I have a dwarven barbarian PC who wants to multiclass as druid at somepoint- keeping this in mind, and starting out at first level what items can he use that would get around the non-metal deal besides Dragonhide armor (he has leather armor and I'll probably award him Dragonhide armor before he begins his quest, if he helps bag an Wyvern or something likewise that would come from the Varlin Mountains near the dwarves...he'd be a dwarf torn from stone existance and human thurkasian existance...or just a dwarven loner. essentially he'd be a dwarven berserker in his clan).
So yeah, I had the idea of letting him have stone dwarven waraxes and a stone dwarven urgosh- these would be high quality Masterwork +1 Dwarven weapons that he'd be allowed to use as a Dwarven Barbarian...
so A. what'd be the stats (weight, attackbonus, hardness, cost- though I am letting the characters have 1-2 starting weapons, etc)? B. what do you think about letting a first level character even having these kinds of weapons? C. What do you think about a dwarven barbarian/druid? And D. What else could I use? or what specific sorts of stone could I use that the dwarves of Thurkasia (from Ghostwalk) would know about? and E. Can you make armor with stone? say studded leather?
For stone armor, look at Races of Stone. There's a suit of plate made from stone in there, but even dwarves suffer the movement penalty in it.
As for stone weapons... I'd simply do this, despite whatever rules you might find out there:
* Stone weapons have hardness 8
* Hit Point are the same as their metal counterparts
* They weigh twice as much as their metal counterparts
Some rules like to throw in a chance for them to break because they're 'crude', and/or apply a damage penalty because they're not as sharp or what have you. I prefer to let someone be unique without punishing them for it, so just treat them like regular weapons in all respects except for those things I listed above.
I'd just like to point out that I like the above concept, and it has always annoyed me that people trying to go that route end up getting penalized since they can't cast spells when in rage. Same goes for clerics of battle-deities, like Erythnul and Kord. Barbarian sounds like an awesome combo there, except that you don't get spellcasting when raging, which is a major feature of that whole "Barbarian" thing. Grrr....
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The Arms and Equipment guide has some non-metallic armors in it that would work for a druid/barb and has some materials for making armor out of that are non-metallic like Bronzewood, Chitin (Breastplate), Elven Darkleaf, Elven Leafweave, and Elukian Clay. Maybe just incorporate some of those into Druidic traditions like sculpting armor from Elukian Clay.
Hope it helps, and if you want further info on any of these let me know.
FH
For stone armor, look at Races of Stone. There's a suit of plate made from stone in there, but even dwarves suffer the movement penalty in it.
As for stone weapons... I'd simply do this, despite whatever rules you might find out there:
* Stone weapons have hardness 8
* Hit Point are the same as their metal counterparts
* They weigh twice as much as their metal counterpartsSome rules like to throw in a chance for them to break because they're 'crude', and/or apply a damage penalty because they're not as sharp or what have you. I prefer to let someone be unique without punishing them for it, so just treat them like regular weapons in all respects except for those things I listed above.
thanks, but i was looking to give him medium armor, so I'll check out the stats and give him stone breastplate, scale mail or even banded or splintmail maybe and that shouldn't cut down his movement rate too much. Hell, I think a master Dwarvenstone crafter could even make CHAINMAIL out of Stone, but it wouldn't be any good as protection unless it was like quartz or something harder. (I knew my geology class would come in handy at some point, why didn't I think of quartz?)
Anyway, I'll check out races of stone and cpnsider that plate armor as a template. Hardness 8 and twice the weight you say? how about stone studded leather at 30-35 lbs (since the leather wouldn't double, but the studs would) or Stone scalemail/Breastplate 60lbs? Geez louise, unless it was quartz I can't imagine a barbarian even getting 30 ft as his movement rate.
Yeah, dragonhide...
how about a suit of scalemail, that isn't covered in the DMG? (as if I was going to really deviate from what is covered in the DMG- hell it's easier to make a breastplate/heavy plate than any other type of armor from dragonhide)
But yeah, I'm thinking dragonhide breastplate +buckler offered to him by the ghost dwarven warrior- or his family- that visits looking for adventurers to assist in defending Manifest (as the ghost's final act before passing on through the Veil of Souls, he must rally forces from his homeland in Thurkasia to defend against undead and a possible attack from Xaphan).
But yeah, his stone weapons +1 24 lb Dwarven Urgosh (could masterwork or some enchantment even change the weight? or would this just be one badass freaking urgosh, I would argue that it would be very hone, but dull easily and would require honing after each use)
2 +1 Dwarven Waraxes at 16 lbs each...well screw that, he gets ONE (or two, but as follows) and he has to wield it two handed even though he is a dwarf and gets say a -1 or -2 penalty if he tries otherwise...which pretty much just negates the +1 bonus.
I say he starts out with normal dwarven weapons, but again with contact with the proper dwarven armorer he could have stone weapons made, or make them himself (he has weaponsmithing) with the help of a superior craftsman to hone the blades and so forth.