What Color is Adamantine?

[Daenar]

The Arena Champion in the gmg wields a vicious adamantine sword...with a dull, darkish grey blade :p

[Cranky Dog]

Normal adamantine is black.

Enchanted adamantine could GLOW hot pink. Who knows what unregulated magic can do to metal.

[Liam Warner]

CalebTGordan wrote:

I have worked with a large variety of metals, so I sort of have a decent idea of what these metals could look like.

There are not any naturally occurring metals that have a polished color that wouldn't be a variation of silver or red. More than likely Adamantine and mithril would follow close to one of those two.

I like to think that adamantine is a green silver (looks silver with a very slight lean towards green,) and that Mithril is more of a blue silver.

James Jacobs's statement still makes sense, because all metals rust or patina. Bronze, for example, turns from a soft red to a deep green if you let it patina. Steel goes from grey silver to reddish brown. Adamantine could be a metal that is difficult to keep untarnished, and which could patina quickly, going from its greenish silver to a matte black. Most metals patina or rust because of oxygen, so I guess this would mean that adamantine reacts very quickly to oxygen. It reminds me of silver, which can turn black if it isn't kept cleaned and polished.

Mithril could also have a patina, possibly becoming a deeper purple or blue.

There is also unnatural patinas, which I once made a living doing on bronze art. With a large variety of chemical applications, both hot and cold, we were able to turn bronze nearly any color. Not all of them "stuck" on very well. The crimson red, for example, had to be handled with great care if you didn't want it to rub off, while the deep gun metal blue was a very strong patina and could take a bit more handling. Unnatural patinas are for both protection and decoration, and were done to armor and weapons in ancient times.

There are metals that are of some interesting colors without any patina, like purple or black but most of them are alloys of gold.

Gold http://jewellerstrade.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/gold.jpg would like a word with you and these are "star" metals so they may be other colours.

[Waterhammer]

Kryptik wrote:

Given all these colors, I think the only reasonable answer is that adamantine changes color based upon the perception of the user.

Adamantine changes colors based on the use of paint. So it can be hot pink.

It would be fun to have players come across an adamantine golem that had been painted terra cotta color, so they thought it was a clay golem at first...

[Ellis Mirari]

It is the colour out of space.

[G.ame O.perational D.irector]

Adamantine is an old term for Diamond; or referring to something with the hardness of diamond. It's not necessarily a metal.

I had this discussion 20 some odd years ago at an old gaming shop and an old friend you know the type the one that knows way to much to fit in any where else but at the G.M.s seat at the table

So as far as the color we always went with any that would fit diamond which can be quite a large category of colors; but all Adamant weapons had a semi transparency crystal like quality to them.

[Set]

'I like my adamantine like I like my coffee; black, bitter and fair trade.'

I wonder if the green association comes from that metal introduced in the Silmarillion that was dark green? (Which I totally forget the name of, since I was like, 11, and the only specific names I remember from the book are Glaurung the Golden and Ancalagon the Black...)

There's been a fair number of green metals in fantasy gaming. Baatorian Green Steel in 3.X. Serpentsteel (quenched with serpent venom!) in the Scarred Lands.

I always thought that fantasy gaming could use a few more fantastic metals, replacing platinum or electrum with stuff like orichalum.

[Albatoonoe]

I'll be honest, I always went with dark green because of Runescape. I can roll with black, though.

[Kaisoku]

I think an early Final Fantasy game had Excalibur (that needed adamantite? adamant?) either looked greenish, or caused a green coloured slash on the enemy.

"Mythril" in Final Fantasy had definitely been a blue tinge for the first bunch of games.

[Wolf Munroe]

My background with adamantine is Neverwinter Nights, D&D 3.x, and Pathfinder.

I also read Wolverine comic books but I never associated adamantine and adamantium as being the same material. Adamantium is described as an alloy, while adamantine is a metal found in meteorites or deep underground.

I have likewise always thought of adamantine as black. Ultimate Equipment doesn't say its color though, nor does the Core Rulebook, or Pathfinder AP #14, which mentions the colors of most of the other skymetals. Even the D&D 3.5e DMG doesn't appear to list its color.

