guybrush
First Post
As a hook to later Planescape-inspired adventures, I wanted one of my early NPCs to have a dagger or shortsword made of Baatorian green steel. I thought about implementing this as a magic weapon type, but I didn't want to make it magical, just a superior and unusual metal; this is what I came up with. I'd love some feedback.
I'll be calling it Baatorian Green Steel in my campaign, but in keeping with the default setting in the core material, I've dropped that from the name and description below. Also note that I intend it more as a flavourful equipment to give devils and associated villains, or as an interesting treasure item, rather than as desirable equipment for PCs, so while it has some minor (but significant) benefits, it's intended more as a story hook.
Green Steel
Found only in the blasted mines of the Nine Hells, green steel is thankfully a rare commodity in the world of men. Impervious to natural flame, devil smiths regularly use hellish fire to forge it into blades of all shapes and sizes. These weapons are unnaturally light and keen, and oddly cold to the touch. Green steel may also fashioned into armour, though this is less common. While superior to earthly steel, the metal is not magical and, indeed, resists any attempt by mortal magic to enchant it. It is rumoured that some devil smiths know the secret of infusing the metal with fiendish sorceries.
Rules:
Green steel may be used to forge any light or heavy blade, and any heavy armour. While not intrinsically magical, the metal weighs half as much as traditional steel and holds a much finer edge. All green steel items are worth the cost of the equivalent normal item plus 400 gp. Note that green steel items are not usually available for sale for coin, and are instead granted as gifts for service to devils or devil-worshipping cults.
For weapons, increase the damage die of the weapon by one step, just as if the weapon was made for a Large character. (See progression in PHB, page 220.) In addition, the lighter steel makes the weapon easier to wield; increase the proficiency bonus by +1, to a maximum of +4.
For armour, reduce the check and speed penalties by 1 (to a minimum of zero).
Green steel items cannot be enchanted by mortals; any attempt to do so automatically fails. Green steel cannot be melted down in natural flames, but is destroyed if a Magic Circle which affects immortal creatures is created around it (see PHB, page 309). Ordinary green steel equipment is not magical and cannot be disenchanted. Magical green steel items, which can only be created by devils in the Nine Hells, can be disenchanted, but this does not produce residuum; it instead produces a foul, fiendish ichor.
Treat magical green steel items as though their enhancement bonus is one higher for the purposes of NPC or monster magic thresholds.
Knowledge checks:
A character knows the following information with a successful Religion check:
DC 15: Green steel is an unholy metal mined in the pits of the Nine Hells. It is extremely light and sharp compared to natural steel, but possession of it is a sure sign of fiendish influence. The metal is almost impossible to destroy and cannot be worked by natural flame.
DC 20: Devil smiths sometimes use fiendish magics to further empower green steel weapons and armour, but arcane or holy magic is unable to do so - another sure sign of its evil nature. Green steel items may be destroyed by creating a Magic Circle around them.
DC 25: The disgusting green and black ichor left behind when a magical green steel item is disenchanted is known to devil-worshippers as "green blood of the foul earth". It is rumoured to be useful in rituals and spells designed to summon devils.
I'll be calling it Baatorian Green Steel in my campaign, but in keeping with the default setting in the core material, I've dropped that from the name and description below. Also note that I intend it more as a flavourful equipment to give devils and associated villains, or as an interesting treasure item, rather than as desirable equipment for PCs, so while it has some minor (but significant) benefits, it's intended more as a story hook.
Green Steel
Found only in the blasted mines of the Nine Hells, green steel is thankfully a rare commodity in the world of men. Impervious to natural flame, devil smiths regularly use hellish fire to forge it into blades of all shapes and sizes. These weapons are unnaturally light and keen, and oddly cold to the touch. Green steel may also fashioned into armour, though this is less common. While superior to earthly steel, the metal is not magical and, indeed, resists any attempt by mortal magic to enchant it. It is rumoured that some devil smiths know the secret of infusing the metal with fiendish sorceries.
Rules:
Green steel may be used to forge any light or heavy blade, and any heavy armour. While not intrinsically magical, the metal weighs half as much as traditional steel and holds a much finer edge. All green steel items are worth the cost of the equivalent normal item plus 400 gp. Note that green steel items are not usually available for sale for coin, and are instead granted as gifts for service to devils or devil-worshipping cults.
For weapons, increase the damage die of the weapon by one step, just as if the weapon was made for a Large character. (See progression in PHB, page 220.) In addition, the lighter steel makes the weapon easier to wield; increase the proficiency bonus by +1, to a maximum of +4.
For armour, reduce the check and speed penalties by 1 (to a minimum of zero).
Green steel items cannot be enchanted by mortals; any attempt to do so automatically fails. Green steel cannot be melted down in natural flames, but is destroyed if a Magic Circle which affects immortal creatures is created around it (see PHB, page 309). Ordinary green steel equipment is not magical and cannot be disenchanted. Magical green steel items, which can only be created by devils in the Nine Hells, can be disenchanted, but this does not produce residuum; it instead produces a foul, fiendish ichor.
Treat magical green steel items as though their enhancement bonus is one higher for the purposes of NPC or monster magic thresholds.
Knowledge checks:
A character knows the following information with a successful Religion check:
DC 15: Green steel is an unholy metal mined in the pits of the Nine Hells. It is extremely light and sharp compared to natural steel, but possession of it is a sure sign of fiendish influence. The metal is almost impossible to destroy and cannot be worked by natural flame.
DC 20: Devil smiths sometimes use fiendish magics to further empower green steel weapons and armour, but arcane or holy magic is unable to do so - another sure sign of its evil nature. Green steel items may be destroyed by creating a Magic Circle around them.
DC 25: The disgusting green and black ichor left behind when a magical green steel item is disenchanted is known to devil-worshippers as "green blood of the foul earth". It is rumoured to be useful in rituals and spells designed to summon devils.
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