Has anyone else thought that the pricing for special weapon/armor materials in the DMG and elsewhere is screwed up? Let me give some examples:
ammunition
sling bullet - 1 cp
adamantine sling bullet - 6,001 cp
cold iron sling bullet - 2 cp
mithral sling bullet - 25,001 cp
silver sling bullet - 201 cp
Colossal sling bullet - 16 cp
Colossal adamantine sling bullet - 6,016 cp (or would it be 96,016 cp? Do you multiply the cost adjustment for size?)
Colossal cold iron sling bullet - 32 cp
Colossal mithral sling bullet - 400,016 cp
Colossal silver sling bullet - 216 cp (or 3,216 cp?)
light weapons
dagger - 2 gp
adamantine dagger - 3,002 gp
cold iron dagger - 4 gp
mithral dagger - 502 gp
silver dagger - 22 gp
Colossal dagger - 32 gp
Colossal adamantine dagger - 3,032 gp (or 48,032 gp)
Colossal cold iron dagger - 64 gp
Colossal mithral dagger - 8,032 gp
Colossal silver dagger - 52 gp (or 352 gp)
one-handed weapons
longsword - 15 gp
adamantine longsword - 3,015 gp
cold iron longsword - 30 gp
mithral longsword - 2,015 gp
silver longsword - 105 gp
Colossal longsword - 240 gp
Colossal adamantine longsword - 3,240 gp (or 48,240 gp)
Colossal cold iron longsword - 480 gp
Colossal mithral longsword - 32,240 gp
Colossal silver longsword - 330 gp (or 1,680 gp)
two-handed weapons
falchion - 75 gp
adamantine falchion - 3,075 gp
cold iron falchion - 150 gp
mithral falchion - 4,075 gp
silver falchion - 255 gp
Colossal falchion - 1,200 gp
Colossal adamantine falchion - 4,200 gp (or 49,200 gp)
Colossal cold iron falchion - 2,400 gp
Colossal mithral falchion - 65,200 gp
Colossal silver falchion - 1,380 gp (or 4,080 gp)
light armor
chain shirt - 100 gp
adamantine chain shirt - 5,100 gp
mithral chain shirt - 1,100 gp
Colossal chain shirt - 1,600 gp
Colossal adamantine chain shirt - 6,600 gp (or 81,600gp)
Colossal mithral chain shirt - 2,600 gp (or 17,600 gp)
I could go on... but if you look at these prices, you'll see what I mean. Shouldn't there be a per pound price for everything? Mithral has a per pound price for items that are not armor (but armor pricing is fixed for some reason) that seems excessive, but at least it scales like it should. Cold iron seems very cheap, but also scales directly with the weight and original price of the item.
Any thoughts?
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Well, first of all, those rules were made simple for the fact that creating magical items already takes some math work. You could start adjusting it to pound per pound which will only result in more math which will lead to even less players taking item creation feats.
You could argue that it's not a realistic but then again what is realistic in d&d? But if you like you could either do the following:
1. Create a pound per pound, take the little sling bolts as a pound or a sword and work your way down from there. I suggest the bolt though.
or
2. Explain it as using the same density of mithril for example in a bolt as in a sword. Only a few grams of the stuff in an item and it's actually an alloy and not a pure form.
I actually enjoy item creation but the math involved isn't all that hard but also not that easy and I wouldn't want it more complicated than it already is. While you and I might not think it too hard the game is also played by teens and even 13-14 year olds (my niece for example plays it)
I believe that the price of something is based on the availability of the materials from which is was made...The Sling Bullet inb your list did not have a material from which it was made thusly telling us that it could be made from whatever was local. However the Adamantine Sling Bullet is exceptionally specific about what, exactly it is made from. Although I see you point '1' as opposed to '6001' does seem slightly on the pale at first glance we must remember the rarity of an item and adjust accordingly. The rules and said prices should be used only as a guidline.
Example: I ran a Rifts Campaign where the players had to make certain gear. The raw materials for said gear included canvas, a lining material, a flooring material, rivets and riveter or stitching and poles of saome kind...Yes they were making tents but since this is Earth some three hundred years after the apocolypse you get the idea. Now each of the players obtained the materials (Oh I had 5 players) Player 1 payed a total of 100 credits for material, player 2-175 credits, player 3-435, player 4-75 and plaer 5-775. Why?
Oh and in the above costs I did not factor in their barginning skills or 'soft' thoughts I only used quality of the materials. The rare materials should cost more while the more comon materials should be easier to obtain.
I think captramses, has it right. The sling bullet example is roughly the equivalent of asking why a golf ball sized diamond, perfectly cut should cost so much, after all you are only going to be used it as a sling stone. The value of materials is in part determined by the utility of that material and in part by the materials scarcity. As adamant and mithril are both highly useful and extremely rare they are exceptionally expensive. Further the descriptions of the materials speaks specifically about the degree of difficulty in working with them, thus requiring the involvment of master craftsmen, special set ups, etc. which will also raise the cost of finished product of those materials.
Lastly, pricing in D&D is a little screwy when you try to apply real world economics. The game designers (wisely IMO) decided on a pricing model to balance the bonuses and benefits those materials confer to items with respect to other items of about the same power level to adventurers (as opposed to normal townsfolk) rather than a model that would reflect the ebb and flow and pricing of a full economy in any specific game world.
From my point of view - the pricing model on most magic and exceptional items is fair.
If there is an issue it might be with magic items that provide purely roleplaying flavor as opposed to a real in game benefit.
This is something I seem to run into...Say I want to build something and it needs 100 pounds of iron to make. So I said, well, it is an option to make it out of darkwoood. Well how much would 100 pounds of darkwood cost? Ummm...no data present. Seriously? Okay, I know it makes the math harder, but seriously, a sword is like 8 pounds, I find it easier to multiply 8 by say 250 and get 2000. That makes MUCH more sense to me. Then I could take that and apply it to my two hander which is 16 pounds, and get 4000. I know it costs more, but it makes much more sense.
This is all good an well till I realize that 100 pounds of iron is bigger than a 100 pounds of adamantine. Anyone got a density of that?
house rule it.
Reminds me of a player who wanted to start making adamantine weapons. Realizing that he'd go through lots of anvils and hammers, he decided to ask about an adamantine anvil. That of course could be cost prohibitive. So, an adamantine anvil with an iron core.
But shortly after that, I had to switch to a cost per pound system as a few players started buying the special materials in bars for later use.