re: whatever happened to the Glassteel spell?

Whatever happened to the 8th level 1st ed Glassteel spell?

It and distance distortion flew away on a chariot of Sustarre.

I've wondered that for a long time myself. It seems to have been dropped from the rules quite a while ago.

Sad. I've always liked Glassteel as a concept.

It didn't make it through to the third edition core rulebook. It might have appeared in some accessory, however.

Consigned to the same shadowy oblivion as other 'sci-fi sounding' spells like Glassee, Distance Distortion and Duo-Dimension, I'm afraid.

What did it do? I'm afraid I just don't go that far back.

It never made it to the original D20 SRD.

What did it do? I'm afraid I just don't go that far back.

it made normal glass as strong as steel.

so, for example, you could have a glassmaker make a glass greatsword, and glass fullplate (both masterwork), then cast glassteel on them so they would work like normal masterwork items, enchant them appropriately, and you have some neat looking gear.

edit:oh and i guess arrowproof windows would be useful too :)

I don't think the spell itself was ever converted, but there is a glassteel material. Champions of Valor, page 65. Its a Forgotten Realms book for 3.5 D&D.

In my homebrews, it still exists. Glassteel magic weapons are sometimes worn by high ranking military leaders or are given as rewards for brave deeds.

Whatever happened to the brother man?

Is this why the Elder Scrolls games have glass weapons and armor?

Also, why did we lose Glassteel in the transition but keep Ironwood?

ironwood allowed druids to wear full plate back a long time ago, and still does. glassteel didn't really serve much of a purpose.

Also, why did we lose Glassteel in the transition but keep Ironwood?

Druids have a use for ironwood (and can always use more specific spells on their list that aren't just borrowed from the cleric or wizard lists).

Nobody really 'needs' glassteel, it's just cool.

It's also OP. In FR, it combines the attributes of mithral and steel, hence being overpowered.

The real rub of glassteel is how it would be subject to cost abuse. After all, sand costs NOTHING. If you can make something better then steel out of sand, you will make a fortune.

Yeah, you had to be a 16th level mage, but it was a one way trip to riches.

==Aelryinth

Silent Saturn wrote:

What did it do? I'm afraid I just don't go that far back.

it made normal glass as strong as steel.

so, for example, you could have a glassmaker make a glass greatsword, and glass fullplate (both masterwork), then cast glassteel on them so they would work like normal masterwork items, enchant them appropriately, and you have some neat looking gear.

edit:oh and i guess arrowproof windows would be useful too :)

You mean a glass Two-Handed Sword? 3d6 damage baby!

It's also OP. In FR, it combines the attributes of mithral and steel, hence being overpowered.

That does sound crazy. 1st ed. glassteel was no better or worse than normal steel.

It seems like it might also require some mechanical consideration. A blade of translucent glass might give the bearer some sort of bonus to Bluff checks to feint (+2 ish?), since the blade would be somewhat harder to see than a steel blade.

Add in a material component to deal with the economy-disrupting potential (just a tiny pinch of powdered adamantine, cost depending on how much glass you're making steel-hard!), and it could be fun to re-introduce.

Aelryinth wrote:

It's also OP. In FR, it combines the attributes of mithral and steel, hence being overpowered.

That does sound crazy. 1st ed. glassteel was no better or worse than normal steel.

It seems like it might also require some mechanical consideration. A blade of translucent glass might give the bearer some sort of bonus to Bluff checks to feint (+2 ish?), since the blade would be somewhat harder to see than a steel blade.

Add in a material component to deal with the economy-disrupting potential (just a tiny pinch of powdered adamantine, cost depending on how much glass you're making steel-hard!), and it could be fun to re-introduce.

Could make a fun alchemist-only spell!

Set wrote:

Aelryinth wrote:

It's also OP. In FR, it combines the attributes of mithral and steel, hence being overpowered.

That does sound crazy. 1st ed. glassteel was no better or worse than normal steel.

It seems like it might also require some mechanical consideration. A blade of translucent glass might give the bearer some sort of bonus to Bluff checks to feint (+2 ish?), since the blade would be somewhat harder to see than a steel blade.

Add in a material component to deal with the economy-disrupting potential (just a tiny pinch of powdered adamantine, cost depending on how much glass you're making steel-hard!), and it could be fun to re-introduce.

Could make a fun alchemist-only spell!

Actually, i could see that. It would seem to be appropriate.

Could make a fun alchemist-only spell!

