It does seem somewhat silly to me. But the difference appears to be that one is a weapon while the other is considered ammunition.
From a house rules perspective, I would probably treat them similarly to shuriken, which is priced at 1g per 5; it would still be a bit pricey to make them masterwork, and I'd probably eventually try for a pair that just have returning on them as it'd be less of a hassle.
Oooh, got a trick for you, if you've got a very rules-oriented DM. ;)
Mithral items are always considered masterwork automatically. Mithral weapons cost 500g per pound, with the masterwork cost included. Darts weigh 1/2 pound. RAW, that would make a mithral dart cost 250g 5s.
It's very cheesy, but it's also RAW.
Throwing Dart: "This thrown weapon is larger than an arrow and shorter than a javelin, with a weighted tip and a shorter range than a javelin. Most darts are wooden shafts with a thick metal point."
Blowgun darts are consumable ammunition. Regular throwing darts are not consumable (i.e., they are reusable) and not ammunition. Thus, a masterwork dart is 300 gp + 5 sp
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Throwing Dart: "This thrown weapon is larger than an arrow and shorter than a javelin, with a weighted tip and a shorter range than a javelin. Most darts are wooden shafts with a thick metal point."
Blowgun darts are consumable ammunition. Regular throwing darts are not consumable (i.e., they are reusable) and not ammunition. Thus, a masterwork dart is 300 gp + 5 sp
@SKR: how much do mithral darts cost? A mithral dart weighs one quarter of one pound, and mithral weapons cost 500gp/lb. That would price them at 125gp 5sp per dart, yes?
Darts (as Sean's quote above points out) have wooden shafts. Can't make them out of mithril (or if you did, they would be heavier than the wooden ones, negating what benefit you're trying to achieve).
You could talk to your DM about a house-rule on 'disposable' darts that are considered ammunition. "Larger than arrows" isn't too far from the ammunition stage.
Darts (as Sean's quote above points out) have wooden shafts. Can't make them out of mithril (or if you did, they would be heavier than the wooden ones, negating what benefit you're trying to achieve).
You could talk to your DM about a house-rule on 'disposable' darts that are considered ammunition. "Larger than arrows" isn't too far from the ammunition stage.
Arguably, the quote says "Most darts..." But I see your point; a mithral dart probably wouldn't work.
Going with a house-ruled one-time use dart might be the best bet in this case.
If you want lighter darts, you can always try darkwood.
If you want lighter darts, you can always try darkwood.
OP was wanting masterwork darts specifically. There's a bit of a rules loophole regarding mithral, where any weapon weighing less than a pound is cheaper to buy as mithral than to buy as a normal metal masterwork.
Masterwork is weapon cost plus 300g, whereas a mithral weapon (which is always considered masterwork per the material description) is 500g per pound of the item; therefore, a small-sized dagger (1 pound for the medium size, 1\2 for the small) made of mithral costs 251g, while the masterwork variant costs 301g.
Why not use shuriken instead of "darts" as listed in the CRB? Some shuriken were historically, just short pointed rods.
Well, for one thing there is the matter of proficiency. Shuriken are exotic weapons, while darts are simple weapons.
Darts have a longer range, and deal more damage.
And the other reason is because the OP has never seen any character use darts, so wanted to make one. Using a different weapon kind of removes that.