Cost of Adamantine double-weapons

[RiTz21]

What is the cost of an adamantine double weapon?

The Adamantine entry specifies that the 'costs' already includes the 'masterwork' cost.

In the Masterwork entry, it specifies that a double weapons costs +600gp instead of the regular +300 gp.

So would an Adamantine double-weapon costs an additional +300gp from the adamantine weapon (which is +3,000gp) OR does it simply costs +6,000go, which is twice the price from a regular weapon??

Was there any fix/correction/mention of this in some FAQ/book or official notice!?
Thanks!!
RiTz21

 

[coyote6]

AFAIK, you have to pay for each end, so it's +6000 gp. A double weapon is essentially treated as two separate weapons, for purposes of making it masterwork, from a special material, or magical.

 

[Corsair]

AFAIK, you have to pay for each end, so it's +6000 gp. A double weapon is essentially treated as two separate weapons, for purposes of making it masterwork, from a special material, or magical.

I disagree. First, you will not be able to find any text explicitly stating that all costs for double weapons are always doubled.

Next, contrast the entries for adamantine and alchemical silver.

Adamantine:
Weapon +3,000 gp

Alchemical Silver:
One-handed weapon, or one head of a double weapon +90 gp
Two-handed weapon, or both heads of a double weapon +180 gp

The fact that one of them makes a distinction, while the other does not, is circumstantial evidence that their is no difference when dealing with different kinds of weapons at all, when it comes to adamantine.

 

[Vegepygmy]

The fact that one of them makes a distinction, while the other does not, is circumstantial evidence that their is no difference when dealing with different kinds of weapons at all, when it comes to adamantine.

And why on earth would the authors have intended to give away such a freebie?

Sorry, but your theory doesn't pass the "sniff test."

 

[Dandu]

I have always thought of it as costing 6,000 gp for two ends of the double weapon.

 

[Corsair]

And why on earth would the authors have intended to give away such a freebie?

Sorry, but your theory doesn't pass the "sniff test."

Intent is only a necessary inquiry when the rules are vague. Here, they are not. Weapon, +3,000. Dagger, spear head, greatsword, orc double axe, there is no distinction made. Each is a weapon. This makes adamantine different from every other material type (mithral is by weight for weapons, cold iron doubles the cost, alchemical silver costs less for one handed weapons than two).

Now is this dumb? Possibly. Should an adamantine dagger be 98.46% of the cost of an adamantine greatsword despite using only being 25% of the weight? Maybe not. But that is not how adamantine is written. If you want to change it, you're welcome to in your game. Based on your post, it seems like you wouldn't think adamantine as written passes your "sniff test" when compared to other materials.

 

[Herzog]

I initially thought the double weapon would cost +6000 as well.

However, since the cost increase is the same for a dagger as it is for a Greatsword, a counterargument can be made to expand that line of reasoning to double weapons as well.

However, my final conclusion is based on the entry section of 'special materials' in the DMG (p.283):

If you make a suit of armor or weapon out of more than one

special material, you get the benefit of only the most prevalent
material. For example, full plate made of both adamantine and
mithral will either provide damage reduction or lower weight, not​

both. However,
you can build a double weapon with each head made of a different special material. A dire flail, for example, could have an alchemical silver head for fighting lycanthropes and a cold iron head for fighting fey

Since no additional information is given here on how to handle pricing of items (double weapons) made from more than one material, and pricing for cold iron is different for one side of a double weapon, I believe the pricing should be based on that section:

A double weapon that has only half of it made of cold iron​

increases its cost by 50%.

Therefore, a double weapon with one side made of cold iron and the other made of adamantine should, in my opinion, cost 150% of the base price (for the cold iron part), plus 1500 gp for half of the adamantine (double) weapon cost.

 

[Jhaelen]

The fact that one of them makes a distinction, while the other does not, is circumstantial evidence that their is no difference when dealing with different kinds of weapons at all, when it comes to adamantine.

Actually, I think, it's circumstantial evidence that the developers have been careless when writing up the section about adamantine.

...and don't get me started about the section about cold iron...

What section have been looking at, btw. the most recent (in the MIC)?

 

[irdeggman]

I disagree. First, you will not be able to find any text explicitly stating that all costs for double weapons are always doubled.

DMG pg 28

However, you can build a double weapon with each head made of a diffrent special material.

PHB pg 122

Adding the masterwork quality to a double weapon costs twice the normal increase (+600 gp)

DMG pg 222

Table 7-11, note 2, Table 7-12 note 2

Double weapons have separate magical bonuses for their different heads.

DMG pg 286

Creating magic douoble-headed weapons is treated as creating two weapons when determining cost, time, XP, and special abiliites.

 

[Aran Thule]

I would also say it was +6000 as each weapon head is treated individually.

SRD:Orc Double Axe - D&D Wiki

Orc Double Axe Material Enhancements
Material Average Masterwork1 Hardness hp Special
Steel 60 gp 660 gp 5 10 —
Adamantine — 6,060 gp 5 13 Bypass hardness less than 20
Deep Crystal — 2,060 gp 10 30 Psionic
Mundane Crystal — 660 gp 8 25 No rusting, not metal
Darkwood — n/a n/a n/a —
Iron, Cold 120 gp 720 gp 5 10 Magical enchantments cost an additional 2,000 gp.
Mithral — 7,560 gp 5 10 1/2 weight
Silver, Alchemical 240 gp 840 gp 5 10 −1 damage