The hardest wood?

[Shin Okada]

What is the hardest material which can be used for wooden shaft of polearms such as glaive?

One of my PC often use sunder. And I want to give an opponent some polearm with high enough hardness/HPs to withstand a slash or two.

+3 (+6 hardness and +30 HPs), dwarven craft (+2 hardness and +10 HPs) plus Greater Crystal of Adamant Weaponry (+10 Hardness) may work (Hardness 23/HP 50).

But I want to know if I can improve it more. Or, if I can have hardness of 21+ without making it into +3 weapon.

 

[Dandu]

Offhand, there's ironwood.

 

[Shin Okada]

Offhand, there's ironwood.

I am not sure if it can be used for making something normally made of wood by RAW.

Anyway, doesn't it has duration?

 

[gamerprinter]

I am not sure if it can be used for making something normally made of wood by RAW.

Anyway, doesn't it has duration?

He doesn't mean the spell rather the type of real world wood called iron wood, I think that's what he means, anyway.

 

[Greenfield]

The "hardest" wood may not be suitable, by the normal measures of hardness.

Maple is a very hard, resilient wood, but in terms of resisting point impact, particle board is harder. Yet you'd never want a tool handle of the stuff, it would fall apart.

You, as DM, can pick an exotic hardwood like Teak or Mahogany, Luan ("Mountain Mahogany") or Ebony, and arbitrarily assign them a higher hardness or hit points than the book normally lists for wood.

Ironwood, in the real world, isn't a single type or species of wood, but a general category of very hard woods. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironwood

Going beyond this, consider the Hardening spell.

Hardening
Transmutation
Level: Sor/Wiz 6, Artifice 7
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: One item of a volume no greater than 10 cu. ft./level (see text)
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes (object)

This spell increases the hardness of materials. For every two caster levels, increase by 1 the hardness of the material targeted by the spell. This hardness increase improves only the material’s resistance to damage. Nothing else is modified by the improvement.

The hardening spell does not in any way affect resistance to other forms of transformation.

This spell affects up to 10 cubic feet per level of the spellcaster.

If cast upon a metal or mineral, the volume is reduced to 1 cubic foot per level.

I believe this is from Forgotten Realms, so it may or may not be appropriate for your setting or campaign.

 

[gamerprinter]

I pointed to the same link - I didn't say it was one kind of wood. In truth, you want something strong and flexible for the haft of a weapon, and iron woods aren't very flexible. Looking for hardest wood is not the solution, afterall no real spear/weapon is made from that wood historically.

 

[Oryan77]

Here are all of the "wood" materials that can be used to craft weapons. As far as their Hardness and all that info, you'll need to look these up and compare them because I don't have that information in front of me at the moment:

Bluewood (Unapproachable East pg 58) is blue colored wood as hard as steel.

Darkwood (DMG pg 283) is strong and light.

Duskwood (Magic of Faerun pg 178) is a gray wood as tough as iron.

There is Aurorum (Book of Exalted Deeds pg 38) which when sundered, can reconnect if touched together as a full-round action. Wooden weapons might be able to be made from it.

 

[Shin Okada]

Here are all of the "wood" materials that can be used to craft weapons. As far as their Hardness and all that info, you'll need to look these up and compare them because I don't have that information in front of me at the moment:

Bluewood (Unapproachable East pg 58) is blue colored wood as hard as steel.

Darkwood (DMG pg 283) is strong and light.

Duskwood (Magic of Faerun pg 178) is a gray wood as tough as iron.

There is Aurorum (Book of Exalted Deeds pg 38) which when sundered, can reconnect if touched together as a full-round action. Wooden weapons might be able to be made from it.

Thanks. Unfortunately, after some book digging, I found out that those are not something I am looking for. Darkwood just decrease the weight of an items and does not make it tough. Bluewood and Duskwood are substitution for metal, not wood.

 

[Oryan77]

Bluewood and Duskwood are substitution for metal, not wood.

Any weapon or armor (wood or metal) can be crafted with those two materials. Bluewood for example just makes the item have the same hardness of metal and weighs half as much. I don't know how much hardness you are going for, but those allow you to have wooden items with more hardness than normal wood.

 

[I'm A Banana]

What is the hardest material which can be used for wooden shaft

....I'd say just use one of the above as something you can make wooden hafts out of. Even if the woods are ususally replacements for steel, no reason they can't also be replacements for wood!