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General Tabletop Discussion
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Magical Metals and Alloys: We Need More
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<blockquote data-quote="MarkB" data-source="post: 8362527" data-attributes="member: 40176"><p>Special materials have a lot of good uses in game terms. One that's been discussed here is that it allows non-spellcasters to reasonably craft magical items. Another is that they can be a good stepping-point along the way for a character to craft a truly personalised magic item, one for which they've sought out specific ingredients and found particular places and/or techniques to craft them into something unique.</p><p></p><p>They can also be useful non-singular MacGuffins, with a party being tasked to gather a specific material that is useful in combating a particular type of foe. It can also act as a soft 'gate' against the PCs heading off to face tougher foes than they can take on, by giving them a tangible in-universe reason why that foe is currently out of their league.</p><p></p><p>They can be good signifiers of a particular faction. Nation A has a lot of material X, and so tends to work it into the weapons and armour of their higher-tier soldiers. So you'll more easily recognise them on sight, you'll know they have certain unusual capabilities, and if you come across someone at random who wields similar items, you know that person most likely has some connection to this faction.</p><p></p><p>And finally, they just add a little extra flavour to the world, giving it the feeling of being a more fantastical place from the ground up, so to speak - even some of the basic raw materials of this world are substances that wouldn't be found in our mundane reality.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="MarkB, post: 8362527, member: 40176"] Special materials have a lot of good uses in game terms. One that's been discussed here is that it allows non-spellcasters to reasonably craft magical items. Another is that they can be a good stepping-point along the way for a character to craft a truly personalised magic item, one for which they've sought out specific ingredients and found particular places and/or techniques to craft them into something unique. They can also be useful non-singular MacGuffins, with a party being tasked to gather a specific material that is useful in combating a particular type of foe. It can also act as a soft 'gate' against the PCs heading off to face tougher foes than they can take on, by giving them a tangible in-universe reason why that foe is currently out of their league. They can be good signifiers of a particular faction. Nation A has a lot of material X, and so tends to work it into the weapons and armour of their higher-tier soldiers. So you'll more easily recognise them on sight, you'll know they have certain unusual capabilities, and if you come across someone at random who wields similar items, you know that person most likely has some connection to this faction. And finally, they just add a little extra flavour to the world, giving it the feeling of being a more fantastical place from the ground up, so to speak - even some of the basic raw materials of this world are substances that wouldn't be found in our mundane reality. [/QUOTE]
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