I'm doing some campaign stuff, and in writing my current dungeon I needed a reason for this place to exist in the way that it does.
[exposition]There's a special ancient underwater forge used to make this amazing unobtanium that's supposed to be a superconductor of magic, tied to some ancient history of the game setting. This forge is located at a special place (Ley Lines Crossing/Place of Power) and is serving as the dungeon for the Atlantis themed arc of the game.[/exposition]
Since I have the story pretty much done, I need something to do with this metal and I can't seem to find anything on the internets that already exists and isn't dumb. There's some 3PP stuff that I didn't like (Orichalcum golem OP) and some source that says it's the same thing as Alchemical Silver in 2nd Ed (obviously I don't like that either).
I need help figuring out exactly what I want this material to do and how to price it.
It needs:
- easy interaction underwater, possibly immune to rust, lack of ACP penalties or reduced ACP penalties
- something cool with magic, like being easier to enhance or having Su or SLAs function at a higher effective level when used on it (arcane pool, divine bond, ki weapon etc.)
- MUST NOT BE BETTER THAN MITHRAL or ADAMANTINE, I want this to be comparable
Anyone have any ideas or references for me?
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Well here are a few from my campaign world:
Ashen Stone A heavy dark grey marbled ore with black flecks
Weapons: Blunt only(does not hold an edge/point), -1 AC of the wielder, weapon damage dice increase 1 step
Armor: Heavy Armor and Shields only. +1 AC, +3 Armor check penalty, -1 max dex bonus
Orichalic Light weight Reddish copper colored metal with latent magical energy
Weapons: +1 Effective Caster level or +1 DC while wielded
Armor: +1 AC, +1 Will saves, -2 Armor check penalty
Mythrical Bluish Metal conductor of magical energy
Weapon: Evocation Spell Dc +2 if wielded while casting but wielder must roll 1d4. Weapon overheats if cast spell level exceeds result of the die. Wielder and weapon take 1d4 points of fire damage per level difference
Armor +1 to saves vs magic, -2 to armor check penalty.
Shields forged of Mythrical attract and absorb magic missiles and force effects. Magic absorbed does 1/2 damage to the shield.
Pyrum Brassy Metal with a reddish patina
Weapons Upon a successful attack the metal begins to glow with an inner heat. Damage increases by +1 fire per successful attack +5 max. –1 fire per round without a successful strike.
Armor: not used for armor, repeated blows would burn the wearer.
Well here are a few from my campaign world:
Ashen Stone A heavy dark grey marbled ore with black flecks
Weapons: Blunt only(does not hold an edge/point), -1 AC of the wielder, weapon damage dice increase 1 step
Armor: Heavy Armor and Shields only. +1 AC, +3 Armor check penalty, -1 max dex bonusOrichalic Light weight Reddish copper colored metal with latent magical energy
Weapons: +1 Effective Caster level or +1 DC while wielded
Armor: +1 AC, +1 Will saves, -2 Armor check penaltyMythrical Bluish Metal conductor of magical energy
Weapon: Evocation Spell Dc +2 if wielded while casting but wielder must roll 1d4. Weapon overheats if cast spell level exceeds result of the die. Wielder and weapon take 1d4 points of fire damage per level difference
Armor +1 to saves vs magic, -2 to armor check penalty.
Shields forged of Mythrical attract and absorb magic missiles and force effects. Magic absorbed does 1/2 damage to the shield.Pyrum Brassy Metal with a reddish patina
Weapons Upon a successful attack the metal begins to glow with an inner heat. Damage increases by +1 fire per successful attack +5 max. –1 fire per round without a successful strike.
Armor: not used for armor, repeated blows would burn the wearer.
Orichalic seems to be close to what I'm after, what does the +1 CL do to the weapon exactly? Is that the interaction with spells via spell storing? Spellstrike? Do the DCs increase for special attacks or just spells? What types of bonuses (named bonuses) does it grant to AC and Will Saves?
I do like the -2 ACP feature, I may use that as my base.
I envisioned it as you are using the weapon as part of the casting, like a battery you are drawing a little extra power from.
Any spell cast while holding the weapon would benefit from the +1 ECL
I think I would just apply it to arcane spell casting, but that's just my worlds flavor.
As for type, i'm not sure I would type it. I would let it stack with anything since you can't wear more then one suit of armor. So you can't get more then a +1 on the Will saves from it. As for the bonus to armor I would just bake it in. A chain shirt made of this stuff just gives +5 AC.
I've landed on what I want:
Hardness 15, HP/inch 30
Weight 3/4
Effects -> craft DC to make magic items with it reduced by 5, never rusts in water.
Armor -> ACP-2 (-4 for swim checks), Max DEX +1, ASF as steel or -20% & +1 Arcane CL while wearing armor with which the user is proficient
Weapons -> treated as magic for overcoming DR, increase effective enhancement bonus by +1 to determine effects of bypassing DR. Nonmagical weapons gain +1 enhancement on damage rolls as well as attack rolls. (won't stack with magical weapons) B/S weapons do full damage underwater.
Price as Adamantine, crafting time takes twice as long and must be done underwater with a special pressurized forge.
Why not make it immune to rust and not just rust underwater?
MDC
Didn;t wanna make it overpowered, but I can see it working like that.
I don't want to overload it with abilities.
No rust!
Just an FYI there is an official Paizo "Horacalcum" you might want to look at. It's...interesting, at least.