The focus of my question are Mithral and Adamantium, but any will do.
A player i know for a lifetime always wants to start from level 3-4 (both when playing and GMing) because we always assumed that starting equip can be whatever you want as long as you have the money, and he always begins with mithral armor/shields when playing a class with the right proficiences.
I always tried to keep mithral/adamantium at balance, saying that it isn't just a matter of wealth by level or items availability by the settlement:
but i don't want to argue over this,and he just keeps buying armor/weapons crafted in special materials whenever he has the money.
Do other masters allow mithral/Adamantium/cold iron etc. once the party has the wealth by level for them or they require the party to go questing for one? Or they just roll for them in random loot?
PS: Of course i require him to actually be at a market/shop/whatever and i check for item availability % ; if that fails he isn't going to get mithral armor or such, but he is the type who'll argue over it ("I have the level and the money,and the town has the item available by items limit, so you should let me buy it"), while i'm not going to.
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If you create a PC starting at, say 4th level, by RAW they wil have 6000gp worth of equipment.
By RAW, that starting equipment can be anything they can afford, going on the market price of each item.
The items can be magic, or made from special materials.
I find that most DMs don't really like PCs starting with magic items, since they are the one's who decide on what magic items occur in the campaign. Without magic, what can a PC spend 6k on? Yeah, mithral and adamantine gear!
Do you allow him to start with magic? If yes, why is magic okay but mundane not? What have you got against special materials, anyway?
If no, then what will his starting equipment be? With no magic items or special materials, what 6k worth of equipment will this 4th level PC start play with?
Although DMs have the authority to restrict whatever they like, what is the motivation for restricting mithral and adamantine? Their rarity is already reflected in their price!
I get that adventurers should get their cool gear through adventuring rather than shopping, but a 4th level PC has got their gear through adventuring!
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Letting him start with the item doesn't necessarily mean that it's possible to walk into any shop and be guaranteed of finding it. Unless the materials are unusually rare or largely nonexistent in your setting, you can assume he got lucky and found the mithral breastplate or adamantine longsword somewhere in the time it took him to get to level 3-4. Maybe it turned up in a hoard, or he searched a number of shops until he found one with the item in stock, or he had it commissioned special, or it was an award for military distinction. You can make up a little story behind the item if it's unusual.
The price for the materials already reflects a certain amount of rarity. If you want them to be really exceptionally rare (the dwarves do hoard all the mithral) then you need to explain that setting detail to your players. Also keep in mind how it would affect the game - DR/adamantine might be more of a problem if adamantine isn't available.
And of course you're free to make it difficult for characters to find specific items in actual play.
I can see if there's an issue with it being hard to purchase due to scarceness and if they have the amount you'd need available. Bigger towns or cities will have adamantine and other special materials, as their denizens and travelers will need new purchases as they pass by. Having large quantities of rarer materials and items makes the businesses bloom better in larger towns.
Depending on the level of the character I assume they have had some exploration prior to their joining the group. As such, they might have come across gold, jewels, items of worth that would be the exact thing they want, or they sell to later purchase. If they are low level adamantine might be hard to come by but it all depends on the factors of city size, availability, and gold amount. I've never withheld the item, if it was cheap, from the players if they had the gold for it.
However, since adamantine is known as a star metal, as in it comes from meteorites and other falling object from 'out there', then if there hasn't been any recent impacts, it might be getting scarce in the area. If there is some other reason, like maybe a group of thieves, who were being told to steal the supplies from trade routes into the city, that would not only give a reason to your player, but also a very good plot point to ork with. Now they get treasure, dp, and the players who needed adamantine now get it, possibly at a discount. If not a discount, then at least the town will know them for next time.
One thing to keep in mind are the guidelines on pg 400 of the Core Rulebook: "Table 12-4 can also be used to budget gear for characters starting above first level... Characters should spend no more than half their total wealth on any single item. For a balanced approach, PCs that are built after 1st level should spend no more than 25% of their wealth on weapons, 25% on armor and protective items, 25% on other magic items, 15% on disposable magic items like potions, scrolls, and wands, and 10% on ordinary gear and coins. Different character types might spend their wealth differently than these percentages suggest; for example, arcane casters might spend very little on weapons but a great deal more on other magic items and disposable items."
Using the "balanced approach" rule of thumb, a 4th level PC (6,000 gp total wealth) should have about 1,500 gp worth of weapons, about 1,500 gp worth of armor and protective items, about 1,500 gp worth of other magic, about 900 gp worth of disposable items, and about 600 gp of ordinary gear and coins. A 4th level character should not have any single item that exceeds 3,000 gp in value.
Mithral light armor adds +1,000 gp to the armor price; a mithral shield adds +1,500 gp to the shield price; both are expensive for a 4th level PC for a limited return (how many 4th level PCs have the 22+ Dex for a mithral chain shirt's +4 armor/+6 max. Dex to provide better total protective value than +1 studded leather's +4 armor/+5 max. Dex? Granted, the mithral chain shirt is slightly less expensive at 1,100 gp instead of 1,175 gp). Mithral medium armor adds +4,000 gp to the armor price and exceeds half a 4th level PC's total wealth, so it should not be allowed as starting equipment. Mithral weapons add +500 gp per lb of the original weapon to the weapon price; 1 lb or 2 lb piercing or slashing weapons (dagger, kukri, rapier, short sword, spiked gauntlet, throwing axe) might be an improvement over alchemical silver versions, but it's a pretty expensive way to avoid a measly -1 on damage rolls. Adamantine items bust the half total WBL limit and should not be allowed.
In short, just enforce a "balanced approach" distribution and disallow single items more expensive than half total WBL and it will prevent things from getting unreasonable. Also, as suggested above, non-standard items deserve to be detailed with a backstory; make the player describe how his character obtained the item (family heirloom, awarded by church/organization, mysterious item found in ancient ruin (open GM plot hook), etc.).
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Mithral and Adamantine aren't common, but it's not like they're stupid hard to find, usually.
In any significant settlement, they should be able to get some, eventually. Unless you, as the DM, say otherwise.
If you don't want items made of special materials in your setting, disallow them. But really, it's DM fiat either way. Either it does exist because you say so, or it doesn't because you say so.
I have never heard of a DM disallowing special materials.
What is the concern?
I never said i disallow them.
By reading the tables they are rare/expensive enough that they'll appear much later in the game,by wealth/level at least.I don't want to argue with the players however; i don't expect players whining over a gaming matter anyway, so if a discussion arises i would like to be sure if i'm following the rules the way they are intended to or if i'm doing someting wrong, before simply saying "no you cannot" to the player.