Tougher than adamantine

[SkidAce]

Porcelain shatters easy.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

If they made porcelain doors, I'd use one instead of a wooden door. I'd also have a diamond door, as well. I don't think the availability of a material really applies to this discussion does it? I mean it could be entirely possible for a group of dwarves to fashion a bunch of diamonds, fuse them magically, and make a spiked door. Nothing in the real world can cut diamond except another diamond...and even then, it's more of a grinding, not actual cutting, and it also produces extreme quantities of heat. How would you get past a diamond door without using magic? You'd have to grind it down bit by bit, lol.

I'm not an expert, so I may be mistaken, but what I think he's getting at is that when someone says "porcelain is harder than wood," it doesn't necessarily follow that a porcelain door would be more secure than a wooden one. "Hardness" has a certain scientific definition that is more precise than "difficult to break through." Indeed, my guess is that a porcelain door (of a comparable thickness) could be shattered with a hammer.

Diamond may also be a similar substance, for I believe I've read that, though they are the "hardest" substance on earth, they can still quite easily be crushed with a hammer. Again, though, I may be mistaken about this.

 

[Scion]

Porcelain shatters easy.

So does diamond really.

Diamond also isnt stable, it will revert to a normal carbon structure over time

But that isnt important, its ability to be shattered fairly easily is though.

It can be very sharp, but then so can ceramic. Not many weapons are made from ceramic however because of its many other limitations.

 

[Teslacoil1138]

So does diamond really.

Diamond also isnt stable, it will revert to a normal carbon structure over time

But that isnt important, its ability to be shattered fairly easily is though.

It can be very sharp, but then so can ceramic. Not many weapons are made from ceramic however because of its many other limitations.

I seriously, seriously hope you're joking. Are we talking about the same material of diamond?

Maybe you have a different definition of fairly easily than I do, cause unless you're talking about cubic zirconium, diamond DOES NOT shatter easily at all. And reverting to a normal carbon structure like graphite? You must be joking now. Maybe in a few billions years it might...

And I'm not talking about ceramic. I know ceramic shatters easily. I never even mentioned ceramic until someone else dragged it up. Ceramic isn't even remotely comparable to diamond. Please leave ceramic out of this discussion.

 

[Scion]

yes, it takes a very long time for it to revert, that is why I said it wasnt important.

Diamond does shatter very easily though. The reason they use such small diamonds in cutting tools is to maximise the sharp qualities while minimizing the brittle qualities.

If you take something like a fist sized diamond and drop it there is a good chance it will crack and/or shatter.

if you are saying they are not brittle for some reason then we must be talking about different diamonds. I am talking about the ones that come out of the ground and have a fairly interesting carbon structure and will eventually revert back to a more stable carbon structure.

 

[Teslacoil1138]

Maybe we are talking about different diamonds.

From Indus Global, "About Diamonds", emphasis mine:

Industrial diamonds can be mined from natural deposits or they can be produced synthetically. Among naturally occurring diamonds, three varieties exist : ballas, bort and carbonado.

Ballas, or shot ball is composed of concentrically arranged, spherical masses of minute diamond crystals. Ballas is extremely hard, tough and difficult to cleave. Principal sources are Brazil and South America. Brazilian ballas is said to be the harder of the two.

Bort is a gray to black massive diamond, the colour of which is caused by inclusions and impurities. The name is also applied to badly coloured, flawed or irregularly shaped diamond crystals that are unsuited for gem purposes. Drilling bort is composed of small, round stones averaging 20 to the carat and is used in diamond drill bits. Crushing bort, the lowest grade of diamonds, is crushed in steel mortars and graded into abrasive grits of various sizes. 75 % of the world's crushing bort comes from Congo (Kinshasa). Its chief use is in the manufacture of grinding wheels for sharpening cement carbide, metal-cutting tools, but it also is used as loose grains suspended in oil or water for lapping and polishing.

Carbonado, known in the trade as carbon, is black, opaque diamond. It is as hard as crystallized diamond but less brittle, and, because its structure is slightly porous, it has a lower specific gravity (3.51 to 3.29). Carbonado has no cleavage and therefore is valuable for use in diamond-set tools. It usually occurs in small masses in the diamond-bearing gravels of Bahia, Brazil, and in Borneo. Rock-coring drills, widely used in exploring for new mineral deposits, are made by mounting diamonds around the rim of a hollow metal drill crown. Other important applications include saws for cutting rock and other hard materials, lathes and other types of cutting tools, glass cutters, phonograph needles, etc.

...

Diamond has the highest thermal conductivity of any mineral. Theoretically a red hot diamond can be dropped into liquid nitrogen without shattering.

Also, from an online encyclopedia, again emphasis mine:

At surface air pressure (one atmosphere), diamonds are not as stable as graphite, and so the decay of diamond is thermodynamically favorable (δH = -2 kJ / mole). So, despite De Beers' ad campaign, diamonds are definitely not forever. However, owing to a very large kinetic energy barrier, diamonds are metastable; they will not decay into graphite under normal conditions. (STP)

 

[Sejs]

On a molecular level, yeah diamond is pretty tough.

But it's crystaline, and therefor rather easy to shatter. You can shatter a diamond with an everyday claw hammer into a bunch of little diamond-bits. Yes, diamond - not cubic zirconium; diamond. Diamond is hard, and therefor good for etching and the like, but it is also brittle so unless you want to have to replace your bit you don't go slamming it into things. Hardness and brittleness are two seperate qualities in a material, soft being the opposite of hard and flexible being the opposite of brittle. Diamond has alot of one and not much of the other.


A door made out of diamond would be well.. impossible.. you'd never find one big enough. But assuming you can make one thru magic or the like, you still wouldn't want it - a diamond door would be a very bad, very expensive feature to include if you plan on keeping someone out.

 

[Bauglir]

A door made out of diamond would be well.. impossible.. you'd never find one big enough. But assuming you can make one thru magic or the like, you still wouldn't want it - a diamond door would be a very bad, very expensive feature to include if you plan on keeping someone out.

Personally, I'd spend my time taking apart the hinges or chipping away the wall around the door, then carry the door off and become obscenely wealthy..

 

[Scharlata]

Well then just make something. Call it a 'cushioned door'. It's a door with a spring / rubber / something built into the back so that it gives a little. Tell the player "You haul back and slam the door with all your considerable might, but the door gives about a centimeter, which seems to be sucking a lot of the force from your blow".

Anyone who has tried to put a nail in a springy board can tell you this will drain a lot of the power. I'd call it +10 hardness for 'light cushioning', +20 for 'medium cushioning' and +30 for 'heavy cushioning'.

You can set a price for the work if you want. Call it something like 50Gp for light, 200 for medium, and 500 for heavy. Make it a DC 20 Craft (carpentry) check and there you go, a door that's hard to get through, doesn't have a resale value, and won't break the bank of your evil types.

Maybe you can even let the rogue disable one of these doors with a DC 25 (light) 35 (med) 45 (heavy) disable device check.

-Tatsu

Hi!

Thanx for giving me another practical idea. Money isn't the factor here because "he, who let have constructed the door in question" had a large amount of money; a little more isn't the problem. Fortunately (till now) the party doesn't include someone that has allowance to open locks .

Kind regards

P.S.: Slightly hijacked thread?

 

[Teslacoil1138]

P.S.: Slightly hijacked thread?

Isn't that darklone's motto?