Trying to get a handle on the particulars for this AP series as we're fixing to run it after we finish Mummy's mask.
I didn't see anything in a search of the forums about the making of arrowheads or bolts out of Inubrix - that is, a) would it be allowed by the mechanics and b) more importantly, how would you deal with it?
I read it in this way, that one can make, essentially, make armor piercing arrows with it. That is, they would ignore armor of all kinds (I'm assuming here, I didn't read of a counter to the phase shifting of Inubrix). Of course, then I'm thinking - what would actually stop them? Or would you just assume some random damage based on how long they likely were in the target? Because I doubt the arrow would stop in the target... unless the wood of the shaft had something to do with that.
From the PRD:
Inubrix: This metal's structure allows it to pass through iron and steel without touching them, seeming to shift in and out of phase with reality. Inubrix is the softest of the solid skymetals, being only slightly less malleable than lead. As a result, it doesn't function well for crafting armor. Though inubrix weapons can penetrate most metal armors with relative ease, the weapons tend to break easily. Inubrix has 10 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 5.
An inubrix weapon deals damage as if it were one size category smaller than its actual size, and is always treated as if it had the broken condition. It ignores all armor or shield bonuses granted by iron or steel armor or shields. Inubrix weapons cannot damage these materials at all (and, by extension, cannot harm iron golems or similar creatures). Inubrix increases a weapon's costs by 5,000 gp.
I think all the answers you are looking for are in here. I think there are two things to consider here:
- Such item would be immensely rare, because there aren't many people who have access to it and are able to craft it.
- The price tag attached to it, makes such ammunition rare and not to desirable.
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Inubrix could be useful in some very specific circumstances, just like holy silver weapons would be useful in, say, a devil-focused campaign. Against opponents not made of iron or steel (most things) that are wearing iron or steel armor (less of those things), inubrix is great. Fighting a Technic League magus decked out in full plate? Bust out the arrows! Fighting a Technic League wizard decked out in robes? Bust out the anything else!
The trouble is that it can be pretty much assumed that 90% of what makes up a robot is steel, so it starts becoming a question of how much left of the thing is essential bits targetable by an inubrix weapon. Surely the processors have non-ferrous metal bits but they don't incorporate enough of the thing to make firing shots into that area any more feasible than if you targeted the brain-pan when fighting humanoids.
I'm no more of a rules source than any other schlub, but I'd prolly rule it thus: with an inubrix weapon, you're passing through all the armor bits of a robot, but the target locations you're aiming for are only a small bit of what you're aiming for (though one can assume that, say, the CPU will be in the head or maybe the torso, so you at least know where to shoot for). I'd use cover rules. Ignore all the AC that comes from armor or natural armor, but apply improved cover (+8 AC) for the attack (since you're shooting, swinging, or whatever at a much smaller part of the robot). You could also use the targeting rules, but they carry more rules baggage than just subtracting one set of numbers and adding another.
As for hardness, well, lets throw away any hardness rating and call that the true bonus for using inubrix weaponry, but ONLY if the target's hardness is 10 (the hardness of iron and steel). Lower and higher numbers indicate a construction of something other than steel, and thus the inubrix is useless. For the PC's benefit, assume they can figure that out pretty quickly- one strike from an inubrix weapon should tell them they're dealing with plastic, brass, adamantine, neovulcanium, or anything other than ferrous iron or its assorted alloys.
F'rinstance, let's say you're fighting a gearsman robot from the Inner Sea Bestiary. A gearsman has a +9 natural armor bonus (from being made of steel) and hardness 10 (same). Bust out an inubrix arrow and you ignore that hardness and natural armor, but only a strike against the small bits of non-steel in the gearsman actually do damage. In this case you're pretty ahead of the game (AC goes down by 1 and hardness is ignored).
But then say you come around a corner and there's a prototype annihilator robot with adamantine as its core construction. OH NOEZ! That +22 natural armor and hardness 20 affect you just like any other weapon, and you probably should use something else.
Alternative TL;DR ruling: that stuff don't work on machines, but against a flesh-bag wrapped in steel armor, go nuts with it.
As for access, well, there's a certain skymetal expert in Hajoth Hakados that'd prolly be more than willing to sell you some inubrix weaponry, and the city of Chesed is a mad-big marketplace for goods of all sorts (just don't expect to get a good deal).
Inubrix arrows have a market value of 250gp each, inubrix bolts should be double that but we can't be 100% sure for the bolts (for the arrows we can be sure since that price is given in shattered star 4 beyond the doomsday door).
Now whether inubrix works against robots is something you should talk about with your DM, RAW they don't do a thing against robots.