Dark Sun: Metal is inherently worse?

[TheClone]

Yeah, that was one of the first things that I thought of when I read how they're doing it. I just chalked it up to the fact that either the games day and encounters stuff were put together before the all of the rules were finalized or that the writers goofed. It's not like that hasn't happened in the games day stuff before. hehe.

Personally, I love how they gave +1 items to all of the games day characters even though they all have inherant bonuses of +1.

I guess, at leat concerning "bloodsand Arena" they wanted to have just one metal weapon in the group to make the players and the DM see what difference it makes and that it's "iconic" and "cool". It was even won as first prize in a arena tournament, so it shows that it is rare indeed.

I will give my players some magic items, too. Probably as much as the treasure parcels tell (plus adding some money-worth favors) even with the inherant enhancement bonuses. I want to give the players the possibility to decide which item has the funnies or worthiest powers and properties, not only the highest enhancement. Brings in another choice for them and it's not that much up the "I wanna have the highest value" anymore. And they can carry around multiple (magic) weapons when one breaks (and if they get more treasure than WotC planned they have some "spare money" to repair broken weapons).

Did they ever explain why there is no metal?

In the 4e DS book they don't tell you that as far as I remember. But you will find only one named iron mine or iron mines compound which is next to and under the control of Tyr.

 

[Bold or Stupid]

Did they ever explain why there is no metal?

It could be the lack of material suitable to smelt iron with. It takes about 16 kg of charcol to smelt 1 kg of iron. The Tyr region just doesn't have that much wood.

 

[DracoSuave]

Did they ever explain why there is no metal?

Cause there's very few mines left. The thing to understand is that Athas is not some new world ripe for plunder... it's a very very old world.

Imagine the Forgotten Realms. Now picture it eons in the future... where every vein of useful metal has been stripmined down to nothing. Once those run out, imagine magic being used to find what little's left. Magic that destroys nature simply in the preparation for the casting.

Now subject it to the magical equivalent of a nuclear apocolypse, something that makes the Time of Troubles and the Spellplague look like minor inconveniences, where the energies of life itself was sacrificed for the purpose of eradicating all non-human life. Where men were killed strictly to power the spells used to kill other men.

Now... take what scant resources are left, and go forth another millennium of what few pockets of life remains fighting and killing each other for these resources.

That is why metal is rare. Everything is rare. Water, fertile soil, safety, shelter... there is nothing that is common except for the remains of the dead. What is left, men fight and die to keep, for they have little choice. Bone bleached from those that did not survive. Glass created from the one thing the land has in abundance... dead sand. Leather taken from the skin of beasts who only live to be slaughtered.

It isn't that metal doesn't exist... it's that it's rare and expensive. People use other materials out of sheer necessity... when your choice is 'wear some dead bug's carapace' or 'die' then you pretty much know your options.

 

[TheClone]

It could be the lack of material suitable to smelt iron with. It takes about 16 kg of charcol to smelt 1 kg of iron. The Tyr region just doesn't have that much wood.

I wouldn't say "no", but I never heard of or read about it. Considering the verdant regions around the city states, there seems to be more wood than iron ore.

 

[CovertOps]

Or make it completely mirror weapon breakage. Choosing to use Reckless Defense obliges the attacker to re-roll their attack, but damages the armour. In metal armour, the armour is only damaged if the re-rolled attack hits.

This would suck on the player side, possibly turning a crit into a miss. I'd say force a re-roll and lose a point of AC. If the attack hits, the crit is confirmed. Otherwise, it's just a normal hit.

There is another issue as well: what about Non-AC Defenses. Chipping away at the armor is obvious. Chipping away at the amulet... that's stretching things.

I'm positive there is an interesting and workable rule in this idea, we just aren't too it yet.

I have to say I think I'd avoid any armor breakage rule because it only penalizes half of your characters (the half wearing heavy armor like Fighters, Paladins, and Clerics). I'm sure there are other heavy armor wearing classes I just can't think of them off the top of my head and of course Paladins and Clerics are not in Athas by default.

 

[CovertOps]

Or make it completely mirror weapon breakage. Choosing to use Reckless Defense obliges the attacker to re-roll their attack, but damages the armour. In metal armour, the armour is only damaged if the re-rolled attack hits.

This would suck on the player side, possibly turning a crit into a miss. I'd say force a re-roll and lose a point of AC. If the attack hits, the crit is confirmed. Otherwise, it's just a normal hit.

There is another issue as well: what about Non-AC Defenses. Chipping away at the armor is obvious. Chipping away at the amulet... that's stretching things.

I'm positive there is an interesting and workable rule in this idea, we just aren't too it yet.

I have to say I think I'd avoid any armor breakage rule because it only penalizes half of your characters (the half wearing heavy armor like Fighters, 2 weapon Rangers, Paladins, and Clerics). I'm sure there are other heavy armor wearing classes I just can't think of them off the top of my head and of course Paladins and Clerics are not in Athas by default.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

It isn't that metal doesn't exist... it's that it's rare and expensive. People use other materials out of sheer necessity... when your choice is 'wear some dead bug's carapace' or 'die' then you pretty much know your options.

Also, the sorcerer kings have no vested interest in improving the situation. They're very much on top, and any sort of quality of life improvement doesn't help them at all.

So, yes, they likely could make elemental forges that would smelt iron into steel with minimal use of wood, or transmute ordinary glass into glassteel, but why would they bother? Adventurers might do something about that, but they're too busy looting old ruins and dying uselessly in arena matches.

Brad