Hardness of gems

[Urklore]

Moh's hardness? What is this? Did Moh make a table or something somewhere?

 

[Acmite]

Moh was some dude, like in the 1800s, who came up with a relative hardness scale for minerals. It is a 10 point scale (1-10).

It's based on the ability of one mineral to scratch another. On this scale aragonite (pearl) would be 3.5-4, corundum (sapphire or ruby) is ~9, and diamond is 10 (the hardest known mineral).

So, yes, Moh made a table.


All mineralogy books (including stuff like Audubon collector's guides) include this number. It is one of fundamental physical properties used for identifying minerals.

**Edited for spelling**

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

By the rules, "metal" has a hardness of 10, and "gems" have a hardness of 8. Obviously, some metals (gold) are softer, and some gems (pearls) are also softer. If you wanted a simple, rules-based explanation, use hardness 8 for gems. If you want to use Moh's table, won't you have to find one for metals, too? BTW, do masterwork weapons have greater hardness or hp?