D&D 5E Is adamantine a metal?

[Ezequielramone]

Hi all,
I'm running OotA and one of my players wants to multiclass his fighter to druid. So I'm checking the options we have to have a non-metal heavy armor since he have the feat.
As far as I know adamantine is not a thing in the real world and can't find WTF it is. I just want to know if it is a metal and is forbidden for druids.
Is there any other option for him to have a heavy armor?
I don't have problem in saying he just can use a metal armor, but I want to check all the options first.

I think they can't use metal armours because metal is extracted from rocks and hippie things like that. I can change that.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Yes it is.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Yes, Adamantine is a metal.

Quite a lot of underdark races make armour out of giant spider or crustacean exoskeletons and suchlike though, so non-metal heavy armour may still be available in the right places for the right price.

 

[Celebrim]

Yes, it is a metal. 'Adamant-' is one of the standard trope fantasy metals noted for its extreme hardness without being brittle. Wolverine (the Marvel comic book character) has 'Adamantium claws', which are presumably of the same stuff as the D&D metal. The metals extremely high metaling point and crystalline nature (presumably something like tungsten carbide, but far more durable) makes it extremely difficult to cast, and almost impossible to reforge once cast into an object. Typically the metal is both rare, difficult to obtain (buried very deeply in the earth, far below the levels normally mined), and the secrets of manipulating it known only to a few - in fantasy, usually Dwarves.

References to the metal are actually Older than Dirt. It's been the go to magic metal of choice for centuries.

For druids, the heaviest possible armor is 'hide', and so you'll be wanting to look not for magical metals but magical hides that impart special qualities to the armor. For example, armor made of dragon hide might resist the elements associated with the dragon (or dragon breath specifically), and may have a higher than normal AC owing to its superior strength.

I'd not at all be surprised if special hides or special hide armors have been officially published.

Other common fantasy metals:
Mithril - 'Magic silver', it's silver that is stronger and lighter than steel. From the Lord of the Rings, and it sets most of the Tropes associated with magic metal in fantasy.
Orichalcum - 'Magic gold'. It's gold that has some magical property, such a storing magic, repelling magic, or being able to be forged into high strength weapons and armor. Like Adamantine, it's Older than Dirt. I think Homer actually mentions it as the magic metal of Atlantis.
Galvorn - 'Flexible Metal'. Also from Tolkien, can be used to make metal cloths and other pliant materials (such as whips).
Cavorite - 'Floating Metal'. It's metal that exhibits anti-gravity properties. From HG Wells.
Dura- 'High Tech Metal'. Various 'Duralloys' show up commonly in science fiction to refer to high tech metal alloys with properties superior to steel. See 'duralloy', 'duranium', etc.
Tritanium - 'High Tech Titanium' See Duralloy.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Plaguescarred]

Yes it is. As the MM says adamantine is a dark and supernaturally hard metal (may be the hardest) and one of the hardest substances in existence as per the DMG.


Yan
D&D Playtester

 

[Ancalagon]

I always saw mythril as sort of being "magical aluminium" - very light metal, tough, but not as strong as some of the other magical metals. It always seemed better as a source of armor than weapons.

edit: it would make sense as titanium too incidentally... oh and while titanium is a light, strong metal, it's far more suited to armor than weapons too.

 

[BoldItalic]

There was this Artificer called Adam the Weird who found a formula for an incredibly strong material made from ground up ants. You grind them up in a special way and the formic acid that oozes out somehow reacts with the proteins in the heads and causes the whole powder to set rock hard. He tried to market it under the name of Adam's Ant Compound but it never caught on and he went bankrupt owing a lot of money to a pair of dwarf brothers called Low Lownz. The brothers seized the rights to the process and traded it as Adam-Ant-Ine. The rest is history.

Not many people know that.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Wasn't adamantine in 1st Ed originally fluffed to be meteorite iron or something like that?

In any event, heavy armor for a druid could easily be made from the shell of a giant crab or a bullette, or scales from any large creature...

 

[Hriston]

While adamantine is used in D&D to refer to an extremely hard metal of meteoric origin, adamant is traditionally the hardest crystal and is basically synonymous with diamond.