Mithral has flat prices for armor, but for weapons you have to use the general price of 500 gp/lb. A normal rapier weighs 2 lb (and costs 20 gp). That means a Tiny rapier weighs only .2 lb (and costs 10 gp). Making that out of mithral costs only 100 gp, for a total cost of 110 gp for a Tiny mithral rapier... which is also masterwork, because all mithral items are. Of course a mwk Tiny rapier should cost at least 310 gp.
So is the price 110 (looking just at mithral prices), 310 (looking at mwk prices), 410 (adding the two, even though mwk should be subsumed into mithral), or 510 (asserting that mithral comes in 1-lb chunks and it doesn't matter that you only use a fifth of that)? Or some other value?
I'm kind of leaning towards 510, which basically makes being mithral a more or less flat +500 gp for any Tiny (or smaller) weapon, which is in line with most other materials.
EDIT: Argh, I forgot to note that I'm using the Armor for Unusual Creatures table's values for weapons, because RAW does not cover odd-sized weapons per se.
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You don't pay extra to make a mithral weapon masterwork. That's a free side-effect of mithral.
Yes, that means really small mithral weapons are unusually cheap for masterwork. A small mithral dagger is actually a bit cheaper than a small masterwork steel dagger.
This has been brought up before, and the conclusion of game developers was that it was not an important enough glitch to change the rules to prevent it.
You don't pay extra to make a mithral weapon masterwork. That's a free side-effect of mithral.
Yes, that means really small mithral weapons are unusually cheap for masterwork. A small mithral dagger is actually a bit cheaper than a small masterwork steel dagger.
This has been brought up before, and the conclusion of game developers was that it was not an important enough glitch to change the rules to prevent it.
Did they have a recommended rules change for home games that care?
In a perverse sort of way, this actually kind of makes sense. Traditionally, sewing needles were made out of silver. It should stand to (a sort) or reason that mithril, which for all intents and purposes may as well be silver, turns out to be the next most efficient material to make what amounts to a sewing needle anyway. :)
In a perverse sort of way, this actually kind of makes sense. Traditionally, sewing needles were made out of silver. It should stand to (a sort) or reason that mithril, which for all intents and purposes may as well be silver, turns out to be the next most efficient material to make what amounts to a sewing needle anyway. :)
Heh, I did not know that :) But I bet those silver sewing needles were not masterwork. That's the cause for concern.
Now thinking of ruling that they can have a non-mwk mithril rapier for 110 or a mwk one for 310. I know non-mwk mithril items aren't supposed to exist, but one good glitch deserves another.
If you're looking for the same type of glitch overall, take a look at darkwood. Works basically the same way.
Personally, I've never been a fan of the stock rules for crafting as were copied over from 3.5.
The whole idea of crafting a "masterwork component" in addition to/separate from the actual crafting process for the base item strikes me as rather silly. - However, that topic would be a whole other thread (and I believe has already been cited a few times)
An excellent point. I do try to keep my houseruling to a minimum.... It still bugs me, but I guess I can live with 110.
In a perverse sort of way, this actually kind of makes sense. Traditionally, sewing needles were made out of silver. It should stand to (a sort) or reason that mithril, which for all intents and purposes may as well be silver, turns out to be the next most efficient material to make what amounts to a sewing needle anyway. :)Heh, I did not know that :) But I bet those silver sewing needles were not masterwork. That's the cause for concern.
You would lose that bet. the smithing skill necessary to craft a sewing needle falls precisely into the actual origin of the term masterwork.
The general excuse is that mithral is easier to work with than steel, but more expensive per pound.
That would be authoritative. Thanks.