New Special Material: Jade = silver ?

[Truedragon]

Hey guys. So my group is playing an mixed eastern themed campaign and were fighting alot of demons. So i want to silver-up my axe but i dont want to pay for mithral and i hate how all the other silver options lower my damage.
But then i thought of Jade as a material. Basically what i am thinking is that Jade weapons will have all the features of Stone: fragile, lighter weight, what weapons can be made with it, etc. But it would count as silver.
Plus it would be immune to Rust and anti-metal spells and would be really fitting for druids. Though it might be vulnerable to a Rock transmutation spells.

Do you guys think this is a fitting idea?
And how much do you think this would cost?

[Knight Magenta]

Just get a silver mace. The damage penalty is only for slashing and piercing weapons.

[Truedragon]

But my character uses axes, like exclusively. War axe and throwing axes mostly.
My GM likes the idea of Jade, but im not sure how much it would cost.
Silversheen costs 750 but i would think Jade would be cheaper.

[graystone]

Silversheen has been updated/improved into Sunsilver. 25 gp per pound + masterwork cost.

[Truedragon]

I am aware of Sunsilver, but you still lose damage with slashing weapons.

Come on guys, anyone got some feedback on my Jade idea? Cost? Feasibility? Theme appropriateness? Anything?

[Lynxden]

I think it sounds pretty solid. Jade is a fairly tough stone, in that it handles stresses quite well and is fairly durable. Some of the most prominent uses of Jade as a weapon material were in axes and hammers.

Of the two primary types of Jade (Jadeite and Nephrite), Jadeite is the tougher, with a average Mohs Hardness of about .5 more. Jadeite is the one that has a more sugary look to it, versus the waxy appearance of Nephrite.

I think in terms of cost, it will be highly dependent on how common the DM deems the material to be, with higher quality Jadeite affording it a premium above average. Maybe the higher quality stuff would love the fragile quality or something to justify it's price. Figure about 10gp per pound for the basic stuff, and then 25gp per pound plus masterwork cost for the good stuff.

Hope this helps some.

[The Sideromancer]

It's hard to get a read for physical properties because Wikipedia focuses on its use as a gemstone, which in and of itself speaks to it not being a great weapon material.

Silver is often associated with either purity (why it's effective against vampires) or the moon (lycanthropes). Jade appears to be associated with healing, so I'm not sure it would exert dominance over lycanthropes or nonchaotic Outsiders (given the positive/negative energy split, it might still work on undead)

I'm having a hard time getting a list of minerals mythologically associated with the moon, but I will mention Anorthite, which is Mohs scale 6 (though brittle), has cleavage planes that could be used for an edge, and is a decent component of the lunar surface. Most silver compounds are pretty low viability (soft, no way of making good edges).

Personally, I would recommend a metallurgic solution. I read Silversheen as not taking the reduced damage. A folded blade could be used to extend the properties of mithril with less material (like it was for different-quality steels), and plating is not unreasonable since it was developed pretty quickly after electricity sources became available (i.e. ask a wizard about it).

Are the properties of a silver-mithril alloy known?