What is the point of glass steel?

[Question]

I believe its in an FR book somewhere. Its basically a significantly more costly version of mithral(i think it has the exact same mods), that is transparent(wait if you make a full plate out of this doesnt that mean they can see through it?), and has better hardness(i think).

 

[frankthedm]

In 2e it just looked cool. 8th level spell, turn some glass into a weapon or armor.

In 3e, that wasn't enough

 

[Prism]

It gives the benefits of mithril and adamantine armour wrapped into one. The source is races of faerun which is 3e and in this edition adamantine gave an enchant bonus between +1 and +3. In 3.5 I would change this to DR like the current version of adamantine. Oh, and like Frankthedm said - it looks cool

 

[Rackhir]

There was a Lary Niven's story where a mage used a glass dagger in water to hide the weapon from scrying, since it was essentially invisible in the water. I think the name of it was in fact "What good is a Glass Dagger?"

 

[Raven Crowking]

Glassteel (Alteration)

Level: 8
Range: Touch
Duration: Permanent
Area of Effect: Object touched
Components: V,S,M
Casting Time: 8 segments
Saving Throw: None

Explanation/Description: The glassteel spell turns crystal or glass into a transparent substance which has the strength and unbreakability of actual steel. Only a relatively small volume of material can be affected, a maximum weight of 10 pounds per level of experience of the spell caster and it must form one whole object. The material components of this spell are a small piece of glass and a small piece of steel.

Found on Page 90, under MAGIC-USER SPELLS (8TH LEVEL)

 

[Question]

Okay i am looking at the version in champions of valor.

Its basically mithral with hardness 20 and 40 hp per point of thickness. Light armor +2k, med armor +6k, heavy armor +12k.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I believe its in an FR book somewhere. Its basically a significantly more costly version of mithral(i think it has the exact same mods), that is transparent(wait if you make a full plate out of this doesnt that mean they can see through it?), and has better hardness(i think).

How can it have the exact same mods if it's harder?

In 3.0, glassteel was Adamantine and Mithral all in one. In 3.5, it is indeed like mithral, but with a higher hardness. If I remember correctly, the hardness is 20, meaning you can't just sunder it with an adamantine weapon.

A lot of it is just style.

 

[Prism]

Okay i am looking at the version in champions of valor.

Its basically mithral with hardness 20 and 40 hp per point of thickness. Light armor +2k, med armor +6k, heavy armor +12k.

Ah right, didn't know it had been updated. Old version was +25k for heavy armour. So its mithril that looks cool. Might mechanically be worth it for an anti sunder shield

 

[Question]

Shield, yea maybe......it would be most useful on a weapon(as thats the main thing that gets sundered), but you usually want silver or cold iron on that.

 

[moritheil]

A glassteel item cannot be subject to rusting grasp. I would think that would be the obvious benefit. Also, spells like chill metal and heat metal wouldn't affect it.