Mithral, which, which I always associate with mithril (from LotR, also known sometimes as True Silver), I always imagine as silvery, almost mercurial in the way it reflects the light. It's described as a "rare, silvery metal that is lighter than steel but just as hard" in Ultimate Equipment.

[Tacticslion]

As has been mentioned, in 3.5 materials (and possibly before then, I don't recall) there was a green metal that was, originally enough, called "starmetal" which, as stats, was effectively just adamantine... except green (and more damaging to extraplanar creatures).

There was even a prestige class, called "Green Star Adept", that required the character to consume bits of the star metal in a potion or powdered form in order to gain levels in it and slowly become a living statue of the stuff.

Here's the entry:

Complete Arcane, pg 141 wrote:

Members of the Green Star adept prestige class (see page 41) rely on a precious substance called starmetal to gain their distinctive abilities. Starmetal can also be used in the creation of weapons that are potent against creatures not native to the Material Plane, or the manufacture of armor of similar quality to that made from adamantine. Starmetal: This superior alloy is made from meteoric iron—specifi cally, ore refi ned from meteors that fall during the rare appearances of the comet Alhazarde. Starmetal is extraordinarily hard, and is equal to adamantine for all purposes (see page 283 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide), including overcoming damage reduction or granting damage reduction when used in armor construction. Starmetal also possesses an inherent magical connection to the Material Plane, meaning that weapons made of the alloy are especially effective against creatures from other planes. Weapons made of starmetal deal an extra 1d6 points of damage to any extraplanar creatures while they are on the Material Plane.

Creating a weapon from starmetal costs 5,000 gp more than creating a similar weapon of steel. Creating armor from starmetal has the same costs as armor created from adamantine.

So that could be a pretty big source, there. If there's something older that's green - or if there was star metal in an older edition -, I'm not sure.

Much like others, I've always presumed it was some sort of dark black, though, due to Legend of Zelda: a Link to the Past, I accepted that it might have turned into a burnished orange when "properly" forged.

[Threeshades]

Adamantine is the color out of space.

[The Drunken Dragon]

I've always imagined it as the burnished black that you get by singing iron over a fire, as in, not entirely uniform and looking slightly scarred. Dunno.

[phantom1592]

Arms and Armor for 2E listed some interesting things about Adamantine. I can't find my book right now, but if memory serves it was a pitch black.

It was the deep dark metal associated with Drow, so I think that was the reasoning there.

[Ellis Mirari]

Threeshades wrote:

Adamantine is the color out of space.

Go ahead and steal my joke will you ;P

[Threeshades]

Ellis Mirari wrote:

Threeshades wrote:

Adamantine is the color out of space.

Go ahead and steal my joke will you ;P

*scrolls up*

Dammit!

[insaneogeddon]

Atavar wrote:

The adamantine golem is described as being black in color; is all adamantine black? Or, are there varying colors of varying rarity, sort of like with diamonds?

Dnd history its black with a greenish hue.

[Ellis Mirari]

insaneogeddon wrote:

Atavar wrote:

The adamantine golem is described as being black in color; is all adamantine black? Or, are there varying colors of varying rarity, sort of like with diamonds?

Dnd history its black with a greenish hue.

Black seems to be the standard in many different media

[insaneogeddon]

If you go back to Gary Gygaxs own 'Gord the Rogue' books it was sky blue in color but maybe thats an ?oearth? greyhawk thing..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gord_the_Rogue

but thats considered to be poetic licence as

In drow supplements it was black with a green/purple hue. As drow have some serious pull I suppose it stuck.. now plain boring black!

In the faerun "Volo's guide to all things magical" they spent the most effort defining it and there its "Adamant: This is the pure metal form of the hard, jet-black ferromagnetic ore known as adamantite, from which the famous alloy adamantine is made. Adamantine is black, but has a clear green sheen in candlelight-a sheen that sharpens to purple-white under the light given off by most magical radiances and by will-o'-wisps.

