Cold wrought iron, what is it?

[Ulrick]

I've been playing D&D for almost 17 years now, and I still don't know what this "Cold Wrought Iron" stuff is.

Some creatures can only be hit by cold wrought iron weapons.

It did a google search and found this informative website:
http://www.realwroughtiron.com/wiac.asp

...but it still didn't answer my question. :\

How is this stuff made? Does it make good weapons? Why are some mythic and D&D creatures (like Devils) can only be hit and damaged by cold wrought iron weapons?

 

[mythusmage]

A load of malarky.

In the original stories certain fantastical creatures (fey for example) were especially hurt by iron. Plain iron, nothing special about it. It wasn't that only iron could hurt them, it was more they were, in a sense, allergic to iron. Most of the time iron would burn them in addition to the wounds inflicted.

Cold iron was 'invented' by Victorian era academics who had no idea what they were talking about. Much as Chuchulain's gaer bolg (a heavy spear) became a spiky football according to one mythographer. D&D's use of 'cold wrought iron' is a continuation of the original error.

Cold wrought iron is (supposedly) iron that is worked without heat. Whether the heat required for smelting the iron in the first place counts is open to interpretation. Trouble is, working iron cold tends to weaken it. If you must use cold wrought iron in your campaign I recommend making such items available only from dwarfs and kobolds (who have arcane secrets regarding such), and charging whatever the market will bear.

Hope this helps.

 

[EdL]

To enlarge a bit on what Mythusmage said, you have to remember that iron was a miracle metal of sorts way back when. Not because it was better than bronze, it wasn't, but because once people learned how to work it, they could make as much armor and as many weapons as they wanted. (Which they couldn't do with bronze.) That may seem incredibly obvious now, but it was a Big Deal back then. So stories about how great it was started showing up. One that stuck around, although it changed for over time, was the special effect it had on fey creatures.

 

[Justin Bacon]

And, for the reasons the previous two posters mentioned, I decided to give cold iron something a little special to differentiate in my campaign:

Cold Iron: Cold iron is a rare metal mined deep beneath the earth. Although similar to iron at first glance, cold iron is a much lighter metal and can be worked in a manner similar to steel. In fact, the trained eye can easily discern the differences between common iron and cold iron: The latter finishes to a dull, smooth black which sparkles as if faint stars flickered dimly within its depths – an effect which is particularly heightened beneath the light of the moon.
Cold iron is naturally inimical to mystical forces. As a result it is often particularly harmful to those creatures, such as they fey, who are possessed of a natural affinity to magic. In order to retain these delicate properties, however, cold iron must be forged at a lower temperature, making it a difficult metal to work with. In addition, any magical enhancement made to an item of cold iron costs an additional 2,000 gp (due to the difficulty of the work). Cold iron has 30 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 10.

It's basically just a difference of flavor text. But it gives cold iron a unique identity.

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

 

[Conaill]

Cold wrought iron is (supposedly) iron that is worked without heat. Whether the heat required for smelting the iron in the first place counts is open to interpretation.

I believe it's supposed to be cold-wrought *meteoritic* iron, so no smelting is involved in the first place.

[Edit: could also be "bog iron".]

 

[mattcolville]

The phrase "cold iron" comes from a poem and it exists only because it makes the poem parse well. It's the exact same reason people say "brand new" or "pure as the driven snow." It just means "iron." Normal everyday iron.

 

[Aaron L]

I always loved the chart in the 1E DMG showing what weapons of different pluses were made of what materials. I think that +2 was meteoric iron, and Im pretty sure +4 weapons were made of mithril, and +5 of adamantite. In 3E I see enhancing weapons and armor as realigning the molecules of the metals or what have you into stronger structures.

But yeah, cold wrought iron is iron thats pounded into shape without heating it to make it softer. Or maybe whittled down from a big block? Just imagine how long it would take to do that But I dont understand why it has the resistant to enchantment that it does. My be its supposed to represent cold wrought meteoric iron as Conail said, which would make it a lot more interesting.

I knew this guy once who had no clue what cold iron was, so he had a "cold forge" in a game he ran once. Intriguing idea.

 

[sydbar]

I've always thought of it as a rare forging process that is only known to a few dwarven master crafters using iron that has been affected by the rare radiation from the underground. Thats the way I play it.

 

[Particle_Man]

But yeah, cold wrought iron is iron thats pounded into shape without heating it to make it softer. Or maybe whittled down from a big block? Just imagine how long it would take to do that But I dont understand why it has the resistant to enchantment that it does. My be its supposed to represent cold wrought meteoric iron as Conail said, which would make it a lot more interesting.

So a cold iron spiked chain would take some doing.

 

[Vanion]

On the "whittled from a block idea", it begs the question of how the hell you extract the iron from the ore without heat, though. It's been a while since my chem days, but iron is generally found in the earth as Fe203, IIRC. Why would the initial heat treatment somehow be any different to the process of forging? Meh. The stuff never has made sense, like a lot of DnD. Some of the explanations here are interesting, but mostly I just ignore it in campaigns. Never had fae killing PCs, have no real desire to run a campaign based around it.