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Magical Metals and Alloys: We Need More
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<blockquote data-quote="Levistus's_Leviathan" data-source="post: 8363801" data-attributes="member: 7023887"><p>Basically what [USER=40176]@MarkB[/USER] said. IMO and in my campaigns, they typically fulfill the following main purposes:</p><ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Building Stories. </strong>IMO, it's much more epic and exciting for me to describe how the Paladin uses a "bright, golden blade forged from ore mined straight from Mount Celestia, imbued with the very essence of the Divine, to cleave through a bloated fiend, that then explodes into a goopy puddle of demon ichor, with the corrupting essence of the abyssal liquid boiling as it splatters onto the Celesteel blade, with the holy metal overcoming the impure magic of the demon ichor" than "your steel sword cuts through the demon, which then dissolves into a pile of abyssal ichor". The paladin will feel much more epic in that moment than they would if the material didn't matter to the weapon's attacks. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Giving Martials (more) Choice.</strong> Although it will be nowhere near as much choice as most Spellcasters get, making the material that the weapon is made of matter will let them feel like they're getting choices similar to those that the casters get. Giving different benefits for different materials of the weapons/armor they're wearing will let them mix-and-match different combinations depending on the campaign/scenario, and plan ahead in similar ways to how Wizards can. If you're in Ravenloft and are worried about encountering a Lycanthrope, keep a silver dagger on your person. If you're about to venture into a dungeon created by ancient dwarven artificers that is likely to be filled with elementals/constructs, keep an Adamantine weapon handy. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol"><strong>Worldbuilding.</strong> Similar to the example of Crimsonite that I gave in this thread's OP. Giving different materials to different race/cultures can help differentiate between them, like the Aereni Elves of Eberron using Bronzewood and similar plants instead of metal weapons/armors, Dwarves using Adamantine, Celestials using Bronze/Copper, and so on all helps to give them their own identities and this also helps you Build Stories (example #1) based on the weapon/armor materials that your Martials Choose (example #2). These different materials can work as mini-Macguffins, help both DMs and Players be more descriptive/imaginative in roleplaying inside combat, and create NPCs around forging with specific metals (you need to find a dwarf that knows how to forge Adamantine, while you'd need an angel/aasimar that knows how to forge Celesteel, or a gnome that can forge Crimsonite, etc). If you have a Macguffin that is broken and needs this specific rare type of metal to be fixed that can encourage better story-building and interesting recurring NPCs. </li> </ol><p>I'm sure I could think of more examples, but those are the main ones that come to mind at the moment. Does this help you understand why I created this thread?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Levistus's_Leviathan, post: 8363801, member: 7023887"] Basically what [USER=40176]@MarkB[/USER] said. IMO and in my campaigns, they typically fulfill the following main purposes: [LIST=1] [*][B]Building Stories. [/B]IMO, it's much more epic and exciting for me to describe how the Paladin uses a "bright, golden blade forged from ore mined straight from Mount Celestia, imbued with the very essence of the Divine, to cleave through a bloated fiend, that then explodes into a goopy puddle of demon ichor, with the corrupting essence of the abyssal liquid boiling as it splatters onto the Celesteel blade, with the holy metal overcoming the impure magic of the demon ichor" than "your steel sword cuts through the demon, which then dissolves into a pile of abyssal ichor". The paladin will feel much more epic in that moment than they would if the material didn't matter to the weapon's attacks. [*][B]Giving Martials (more) Choice.[/B] Although it will be nowhere near as much choice as most Spellcasters get, making the material that the weapon is made of matter will let them feel like they're getting choices similar to those that the casters get. Giving different benefits for different materials of the weapons/armor they're wearing will let them mix-and-match different combinations depending on the campaign/scenario, and plan ahead in similar ways to how Wizards can. If you're in Ravenloft and are worried about encountering a Lycanthrope, keep a silver dagger on your person. If you're about to venture into a dungeon created by ancient dwarven artificers that is likely to be filled with elementals/constructs, keep an Adamantine weapon handy. [*][B]Worldbuilding.[/B] Similar to the example of Crimsonite that I gave in this thread's OP. Giving different materials to different race/cultures can help differentiate between them, like the Aereni Elves of Eberron using Bronzewood and similar plants instead of metal weapons/armors, Dwarves using Adamantine, Celestials using Bronze/Copper, and so on all helps to give them their own identities and this also helps you Build Stories (example #1) based on the weapon/armor materials that your Martials Choose (example #2). These different materials can work as mini-Macguffins, help both DMs and Players be more descriptive/imaginative in roleplaying inside combat, and create NPCs around forging with specific metals (you need to find a dwarf that knows how to forge Adamantine, while you'd need an angel/aasimar that knows how to forge Celesteel, or a gnome that can forge Crimsonite, etc). If you have a Macguffin that is broken and needs this specific rare type of metal to be fixed that can encourage better story-building and interesting recurring NPCs. [/LIST] I'm sure I could think of more examples, but those are the main ones that come to mind at the moment. Does this help you understand why I created this thread? [/QUOTE]
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