Pre-that however they had made some efforts to define it:

Adamantine:
In dragon #36 its "a blue cube dotted with a myriad of bright little specks that looked like imprisoned stars"

There is also an alloy called adamanite in dragon #17, that's "55% black, 25% dark blue, 20% dark green"

[Ashtathlon]

Adamantine is the new black this season...

[Liam Warner]

insaneogeddon wrote:

If you go back to Gary Gygaxs own 'Gord the Rogue' books it was sky blue in color but maybe thats an ?oearth? greyhawk thing..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gord_the_Rogue

but thats considered to be poetic licence as

In drow supplements it was black with a green/purple hue. As drow have some serious pull I suppose it stuck.. now plain boring black!

In the faerun "Volo's guide to all things magical" they spent the most effort defining it and there its "Adamant: This is the pure metal form of the hard, jet-black ferromagnetic ore known as adamantite, from which the famous alloy adamantine is made. Adamantine is black, but has a clear green sheen in candlelight-a sheen that sharpens to purple-white under the light given off by most magical radiances and by will-o'-wisps.

Pre-that however they had made some efforts to define it:

Adamantine:
In dragon #36 its "a blue cube dotted with a myriad of bright little specks that looked like imprisoned stars"

There is also an alloy called adamanite in dragon #17, that's "55% black, 25% dark blue, 20% dark green"

So the colour depnhds on what illuminates it?

[The Beardinator]

Mithril is silvery metal with a slight bluish shade.

Adamantine is dark grey with a nice sheen.

Starmetal is steel with a slight green shade.

That's what I think.

[Ashram]

In my games, adamantine is black and mithral is basically chrome-colored. Then again, I remember some vague rules from 3.5 allowing you to magically dye an item whatever color you want when you make it magical.

[Liam Warner]

Ashram wrote:

In my games, adamantine is black and mithral is basically chrome-colored. Then again, I remember some vague rules from 3.5 allowing you to magically dye an item whatever color you want when you make it magical.

Hmmmm

"Here's your armour Ronald the Mcho."
"Its pink."
"Fuschia actually."
"I'm not wearing pink armour."
"Well I'm not enchanting another one, I told you magic isn't always precictable."

[Googleshng]

Wolf Munroe wrote:

I have likewise always thought of adamantine as black. Ultimate Equipment doesn't say its color though, nor does the Core Rulebook, or Pathfinder AP #14, which mentions the colors of most of the other skymetals. Even the D&D 3.5e DMG doesn't appear to list its color.

You want Pathfinder #61 as official sources go. It goes through all seven varieties of starmetal, with pretty specific descriptions of their color and texture, with illustrations.

[Drejk]

Umbral Reaver wrote:

It clearly glows purple pixels.

I knew what I will see at the other end of that link even before I clicked it. And I don't mean seeing the link on mouse-over.

[Drejk]

Dungeon Master Zack wrote:

sunbeam wrote:

As someone said Wolverine's claws.

Adamantite is Adamantium (or Inertron it does the same stuff and looks the same) by another name.

Not sure what edition it came out in (3.x?), but I dare the devs who put it in to tell me with a straight face they didn't read comics.

"Adamant" as a type of mineral is a concept that long, long predates Wolverine.

Yeah. Initially it was diamond - in fact adamant shares root with diamond from Greek word for unbreakable.

Which lead me to believe that adamant mentioned in Warhammer 40K is diamondoid nanocomposite.

Still, for me adamant is black or dark grey.

[Wolf Munroe]

Googleshng wrote:

Wolf Munroe wrote:

I have likewise always thought of adamantine as black. Ultimate Equipment doesn't say its color though, nor does the Core Rulebook, or Pathfinder AP #14, which mentions the colors of most of the other skymetals. Even the D&D 3.5e DMG doesn't appear to list its color.

You want Pathfinder #61 as official sources go. It goes through all seven varieties of starmetal, with pretty specific descriptions of their color and texture, with illustrations.

Thanks. I just now looked there by your direction. It doesn't expressly say adamantine is black in the adamantine description, but the shard of the Sihedron that is made of adamantine (the Shard of Greed) is described as being "made of black adamantine."