How are the weight/price listings of special materials supposed to be read in Ultimate Equipment?
Take adamantine, for example: It costs 850gp and weighs 55 lbs.
Er...is that 850gp per pound of raw adamantine? 55 lbs. per ingot (or cubic foot or nugget)? 850gp for 55 lbs. of raw adamantine?
How is this supposed to be interpreted?
I've read through that section but it was a while ago, so my memory is hazy. Help me refresh it: what items are they referring to that cost 850 gp and weigh 55 lbs when made out of adamantine?
I think that RD is referring to Special Materials section.
Is it the same in the actual book? Because it looks to me as error because of repeating number for most of the materials...
What's "raw adamantine" anyway? Is it supposed to be cooked?
I can't find anything that matches those numbers in my Ultimate Equipment PDF. The Special Materials section doesn't mention those weights or prices. The Trade Goods table on Page 93 lists adamantine by the pound—1 lb costs 300 gp.
So this would be a fluke of PRD that should be reported on website feedback.
So this would be a fluke of PRD that should be reported on website feedback.
Let me stock up on some angel skin before you report the problem. ;) 350sp for 45 pounds of the stuff!
There will be no speculations on angel skin!
Mithral on the other hand...
Went to report it, but it looks like someone beat me to it. :D
Happy accidents are happy.
The numbers being shown on the SRD aren’t an error per se (not that the pricing and weight aren’t errors, just that those particular listings do appear in the book, that is). Right, so knowing this may be a tad odd, and I’m not even sure exactly what I was doing when I found it, but in the green headings that each material name appears in (in the book), in the far right amidst the green are these prices and weight listings written in a font colored the exact same as the heading. This is easily verifiable by playing around with the highlighter, copying, and pasting them elsewhere. As far as why they exist, I have no idea.
The numbers being shown on the SRD aren’t an error per se (not that the pricing and weight aren’t errors, just that those particular listings do appear in the book, that is). Right, so knowing this may be a tad odd, and I’m not even sure exactly what I was doing when I found it, but in the green headings that each material name appears in (in the book), in the far right amidst the green are these prices and weight listings written in a font colored the exact same as the heading. This is easily verifiable by playing around with the highlighter, copying, and pasting them elsewhere. As far as why they exist, I have no idea.
Oh wow! Hidden messages! What does it mean?
I bet they're just dummy values and during the layout process the background color for that block of text is set to the same as the foreground or something for the special materials.
Which is odd... The Fighter Weapon Groups section uses the same headers but they don't have hidden weights and prices. Oh well.
My theories:
Perhaps the values are meant as data to go along with rules for purchasing the special materials in bulk. The values are almost certainly placeholders; one cubic foot of gold weighs about 1,200 lb. and 55 lb. of gold costs about 2,750 gp.
As others have said, the trade goods section (UEQU 93) already includes some special materials. On the other hand, I would not want to use the trade goods section in Ult. Equipment because several of its listed values contradict the stated costs of goods which appear elsewhere in the text. Examples:
Cheese (trade good) = 2 cp / lb.
Cheese (food & drink) = 2 sp / lb.
Chicken (trade good) = 2 cp
Chicken (farm/work animal) = 1 gp
Goat (trade good) = 1 gp
Goat (pets and familiars) = 6 gp
Owl (pets and familiars) = 10 gp
Owl (guard and hunting animals) = 20 gp
Pig (trade good) = 3 gp
Pig (pets and familiars) = 10 gp
I suppose this means that chickens, goats, owls, and pigs cost more if they are worth keeping as farm animals, guard animals, pets, or familiars, whereas rats and stirges always cost the same, and cows and oxen are only ever good for trade and not as farm- or work animals. :-P