CapnWinters's page

You are correct. Your GM is in error.

If he wants in-world reasons, it's because the 3000 gp for an adamantine weapon is more for the difficulty crafting it than for the raw metal.

Thanks, my real dilemma now is like... how do I prove a negative here? The rule is that it's this way, and there's not really a dispute to the contrary, so no sources exist to comment on the rule because it's one that's very clear and hasn't been challenged like this. I'm kind of at a loss on that front.

From the SRD entry on craft:

To determine how much time and money it takes to make an item, follow these steps.

Find the item's price in silver pieces (1 gp = 10 sp).

Find the item's DC from Table: Craft Skills.

Pay 1/3 of the item's price for the raw material cost.

Make an appropriate Craft check representing one week's worth of work. If the check succeeds, multiply your check result by the DC. If the result × the DC equals the price of the item in sp, then you have completed the item. (If the result × the DC equals double or triple the price of the item in silver pieces, then you've completed the task in one-half or one-third of the time. Other multiples of the DC reduce the time in the same manner.)

If the result × the DC doesn't equal the price, then it represents the progress you've made this week. Record the result and make a new Craft check for the next week. Each week, you make more progress until your total reaches the price of the item in silver pieces.

I am interested in crafting a heavy shield out of adamantine, and there is a dispute between my GM and me about the cost.

As I understand it, the breakdown is like this:
Base item: Heavy steel shield, 20 gp
Special material: Adamantine, +3000 gp, shield uses the weapon price for the material
Total = 3,020 x 1/3 price for crafting it myself

So the final cost of the shield to me would be 1,066 gp 6 sp 7 cp

My GM is saying that the 3,000 gp cost of adamantine is a material cost which is not affected by the crafting discount. Is there anything in the rules to support his argument? Am I wrong in thinking that I should be able to craft this at the normal 1/3 price rate? I'd never heard such an argument before and none of the other threads I found searching this board seemed to even consider the idea that the material cost WOULDN'T be factored into the crafting reduction.

Thank you for any help you folks are able to provide on this