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Just curious if someone could actually tell me why cold iron has that additional 2000gp tax when you enchant it. Looking at the other special materials, it seems it is the only one that does. I get the additional cost to make the base weapon, adamantine, mithril, and silver have that as well. I just don't get the enchantment tax. Anyone?
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Traditionally, cold iron is sort of an antimagic material, so it would make sense that it would be more difficult to enchant (and thus more expensive).
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Just curious if someone could actually tell me why cold iron has that additional 2000gp tax when you enchant it. Looking at the other special materials, it seems it is the only one that does. I get the additional cost to make the base weapon, adamantine, mithril, and silver have that as well. I just don't get the enchantment tax. Anyone?At this point its probably just because it was written in to 3.x and there was no compelling reason to change it. I imagine when it was first written the author had the conception of cold iron being magic resistant/magic piercing and thus made it more expensive to enchant.
SOmehow I suspected this was the case. Thanks for the answers!
And yet oddly enough, it's Lead that actually blocks some forms of magic. Not Cold Iron.
It's just tradition--a last remnant of flavor nobody remembers the origin of from original D&D.
Which was likely taken from folklore about fey being weak to cold iron, which is technically just a poetic term for iron. Unlike silver, which has holy connotations which would lend well to magic, cold iron was used as a ward against witches, spirits, fairies, etc. As in the ones with access to magic that would make enchanted weapons. This is basically a separate material used to describe the symbolism of mankind's triumph over the unknown through our technology (metallurgy has been the forefront of many human advancements for thousands of years). In some ways, this stems back to the magic vs. technology motif found in many fantasy settings. In practice, this shows a smithing technique that overcomes magical power through sheer ingenuity.
In mechanical terms, it is a special material for getting around DR which does not have the penalty to damage rolls found in silver weapons. The extra cost is the price of the extra versatility. In early levels, when 2,000 gp is an issue, you simply keep an unenchanted (or only lightly enchanted, maybe from loot) cold iron weapon for special situations. The lack of extra base cost makes them more accessible for this tactic. Later, the extra cost will be relatively minor compared to the overall cost, and you can decide to use a cold iron weapon as your primary weapon.
Which was likely taken from folklore about fey being weak to cold iron, which is technically just a poetic term for iron.
Historically, cold iron would have referred to meteoric iron, which would have been hammered into shape without smelting (thus, "cold.")
I don't know if that's how Pathfinder treats it, as I'd guess meteoric iron would have to be considered a skymetal by definition.
Yeah, but that version of the term, also going under the name of 'thunderbolt iron', is part the basis of the special material adamantine.
Part of the problem with folklore and commonly used items is that terms sometimes get a bit interchangeable. You can also see this in the names for weapons, since half a dozen different designs might be under the same name, or there will be a dozen names for the same design. Both versions of the story about cold iron are equally valid, but the system broke them into two manageable parts. Here, cold iron is referred to as specially treated iron, and sky metal is in adamantine. Other versions of the story include iron that was forged without ever heating the metal, which would require you to take very pure ore (which is both rare and mostly used up in the real world) and apply pressure that could not be applied without either godlike strength or high powered factory grade machinery.
I'll admit though, I am mostly just rephrasing and romanticizing information I found on wikipedia and tvtropes for most of my historical information here.
It is more of Deep Iron. That is Iron found deep underground. It is very Soft and becomes super brittle if heated and tempered like normal Iron.
It is actually either a really Pure Iron or really Impure Iron. It has to be Cold Forged to keep it from Shattering in contact with Armour or even Hard Muscle/Bone.
The Lore behind Deep Iron is it could literally cut through Magic and slay any magical being with little effort.
Hmmm... as another interesting fact, somewhat unrelated, is that iron is the element responsible for killing stars. When a star runs out of hydrogen at its core, which is the only place compressed enough for fusion, it begins a process of fusing heavier and heavier elements. The returns for heavier elements fusing gets smaller and smaller, and the star literally wastes energy when it tries to make iron. Without a new source of energy, it will eventually go supernova. (this might be an oversimplified and poorly worded description of the process, but it still gets the general gist for this conversation)
A star lasting for hundreds of millions or billions of years dies in mere days after it starts producing iron. Might be slightly interesting implications for the 'pure iron' theory. Stars are often connected to magic, and the ability to kill them seems powerful symbolically. Although this has little relevance to folk beliefs about iron or pathfinder's description of the material.
I was actually reading something on that concept... It is also believed that some planets form around Metal Cores left behind when a star dies.
Which could allude back to the appearance of a linear progression from the age of gods to the age of mankind as deities die out and the works of man begin to take over using their last works.
Of course, any linear view of progress and history is typically dangerous. Magic and divine influence play a major role in the Pathfinder setting and its treatment like any other science can be seen in various places. The linear view might seem appealing when one has regular dealings with demons and fey though.