MasterWork Mithral armor? or JUST Mithral armor? Mithral Questions in general

[Datt]

I found out what the guy in the other thread was talking about. It is in the OA FAQ on page 3.

Mithral lessens armor check penalties by 3. (See page 243 in the DUNGEON MASTER™s Guide.) The minimum armor check penalty is 0. The reduction for mithral and for masterwork stacks.

So I guess you can make a Masterwork Mithral plate suit. So I guess that would take about 6 weeks on top of making the normal suit. Goodness.

 

[RedSwan78]

I found out what the guy in the other thread was talking about. It is in the OA FAQ on page 3.

Thanks, that's what I was looking for

 

[Caliban]

What IS the time of creating a masterwork item?

The same time as creating a normal item, plus the time needed to create the masterwork component, which costs 150 gp for armor and 300 gp for weapons. (See the PHB, page 65-66).

Basically, for an item made out of a special material (other than darkwood) you use the masterwork value (150 or 300 gp) to calculate the creation time, instead of the value of the special material (up to several thousand gp).

If you also want the item to actually be masterwork, then you have to spend additional time for the masterwork component as well as the additional time for the special material.

So, now, I want to have a Mithral Chain Shirt. That's +1,000gp for it to be made from Mithral. Now.. I want to get this Mithral Chain Shirt to be made magical. Problem is, by what's stated above, it's NOT magical. So it can't be enchanted then, can it? So, DO I have to, or CAN I, pay the extra 150gp to make it MasterWork, therefore allowing me to magically enchant it, and lowering the Armor Check Penalty by an additional 1..?

Yup.

Also, it says that "Heavy Armors are treated as Medium".. AND it gives a specific example about the Barb using fast movement or not. The Barbarian can use Fast Movement when wearing no armor, light armor, and Medium armor. So, a Barbarian can use his/her fast movement when wearing Mithral Heavy armor, because it is *treated* as Medium armor. Here's the real question.. since it says that Heavy armor is treated as Medium armor.. would the Barbarian have to expend a feat to get Heavy armor? It SAYS it is treated as Medium Armor, so I would say no, but I was wondering if there where any official rules on that?

I believe he only needs the Medium Armor proficiency, but I havent' seen anything definitive.

 

[RedSwan78]

Re: Re: MasterWork Mithral armor? or JUST Mithral armor? Mithral Questions in general

Thanks for the answers Caliban

I believe he only needs the Medium Armor proficiency, but I havent' seen anything definitive.

I also believe that a Barbarian could use Mithral Heavy armor, and suffer no penalties, because Mithral says "Most mithral armors ARE one category lighter then normal for purposes of movement and OTHER limitations "

Like you said though, I haven't found any "official" response to something like that.

 

[Conaill]

So I looked through those threads, and they made reference to a question in the FAQ that said that the bonuses from Mithral and MW DO stack.. but It says it was on page 71.. the current FAQ only goes up to 62 pages.. sooo.. what's up with that?

RedSwan: I was most likely the one that posted that OA quote in the other thread. But then someone else posted a quote from a different official source (FR perhaps?) that seemed to contradict it.

I've been firmly in the "mythral is not MW" camp in the past, but even I had to admit that the rules are just plain ambiguous on this topic. Talk to your DM and your group, and decide how you want to run this. Meanwhile, we're all hoping they'll clear this up!

PS: there will be a bunch of revisions to the DR rules and special materials in the 3.5 books. So there's a very good chance they will indeed clear up this mess. Or at least rephrase it yet again!

 

[Korin Tempest]

Quoting the SRD magic item creation section (dated 2/14/03):

Mithral: Mithral is a very rare silvery, glistening metal that is lighter than iron but just as hard. When worked like steel, it becomes a wonderful material from which to create armor and is occasionally used for other items as well. Most mithral armors are one category lighter than normal for purposes of movement and other limitations. Heavy armors are treated as medium, and medium armors are treated as light, but light armors are still treated as light. Spell failure chances for armors and shields made from mithral are decreased by 10%, maximum Dexterity bonus is increased by 2, and armor check penalties are decreased by 3. Nonarmor or nonshield items made from mithral weigh half as much as the same item made from other metals. Note that items not primarily of metal are not meaningfully affected.
Weapons or armors fashioned from mithral are treated as masterwork items with regard to creation times, but the masterwork quality does not affect the enhancement bonus of weapons or the armor check penalty of armor.
Mithral has a hardness of 15 and 30 hit points per inch of thickness.
Item Market Price Modifier
Light armor +1,000 gp
Medium armor+4,000 gp
Heavy armor +9,000 gp
Shield +1,000 gp
Other items +500 gp/lb.

From this, I would infer that all weapons and armor crafted from mithril are already in fact masterwork, though do not gain the enhancement bonus on weapons or the armor check penalty mod for armor..... seems fairly obvious to me...

my two cents

 

[Conaill]

seems fairly obvious to me...

Yes, and it seemed fairly obvious to me that it meant "treated as masterwork items with regard to creation times only". Face it, the rules are ambiguous. Pick an interpretation and stick with it...

 

[RedSwan78]

seems fairly obvious to me...

That's the problem, it's worded so dumb that it's open to many interpretations. As I've viewed it, is like above, it's only for *creation times*. They're saying, it takes MasterWork TIME to complete it, but you dont' get MasterWork benefits. You THEN have to make it MasterWork to enchant it. Also, as shown by the Oriental Adventures FAQ, Mithral and MW bonuses DO stack.

::shrugs::

Maybe they'll make this more clear in 3.5, but for now, the official ruling is that MW and Mithral bonuses stack.

 

[Korin Tempest]

Weapons or armors fashioned from mithral are treated as masterwork items with regard to creation times, but the masterwork quality does not affect the enhancement bonus of weapons or the armor check penalty of armor.

It says flat out in this statement that it is masterwork quality.... in fact it's not only fairly obvious to me, it's blatantly obvious.. keep grasping at those straws and strike that blow for munchkinism

 

[RedSwan78]

Weapons or armors fashioned from mithral are treated as masterwork items with regard to creation times, but the masterwork quality does not affect the enhancement bonus of weapons or the armor check penalty of armor.

It says flat out in this statement that it is masterwork quality.... in fact it's not only fairly obvious to me, it's blatantly obvious.. keep grasping at those straws and strike that blow for munchkinism

Have you READ any of the above post??? Dude, did you even READ what YOU posted? It says they are "treated as masterwork items WITH REGARD TO CREATION TIMES". Oh, I bet you also DIDN'T look at the Oriental Adventures FAQ where it plainly says that the bonuses from Mithral AND Masterwork STACK.

Edit- besides man, what is "munchkin" about it? It's simply something that has always bothered me and I wanted to find out an official answer. Now one has been found, but it still leaves some room for other questions.. (such as if someone that is proficient in medium armor but not heavy armor *could* wear Mithral heavy armor because it says it *is* one category lighter for movement and *other* purposes...)