Ok, I'm not one for beating a dead horse, but I've given Celestial Armor a lot of thought, and I have to say, I'm not seeing any evidence that says that Celestial Armor is already made of Mithral.
My thoughts are these:
1. Yeah, Celestial Armor has a lot of the same properties as armor made from Mithral, but it doesn't actually say it's made out of it. In fact, it doesn't mention that it's made of anything special at all, as most specific shields and armors are inclined to do.
2. Nowhere does it say that those properties are exclusive to Mithral. In fact, there are a ton of other materials that grant similar bonuses (Darkleaf Cloth comes to mind).
3. If Celestial Armor is already made of Mithral, why isn't it included in the price to craft?
Celestial (Plate) Armor has a +3 Enhancement Bonus (9000gp standard) AND it lets you cast fly on command 1/day (Spell level (3) x Caster level (We'll say 5) x 1,800gp= 27,000gp), for a combined total of 36,000gp. If you were to create normal armor with these two properties, it would cost you 36,000gp (Plus the cost of the actual materials) ALONE.
And this total isn't even including the reduced Armor Check Penalty, Total Weight, and Arcane Spell Failure Chance, or the increased Maximum Dexterity Bonus or the fact that IT FUNCTIONS LIKE IT'S ONE ARMOR CLASS LOWER THAN IT IS! (Side note: I was unable to find formulae to determine crafting costs for any of these bonuses)
Celestial Armor costs 11,350 gp to craft. Celestial Plate costs 12,500. Even if they WERE made of Mithral (+4000gp for medium armor, +9000 for Heavy) the other bonuses wouldn't be worth only 7,350gp and 3,500gp, respectively. Which leads me to:
4. I don't feel that Mithral Celestial (Plate) is a game-breaking armor-it's just grossly underpriced/underrated. Their CL's are 5th and 8th, respectively, though they function closer to 15th and 18th. I think this is why so many people are opposed to allowing Celestial Armor to be made of Mithral, because of their rampant availability to anyone with Craft Magic Arms and Armor and a few thousand gold pieces.
As a final thought, I acknowledge that this is a game, and that all of the above is based on abstract rules that are moot if a GM says they are. It's possible that a GM could rule that the total cost will be doubled, or even tripled, or that this type of armor simply doesn't exist and never has nor ever will, or that when you try to craft it, a Balor Lord with an entire demonic host appears before you and, after laughing at your feeble attempt to emulate his enemy's armaments, casts implosion on you while his Glabrezu attack*.
*Don't do this.
In conclusion, as far as I'm concerned, it's perfectly within the rules to make Mithral Celestial Armor. I just think that it requires a special touch. One that I'm sure GMs can come up with, but that's a post for another time...
I could be wrong, but I never saw anywhere where it says that it's made of anything other than regular steel. Unless you're looking at some source I don't have...?
Like button ^
Here we go again.......
It's a new year. People are well-rested after the last go-around. Since the PDT finally slayed the Bastard Sword issue (because there's not been a single contentious thread on the BS since the latest FAQ ...), they needed a new recurring villain.
At any rate, *michaeljacksoneatingpopcorn.gif*
Can you wield two celestial bastard shields with one foot?
edit: and can you use Slashing Grace with them?
Providing the text of the James Jacob response linked above:
In any event, celestial armor isn't an armor quality. It's a unique kind of armor, and thus has a unique pricing. It does weird stuff; it's really light, it's made of gold, it's REALLY nice looking, it lets you fly, and so on. Its pricing is a result of ALL of these elements, and that's pretty much that.
Elven chainmail and the mithral shirt are nothing more than armor made of mithral. They're listed as examples of types of armor made of mithral... we could have also listed mithral breastplates or mithral scale mail or mithral half-plate, but we didn't.
In the end, the prices are fine the way they are. At least as far as I'm concerned. If they're weird to you, by all means change them for your game.
Frankly, the over-examination of tiny fiddly rules bits in an attempt to "solve" the equation of how things are priced is more or less destined to cause only greater confusion. Magic item pricing is equal parts math and art, since the game itself wasn't designed from the ground up by mathematicians.
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I have a possible solution. I don't think it's right, but it's very close.
So my opinion is that this armor is made from a special material, and my formula will show you why. The ONLY problem that I catch with this formula is I cannot find a reason why I should multiply the Fly special ability by 1.5, since there aren't multiple special abilities in my version.
Feel free to share any corrections.
Celestial Armor
Masterwork Chainmail:
300=150+150
Enhancement Bonus +3:
9,000=3^2*1000
Fly 1/day:
8,100=3*5*1800/(5/1)*1.5
Celestial* Material:
5,000=2[medium]^2*1000+1000
300+9,000+8,100+5,000 = 22,400
*Celestial: Max Dex +6, Armor Check Pen +3, Arcane Spell Failure -15%, One Step Down
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Okay, so here is my alternate solution that works according to item creation rules assuming you invent a new special material. Though, I'll admit, this interpretation is a little less clean, and therefore I don't like it. Anyway:
Celestial Armor
Masterwork Chainmail:
300=150+150
Enhancement Bonus +3:
9,000=3^2*1000
Fly 1/day:
5,400=3*5*1800/(5/1)
Celestial* Material:
7,700=2[medium]^2*1000+3700
300+9,000+5,400+7,700 = 22,400
*Celestial: Max Dex +6, Armor Check Pen +3, Arcane Spell Failure -15%, One Step Down
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Yes. So, there's a difference of 100 gp.
3[heavy]^2*1000+1000
now, the only issue here is that there's a 100 gp difference. The answer, though, is that Celestial Plate gets 1 less additional Max Dex than the mail. Hardly a fair savings, but the formula still works, so ask them why they valued it at 100gp.
Plug in my formula and see for yourself.
Let's also keep in mind that there are no rules for custom magic items. There are guidelines for pricing, but any custom item is subject to GM approval. If, then, we're discussing whether a GM should choose to approve such an item, awesome. Carry on. But it won't and can't be Rule-as-Written, because there is no rule.