Indeed, or a transmutation spell used by the Thassilonian sin-mages of Greed, to combine the noble properties of colorful gemstones with the strength of metals, so that his warriors could appear to wear armor and carry blades carved from solid blocks of ruby, emerald and sapphire.

ironwood allowed druids to wear full plate back a long time ago, and still does. glassteel didn't really serve much of a purpose.

Says you. When my fighter retired and opened a tavern, he spent money to have glassteel enchantments put on the windows. Saved him money in the long run. No worries about replacing them after tavern brawls.

asthyril wrote:

ironwood allowed druids to wear full plate back a long time ago, and still does. glassteel didn't really serve much of a purpose.

Says you. When my fighter retired and opened a tavern, he spent money to have glassteel enchantments put on the windows. Saved him money in the long run. No worries about replacing them after tavern brawls.

Lol, and the chairs, mugs, tables....

See, now ironwood spells on the furniture would have been an idea, but then you're basically providing the clientele with lethal furnishings to bludgeon each other to death with. The town watch might not appreciate that much.

Lol, yea, i was thinking Ironwood for the furniture, must be getting tired if i assumed your furniture was all glass.

You're fine though, tack a warning sign outside your tavern and you're covered, plus no replacement furniture costs ;)

You mean a glass Two-Handed Sword? 3d6 damage baby!

A proper Glass Sword does 255 damage and shatters on impact. :D

It's also OP. In FR, it combines the attributes of mithral and steel, hence being overpowered.

In arcanis it was used as a foundation material for psionic items.

bards happened.

"If bards don't get to jump through windows in a dramatic way, they are UP."

In all seriousness, I have no clue.

Glassteel was basically trumped by the superior Hardening spell, which does everything Glassteel does and more except sound as cool.

You want to make glass as strong as steel? Look up the hardness of glass (1) and the hardness of steel 10, do the math, and calculate that you need an 18th level caster casting Hardening on glass to duplicate the effect of Glassteel.

Now go cast hardness on some water and watch what happens!

Now go cast hardness on some water and watch what happens!

You get Hard Water?

I see hardening as a viable alternative. Yet there are 10 years where the spell went to limbo.

I miss Glasse too.

Anyone remember the cloud giant fortress with Glassteeled floors?
Very cool spell.

There is Blood Crystal, which is basically steel strength quartz.

Thank you for your posts.

I was just looking through my book shelf and I came across I-3, I-4, and I-5, the Desert of Desolation Series: Pharaoh, Oasis of the White Palm, and the Lost Tomb of Martek. I have fond memories of playing through it in freshmen year in high school, and again in college, where we converted it to 2nd edition. I ran it myself as the tail end of a 15 level-20 level campaign using 3rd edition rules.

I just remember, (or maybe it was how i described it) the central area the "Crystal Prism" as being a huge glassteel cathedral like structure.

Anyways I liked the Glassteel spell. I suppose in a home game, it wouldn't be too much trouble to bring it whole cloth into a game.

Thanks again

the Harden spell doesn't affect hit points. So you'd get something like a diamond...hard to scratch, but if you can scratch it, it breaks apart easily, i.e. brittle.

Glassteel 3.5 made glass as hard as adamantine at half the weight, and with all the same hit points. So it was hard AND durable.

Glassteel 1E made it as good as steel...except it was actually BETTER then steel. Glassteel was AC 0, Steel was AC3. Plate armor made out of glassteel was AC 0, the equivalent of a non-magical +3. It also used the better of glass or metal on the item saving throw charts.

Remember, no mithral or adamant in 1E. Glassteel was THE best stuff to make something from, the only core material that provided actual bonuses to stuff without magic.

==Aelryinth

When I first heard the name "Glassteel", I thought that maybe it:

-made steel transparent like glass
-made steel as brittle and fragile as glass
-summoned an item made from this mysterious substance, a la Minor Creation
-actually turned glass into steel, or vice versa

Would people be interested in spells that do any of that?

I see hardening as a viable alternative. Yet there are 10 years where the spell went to limbo.

I miss Glasse too.

Anyone remember the cloud giant fortress with Glassteeled floors?
Very cool spell.

I remember the glassteel fortress in the shape of a giant diamond levitating inside a volcano. It got destroyed at the end of the module it appeared in.

I think it made an appearance in Eldritch Sorcery by Necromancer Games. Come to think of it, there may have been Glassee in there as well.

Sounds like Out Of The Ashes, in Dungeon 17, though I don't think the giant diamond fortress there was glassteel.

