Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Mithral v Silver
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Greenfield" data-source="post: 8378997" data-attributes="member: 6669384"><p>The other aspect of Mithral or Titanium as a weapon is actually fairly obvious: They're light.</p><p></p><p>If I'm depending on something to deliver kinetic energy to do damage, whether on a broad face like a club or a narrow, focused area like the edge of a blade, it has to have weight behind it.</p><p></p><p>A lighter weapon can be swung faster, taking advantage of the V part of MV^2 kinetic energy formula, but the fact is that a human hand itself has a speed limit. Optimum damage needs both the M (mass) and the V (Velocity) to work, and lowering the mass doesn't always add enough Velocity to make up the difference.</p><p></p><p>Consider a Rapier v a Long Sword. IRL the Rapier is very quick weapon, and a real terror against a lightly armored or unarmored opponent. All but useless against chain armor. The edge can't cut it, the point can't pierce it, and it hasn't the heft to power any impact through it.</p><p></p><p>(I've been a fencer, and I teach a class in making chain armor at the local Renaissance Faires.).</p><p></p><p>As for steel: The difference between Iron and Steel is Carbon. Without carbon in the mix, iron can't be hardened. You could heat iron to near liquid and quench it in liquid helium and it wouldn't harden. Other metals grant certain properties, but it's the amount of carbon in the mix that determines how hard the steel can get. </p><p></p><p>The classic Katana is made from two grades of steel: High carbon steel is wrapped along one side with a lower carbon steel. It's then heated and pounded, folded and pounded some more. That has the effect of blending the two carbon levels so you get a gradient: Lower carbon along the spine for a springy, resilient blade, and higher carbon along the edge, making it harder there and more capable of taking and holding an edge.</p><p></p><p>When the metal is quenched, that sudden cooling is what causes the metal crystals to contract suddenly enough to trap carbon inside them. The metal physically can't contract as far because of this, and that's what puts the curve in the blade: The higher carbon metal along the cutting edge doesn't contract as far as the lower carbon material on the spine, forcing the blade into that classic curve. The Katana is forged as a straight blade.</p><p></p><p>Adding nickel or chromium to the alloy can help make it rust-resistant, but they take the same mechanical space in the crystaline structure as the carbon, without adding to the ability to harden. That's why stainless steel, while a neat metal, makes lousy blades. As you make it more "stainless" you remove the ability to harden it as much, so it doesn't hold an edge nearly as well.</p><p></p><p>All of which is a long, long way from the original topic. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Greenfield, post: 8378997, member: 6669384"] The other aspect of Mithral or Titanium as a weapon is actually fairly obvious: They're light. If I'm depending on something to deliver kinetic energy to do damage, whether on a broad face like a club or a narrow, focused area like the edge of a blade, it has to have weight behind it. A lighter weapon can be swung faster, taking advantage of the V part of MV^2 kinetic energy formula, but the fact is that a human hand itself has a speed limit. Optimum damage needs both the M (mass) and the V (Velocity) to work, and lowering the mass doesn't always add enough Velocity to make up the difference. Consider a Rapier v a Long Sword. IRL the Rapier is very quick weapon, and a real terror against a lightly armored or unarmored opponent. All but useless against chain armor. The edge can't cut it, the point can't pierce it, and it hasn't the heft to power any impact through it. (I've been a fencer, and I teach a class in making chain armor at the local Renaissance Faires.). As for steel: The difference between Iron and Steel is Carbon. Without carbon in the mix, iron can't be hardened. You could heat iron to near liquid and quench it in liquid helium and it wouldn't harden. Other metals grant certain properties, but it's the amount of carbon in the mix that determines how hard the steel can get. The classic Katana is made from two grades of steel: High carbon steel is wrapped along one side with a lower carbon steel. It's then heated and pounded, folded and pounded some more. That has the effect of blending the two carbon levels so you get a gradient: Lower carbon along the spine for a springy, resilient blade, and higher carbon along the edge, making it harder there and more capable of taking and holding an edge. When the metal is quenched, that sudden cooling is what causes the metal crystals to contract suddenly enough to trap carbon inside them. The metal physically can't contract as far because of this, and that's what puts the curve in the blade: The higher carbon metal along the cutting edge doesn't contract as far as the lower carbon material on the spine, forcing the blade into that classic curve. The Katana is forged as a straight blade. Adding nickel or chromium to the alloy can help make it rust-resistant, but they take the same mechanical space in the crystaline structure as the carbon, without adding to the ability to harden. That's why stainless steel, while a neat metal, makes lousy blades. As you make it more "stainless" you remove the ability to harden it as much, so it doesn't hold an edge nearly as well. All of which is a long, long way from the original topic. :) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Mithral v Silver
Top