hobby. As such, I deal with gold, silver and exotic metals and stones. They aren't universally available because some are exceedingly rare. Some require special tools: you actually need completely distinct tools to work with certain metals, and others may require kilns that can hit extremely high temperatures.

Others require certain chemicals to work with, or (with something like mokume gane) a skillset that most jewelers don't have...or don't care to use very often because its a pain in the butt. Consider- why aren't all Japanese swords made to the same standards as Katanas?

Translating that concept into special materials...by their very nature, finished items that use them will be scarce.

Perhaps only 1 in 1000 smiths may have the skills & tools to work adamant... The nearest smith with the skills & tools lives 300 miles from where the PCs are. AND he's under exclusive contract to work for the Dauphin.

Perhaps mithril just simply isn't available in the area due to its rarity.

Perhaps there is an embargo on the material due to political reasons. Or the mine ran out. Or the dwarves aren't selling.

Or maybe the creatures that are most negatively affected by the material in question are actively seeking it out to hide/destroy it- there's a plot line in there!

So special materials aren't governed by the Magic Mart law? Or you don't use Magic Marts at all?

IMC, there was no "magic mart" -- but there were two competing magic item auction houses, whose controlling families vied for power among the aristocracy -- and both of whom tried (with some, but not total success) to restrict magic trade by other parties. There wasn't a lot of competition, but neither was there a monopoly. IMHO it was just about enough to justify normal magic item prices most of the time, limits to available stuff, plus "plot happens" prices (if appropriate) to model bidding wars over things their rich enemies might want.

Special materials were bundled right into that, since all special materials weapons were also magic weapons -- at least, the ones the PCs cared about were.

Cheers, -- N

In our campaigns, it is perfectly possible to buy magic items, but again, just because something exists in the books doesn't mean its available at a particular seller.

IOW, even Magic Marts have runs on popular items, shortages, employee thefts, late deliveries and local laws that may make certain things illegal to possess & thus, sell.

Heck, in our active campaign, I couldn't even get my hands on a masterwork Dire Pick.

How do you decide what's for sale and what's not? Is it based on a die roll or some kind of flowchart the DM has made up to take supply/demand and other logistics into account? Are items that fundamentally change character dynamics (sometimes known as broken items) harder to find or banned?

It depends upon the DM's desires.

Usually, its just a die roll or some kind of flow chart.

Other times, its based on the internal logic of the campaign: a shop in the middle of nowhere may have a single rare magic item that was improperly identified, so nobody knows what it is...but they certainly won't have 3 Holy Avengers (unless the town is situated near an ancient battlefield in which 1000s of paladins died)- but they may have more than a few potions made by the local research alchemist. A town that is the crossroads of several trade routes, OTOH, may have a wide variety of items available all the time, but what is available may depend upon which caravans have recently passed through (buying certain items, selling certain items).

Sometimes, however, its essential to the campaign that certain items simply don't show up so they're simply "Out of Stock" until further notice.

Tequila Sunrise said:

How do you decide what's for sale and what's not? Is it based on a die roll or some kind of flowchart the DM has made up to take supply/demand and other logistics into account? Are items that fundamentally change character dynamics (sometimes known as broken items) harder to find or banned?

Click to expand...

IMC: dice rolling, plus fudging for things that the player has clearly indicated a preference for finding (if the auction house likes that PC), or fudging in the opposite direction (if the PC has specifically annoyed the house in question).

Anything banned is BANNED, and not for sale ever at any price, and no you can't make one.

Everything else is for sale... somewhere, eventually.

Cheers, -- N