As +1, the +2 is just for pricing purposes, it's not an actual enhancement bonus.
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Now, what is the hardness and hit points for a +1 adamantine battleaxe?
Battleaxe is a one-handed hafted weapon. So it has a hardness of 5, and 10 hit points (Table 7-12).
An adamantine weapon has 1/3 more hit points, so hit points increase to 13.
Adding a +1 enhancement bonus adds +2 hardness and 10 hit points, so a +1 adamantine weapon would have hardness 7 and 23 hit points.
So, being adamantine does nothing for it's hardness?
So, being adamantine does nothing for it's hardness?
I beleive Tim is forgetting that Admantine items have a starting Hardness of 20.
HP/inch 40. Weapons and armor normally made of steel that are made of adamantine have one-third more hit points than normal.
Hardness 20
Metal weapons have the hardness of the metal they are made from. Steel is normally 10. Adamantine is 20.
wouldnt it have a hardness of 22, because adamantine has a hardness of 20 and the +1 adds another 2?
or are you saying that because the battle axe is half wood its weakest part (and therefore the only part you need to sunder) has a hardness of 5 that you add the +2 to, to make it 7?
Edit Ninja'd
Normal hardness and HP for a one-handed hafted weapon is...
I was under the impression that hafted weapons referred to pole arms or spears. Weapons with considerable lengths of wood.
A one handed weapon does not have a haft. It has a handle.
Hafts and handles are the same thing.
IMO, it doesn't matter if the head has hardness of 22 and the "haft/handle" has hardness 7, because anyone trying to sunder it would use the lower number 100% of the time, so it's effectively the lower number every time.
I beleive Tim is forgetting that Admantine items have a starting Hardness of 20.
So, being adamantine does nothing for it's hardness?
I was originally gonna write 20 hardness however, a quick perusal of Table 7-12 show that footnote 4 which states hardness varies by material applies only to armor. Nothing under the adamantine entry states that weapons get increased hardness. A weapon such as a battle axe which still has a wooden handle would still be just as vulnerable to having that part sundered.
So, an adamantine longsword is a martial weapon that does 1d8 damage and has hardness 20, but an adamantine battleaxe is a martial weapon that does 1d8 damage but has a hardness of 5.
And yet which one is given its own entry in the magic weapon tables?
Useless.
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hardness does not only apply to armors. otherwise the rules for sundering weapons are damagingly overpowered.
If an adamantine sword doesn't begin with a harness 20, then when it is attacked by a steel sword to sunder and only has a beginning hardness of 10, what is the point of making it out of a stronger metal?
Hafted/handled weapons made out of a stronger material use the stronger material's hardness since it costs no extra to reinforce the wood haft of an adamantine spear or battleaxe with the adamantine.
The table just lists base materials: steel 10 for blade weapons, wood 5 for haft weapons.
If an adamantine sword doesn't begin with a harness 20, then when it is attacked by a steel sword to sunder and only has a beginning hardness of 10, what is the point of making it out of a stronger metal?
That fact that it ignores hardness when attacking.
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That fact that it ignores hardness when attacking.
it makes no sense that a sword made of adamantine has a hardness of 10, while a chain shirt made of adamantine has a hardness of 20.
the name of the table is "Table: Common Armor, Weapon, and Shield Hardness and Hit Points". adamantine and other special materials being decidedly uncommon. the equipment section calls out weapons and armor made of adamantine as having a hardness of 20 and more hit points than a typical object of its kind.
If an adamantine sword doesn't begin with a harness 20, then when it is attacked by a steel sword to sunder and only has a beginning hardness of 10, what is the point of making it out of a stronger metal?That fact that it ignores hardness when attacking.
It does not. It ignores hardness of less than 20.
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basically it boils down to that the material determines the hardness.
if you look at the table "Object Hardness and Hit Points" you see this as all the wooden objects from chests to doors have a hardness of 5, stone objects all have a hardness of 8, steel objects have a hardness of 10.
once you determine that the material determines the hardness, and the amount of material determines hit points you can return to calculating the battleaxe.
since there are two entries for hafted one handed weapons on the table "Common Armor, Weapon, and Shield Hardness and Hit Points", one-handed metal hafted, and one-handed wood hafted it does become important to know if the battleaxe has a wood or metal haft. ( not being a weapon historian, i don't really know. and i'm hoping the game wouldn't require you to. ).
the special material section of the equipment chapter says " If you make a suit of armor or weapon out of more than one special material, you get the benefit of only the most prevalent material. "
so if the most prevalent material in the battleaxe is adamantine, presume that it is a metal-hafted battleaxe. someone carrying around a weapon built to sunder enemies weapons and doors would not want to leave themselves open to being sundered.
thus the hardness of the weapon starts out at 20 because the material is adamantine. having 26 hp (20 + 1/3 boost from the material ), the hardness is boosted 2 for the +1 enchantment and the hp by 10.
so hardness 22, 36hp.
since adamantine ignores hardness less than 20, another +1 adamantine weapon (or greater) would be required to bypass the battleaxe's hardness.
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It does not. It ignores hardness of less than 20.
more fun is that +1 adamantine battleaxe would be hard to use to sunder a +2 adamantine chain shirt. [ hardness 24, hp 46 ].
even an adamantine weapon sundering an adamantine weapon is hard.
bc/ TwoWolves is right, it won't ignore the target's hardness since its not less than 20. so you'll need to do upwards of 46 damage in one attack to sunder most adamantine weapons in one attempt.
Hafted/handled weapons made out of a stronger material use the stronger material's hardness since it costs no extra to reinforce the wood haft of an adamantine spear or battleaxe with the adamantine.
By that logic, it would also cost no more to reinforce the wood haft of a steel spear or battleaxe with steel, giving those weapons a base hardness of 10, not 5 as the table suggests.
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By that logic, it would also cost no more to reinforce the wood haft of a steel spear or battleaxe with steel, giving those weapons a base hardness of 10, not 5 as the table suggests.
it does sound like a bit of a twink defense, i know. but i don't really know of any metal-hafted weapons. one handed or otherwise. So i'm not really sure what SHOULD fall into the metal-hafted category of weapons.
i've seen hammers and maces with steel plated hafts in museums irl, so i don't see why you couldn't plate the haft.
the only thing adamantine and mithril say they can't be made into is weapons with no metal parts like a quarterstaff. however adventures like Rise of the Runelords include Mithril Quarterstaves. So paizo does break its own rules occasionally.