Adamantine weapons

[Justin Bacon]

And what is the tube's diameter going to be?

A breastplate, bracer or greave is going to have a circumference 2"+ greater than a quarterstaff (I can wrap my hands around my quarterstaff, but not around my wrist). If you make a tube the same curvature of a bracer or greave, it will be quite difficult to grip.

Could you wrap your hand around the wrist of a Tiny sprite? Because they can have adamantine armor if they want it.

Justin Alexander Bacon
http://www.thealexandrian.net

 

[Nellisir]

It won't destroy life as we know it if you have an adamantine quarterstaff. Justify it however you like -- it's fantasy.

As a DM, I'd make you pay at least 150% - 200% the regular cost, though -- it's a double weapon.

Nell.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Ok...good point.

So ductility is not a problem...assuming the same techniques are used for both Human sized and Sprite sized adamantine armor. I could see the sprite's armor being done as casts of thin metal, like a bell, or carved rods & blocks of adamantine, rather than being made from rolled metal sheets.

I suppose it could be done as a slightly different weapon. OA recognizes the Tetsubo as a slightly different weapon, even though its essentially a metal club.

So, lets see what an adamantine quarterstaff would look like.

A pure metal adamantine quarterstaff of the same mass as a wooden one would probably be shorter and/or more slender...it may be "whippier" due to its lesser diameter. It may even do slashing damage rather than blunt. Its slickness could be accounted for by making "diamond" grips on it, like a weightlifting bar. It would be like fighting with a piece of rebar.

Perhaps it would be an exotic weapon.

A hollow adamantine quarterstaff with a wooden center could be nearly the same dimensions as a purely wooden one... The grips would be identical to the metal one.

A hollow one with weighted ends would essentially be the same, but could possibly suffer from balance issues if the weights come loose within the weapon. (I know- we'd have to start with the premise that this is a masterwork weapon because of the materials involved...or the weaponsmith could arrange for that to work in his favor...like the mercurial weapons from Sword and Fist)

 

[Cabral]

Assuming adamantine is nonmagic, why not use Fabricate to make adamantium into whatever shape you need? Certainly be a lot faster than making all those little rings for chainmail... eesh.

Another thing is that somewhere I'm pretty sure are rules for the Tetsubo (Sword and Fist?), an Iron staff. If you don't want to allow an adamantine quarterstaff, just call it an adamantine Tetsubo (Non-proficiency penalties may apply, void where prohibited, cannot be combined with other offers, side effects include dry mouth, hair loss, loss of bladder control, and in some cases, cheesy kung fu stylin.)

 

[Shin Okada]

As Tetsubo in Oriental adventure is not truly representing a real Japanese weapon, using it as an example of reasonability may be somewhat inappropriate. Iron (or steel) cane-like weapon used in Japanese older martial arts are called Kanabo and much shorter than quarter staff. The pronunciation "Tetsubo" is, though using the same sets of Kanji (Chinese characters), mainly used for bar iron used for gymnastics.

Regarding Fabricate, you must still make Craft skill checks to make something which requires a high degree of craftsmanship. So, if the best craftsman cannot make a long fine tube of Adamantine in your world, you cannot make it even with Fabricate spell.

If you allow Adamantine or other metals to be made into appropriately weighted hollow quarterstaff, that technology should be usable for any shafted weapons. That will be a special rule for your campaign world, though.

 

[Tarangil]

A solid 6' bar of Adamantine would be friken heavy. Has anyone picked up iron rebar from construction sites? it's only 1cm (not even an inch) in diameter and it's cumbersome and unwieldly...perhaps if you had a 25+ strength it wouldn't be too bad.

But the saving grace is that Adamantine is good for enchantment, so get your 1.5 inch thick Adamantite pole, enchant it to be as light as wood and start SMASHING THINGS.

Adamantine Quarterstaff +2

This solid 6' staff of pure adamantine weighs slightly more than your average Quarterstaff at a whopping 6 pounds. It's strength and resiliance also makes it useful outside of combat, especially when dealing with those pesky closing wall traps. In combat the force from it's blows however carry the weight of the solid piece of metal. The Adamantine Quarterstaff deals an additional 1d6 force damage, and on a critical it deals an additional 1d10 damage of it's crushing power. (Forceful Burst)

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[Lord Pendragon]

If you allow Adamantine or other metals to be made into appropriately weighted hollow quarterstaff, that technology should be usable for any shafted weapons. That will be a special rule for your campaign world, though.

This is how I see it. I don't allow a solid adamantine quarterstaff in my campaigns.

I do allow quarterstaffs to be shod in special materials (silver, cold iron, adamantine). It doesn't cost as much as a true adamantine weapon, nor does it have any of adamantine's special properties, save the ability to bypass -/adamantine DR.

 

[cattoy]

You don't want to make a hollow metal quarterstaff with weighted ends. It would fight like crap, even if the overall weight was identical to that of a wooden quarterstaff.

A wooden quarterstaff has a uniform density throughout its length. A weighted quarterstaff does not.

The weighted one would have a much greater moment of inertia wrt rotation perpendicular to its long axis. I.e. swinging or twirling it.

Such a weapon would be good for thrusting. Only. Hard to control and slow as hell to swing.

 

[cattoy]

Yes- very thin, lightweight tubes that don't depend on mass to be functional.

A lightweight quarterstaff would be virtually useless- it needs mass to do its damage. Otherwise, its a wiffle-weapon.

Let's assume adamantium has a greater density than wood. (it doesn't float AFAIK)

Then a hollow quarterstaff can be constructed with exactly the same mass as a solid wooden quarterstaff with the same exterior dimensions.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

cattoy
Well, they let you make platemail out of adamantium, parts of which (bracers and greaves) are essentially tubes.

Dannyalcatraz
Yes- very thin, lightweight tubes that don't depend on mass to be functional.

A lightweight quarterstaff would be virtually useless- it needs mass to do its damage. Otherwise, its a wiffle-weapon.

cattoy
Let's assume adamantium has a greater density than wood. (it doesn't float AFAIK)

Then a hollow quarterstaff can be constructed with exactly the same mass as a solid wooden quarterstaff with the same exterior dimensions.

The problem still exists...is the world's techology up to the task of rolling out a tube of this superhard metal of sufficient thickness to make a hollow quarterstaff out of it?

Adamantium can be worked into greaves & bracers because its thin sheets of metal, which, as I pointed out, don't require great mass to be effective.

You're talking about either:

1) A single sheet of adamantium rolled into a tube of the same dimensions as a quarterstaff. That will be a thick sheet of metal. It will require great force to work into a tube- likely more than a simple blacksmith could muster by force of human arms alone.

2) Multiple thin layers of adamantium in a laminate construction rolled into a tube of the same dimensions as a quarterstaff. Laminates are difficult to do properly. You can have layer seperation.