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I mean, the first time my characters ran into one of these creatures (warforged with Adamantine body feat) and defeated it they were gutted when I had to say to them that it used to be a living creature and I did not think that salvaging its body parts for smelting down to make themselves rich really matched thier alignments.
This is a subject that has been debated long before. I'm going to reprint something I posted to another board; I really don't have much more to add.
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[font=verdana, arial, helvetica][font=verdana,arial,helvetica]quote:[/font][/font][font=verdana, arial, helvetica]Originally posted by Hellcow
<<Scott Nimmo says: Other games seem to suggest a value for mithril at about 300-500gp per pound.>>
Bear in mind that a lot of the value of an object comes from the effort that goes into forging it, not simply the raw material. A pound of steel is technically worth 1sp. So if you took a suit of full plate and said "I want to melt it down and sell the steel", you've got material with a base market value of 5 gp – 1/300th the value of the armor. Following this formula, a suit of adamantine full plate generates a cost of 55gp/lb, and a suit of mithral full plate would generate a cost of 35 gp/lb. On the other hand, the steel content of a chain shirt is 1/40th of the cost of the armor; by that formula, you get a price of 127.5 gp/lb for adamantine or 44 gp/lb for mithral. So if you average it out, you get about 91 gp for a pound of adamantine, and 40 gp for a pound of mithral. If you're selling, you're presumably taking the usual 50% seller's penalty. And if the case of the warforged, as noted, there is the issue of how much usable metal can be recovered.
I've discussed this on the WotC board and don't intend to go into it again -- you should feel free to handle it as you will in your campaign. But in my opinion the description of the feat "Adamantine Body" is poorly worded. The feat is not simply a layer of adamantine stuck on the outside of the warforged; if this was the case, why couldn't you take the feat after first level? Instead, it is supposed to reflect the fundamental design of the warforged: more metal in general (primarily steel), reinforced design with fewer weak points (adding to the DR) and reinforced with small amounts of adamantine and adamantine alloy at key points throughout the body. So you aren't just pulling a plate off; you'd literally have to "boil down" the warforged and try to separate small chunks of more valuable metal. If they want to go to all this trouble -- and have a forge that can melt adamantine, and a buyer who can work adamantine, and don't run afoul of the forces of the law, since warforged are free, sentient beings and you may find yourself questioned if you're carting a body around and trying to find some way to melt it down -- I'd say let them make an appropriate craft check (DC of say, 15), recover that many pounds of adamantine or mithral, with a maximum of around 3d4+5 pounds, and use a sale value of around 45 gp/pound for adamantine or 20 gp/pound for mithral.
<<Roland says: I hold that once adamantine has been forged the first time it is not able to be re-forged and therefore your doors would make nice doors somewhere else but nothing more.>>
<<MythusMage says: Why isn't adamantium 're-forgeable'?>>
An interesting choice, MM -- you said "adamantIUM" instead of "adamantINE" (or "adamant", the original mythic substance you'll find in the dictionary). Adamantium is the metal Wolverine's claws are made of in Marvel Comics, and it is fact specifically defined as an indestructible metal that cannot be damaged, destroyed, or reshaped once it has been cast. Which brings up the key point here: we are not dealing with the real world. This is a FANTASY world, and it does not have to follow the laws of our reality! Why might you say that adamantine can't be reforged? Perhaps because:
1) It's a metal unlike anything that exists in reality, unless you can find a knife that can cut diamonds.
2) This is a world of magic, where magic -- specifically magecraft -- is used by common folk. Who knows what that means, or how those magics work?
I think that it is actually quite interesting and reasonable to say that adamant ore is actually not as strong as the final material -- that when it is forged, magecraft and various components are used that strengthen it into its final form -- and that once cast into that final form, it cannot be reshaped. I don't see a need to make a special spell for this; in my mind, it's sufficient to say that it requires a skilled metalworker with the magecraft spell. In fact, I'm adopting it as a house rule in my campaign right now!
Does this mean that it can't be destroyed or melted? No -- unlike Marvel's adamantium, adamantine has hardness and hit points, and can therefore be destroyed. But just because it can be destroyed -- potentially even by heat-- doesn't mean that it can be usefully reforged. Perhaps once the bond is broken, the metal crystalizes, crumbles, or reverts to its natural state. It's an unnatural metal to begin with -- nothing about it has to behave in a natural manner.
I do believe that adamantine is more common in Eberron than in some settings -- but you'll note that where it appears in the Forgotten Forge and Shadows of the Last War, it is always used by *House Cannith*, who can certainly weave magic into their creations -- supporting the "some sort of magecraft is involved". You don't see people with adamantine doors on their houses, and an adamantine sword is just as expensive as ever. The city guards in Sharn aren't using adamantine weapons.
To me, the idea of adamantine being a "onceforged" metal is a convenient way to have it serve its purpose in the game *without* having to worry about people wanting to sell doors or warforged. As I said, I'm going to use that as a house rule. But again, if you *want* that to be a player activity, do what you feel is right for you and your players, and assign a value that seems fair based on the factors mentioned above. But it doesn't fit *my* vision of a fun and exciting adventure![/font]
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Second, it is indeed a feat akin to grave-robbing, and would be frowned upon socially, in all likelihood.