I seem to recall it being used by the Orc King in one of the Drizzt novels. It was put in the helm to protect the eyes but still give full vision.

I remember the glassteel fortress in the shape of a giant diamond levitating inside a volcano. It got destroyed at the end of the module it appeared in.

I always hated that. My PCs felt like they had some all-powerful curse of the gods or something.

"You find a mesa-top plateau full of dinosaurs that have survived for millions of years! Two days after you arrive, volcanoes erupt and it all burns."

"You find a clould giant fortress that flies on it's own magical cloud, abandoned for centuries and now ruled by Sky Pirates! Forty-five minutes after you invade and kill the chief of the Sky Pirates, it plummets from the skies."

"You find a magnificent dragon graveyard that's been around for ten millenia... Guess what happens 24 hours after you arrive?"

Same with Vampire games. "You meet an elder who has been around for 1500 years, and has ruled the city for two centuries without any problems whatsoever. Surprise! Sabbat werewolf attack! Everything burns!"

Rule number one of being an adventurer. Anything that's somehow survived for millenia is gonna burn within a day of your arrival. :)

That's probably what happened to the Shory sky cities. All their adventuring groups came home to retire, and within the week, the last sky city plummeted to the ground.

Totally off topic, but Set, I noticed that about the Eberron modules as well. You're riding on a neat sky blimp, it'll be attacked and crash. You're riding on the lightning rail, it's attacked and crashes, you get on an elevator and it crashes. It got to be that if my party entered any sort of conveyance that was named, they just prepped for a crash.

It got to be that if my party entered any sort of conveyance that was named, they just prepped for a crash.

Same for ship travel. This ship has been making merchant runs to and from the capital port for over a decade, six times a year, and the PCs get on it and there are six random encounters on this one voyage, including 'ghost ship', 'murderous doppleganger stowaway', 'pirate attack,' 'whirlpool', 'rain of (carnivorous) frogs' and 'dragon turtle.'

ahh memories.. I actually miss Chariot of Sustarre more then glassteel.

Glassteel had a base AC:0...
Glassteel Plate armour therefore has a base AC:0, which two points better than normal plate...But embaressing to wear in public when the paint chips or wears off.

heh, you didn't have to use transparent glass (see Laeral's Storm Armor).

See through Steel or other stuff - Glassee spell, existed.
Steel brittle as Glass - Crystalbrittle spell, existed. (lvl 9 and introduced in G3, From Against the Giants.) Useful for breaking +5 swords to shards.

==Aelryinth

Here is a more or less direct conversion of the spell:

GlassSteel
School Transmutation; Level Sorcerer/Wizard 8
Casting Time 1 round
Components V, S, M (small shard of crystal or glass)
Range touch
Target one object of crystal or glass
Duration Permanent
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance No

The glasssteel spell turns normal, non-magical crystal or glass into a transparent substance that has the tensile strength and unbreakability of actual steel (Hardness 10, HP 30/inch of thickness). Only a relatively small volume of material can be affected, no more than 10 pounds per caster level, and it must form one whole object. The item retains the weight it had before the spell was cast (about half as much as a steel counterpart).

Some thoughts...

I would probably either drop the level down to 6th or make the duration instaneous, for my games, it is not really on par with other pathfinder 8th level transmutation spells such as polymorph any object IMO.

Spell needs to have a duration of instantaneous, not permanent, otherwise it can be dispelled.

As well, target should involve a cu ft or weight per level... thematically consistent.

Spell needs to have a duration of instantaneous, not permanent, otherwise it can be dispelled.

Well, you could dispel in 2nd edition, so if its a straight conversion it would still need to be able to be dispelled.

Glassteel was probably removed at the behest of the legion of Rust Monsters.

In all seriousness, the level assigned to it in 1st edition was probably picked so that GMs of a simulationist bent didn't have to consider the economic implications of large scale use of it. It was an uncommon spell, only castable by 16th level magic users, of which there weren't many in those days. Occasionally you'd drop a magical glassteel sword in a horde (flaming glassteel swords were thematically popular).

Hardening cast by an 18th level caster already makes glass as hard as steel. Why bother making a specific spell for it? I mean, unless you want something more powerful than "This looks neat."

If you're really paranoid about dispelling maybe invent a variant of Hardening that's instantaneous instead of permanent but is +1 spell level (+2 at most). Just make sure to emphasize that it doesn't stack with itself and you're good.