the fire and frost forged dwarven steel is the closest thing I can think of in pathfinder. I don't see why you couldn't make another version that uses this and increases hardness and/or hit points in the base metal
My DM has a systems where if you wanna make a magical item you need to supply some kind of magical reagent like a bone golem fossil for a necklace of natural armour, so you can makes bones required to forge +1 gear.
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This is 100% flavor territory. "This +2 battle axe was forged from the iron of the Blue Mountains, combined with the powdered bones of one of the Luchenwriet family's ancient heroes," etc.
Pathfinder is already past the bronze age and into the steel age. The weapons are already technically carbon steel. That being said. I'd say that any weapon fashioned in this way would count as "Masterwork"
That is...insanely good. +50% base price for +2 damage/+1 AC? So...you could make a +1 battleaxe and a +1 heavy shield for +3,000gp...or you could make them out of "bone steel" for almost the exact same effects for, what, +10gp?
That is...insanely good. +50% base price for +2 damage/+1 AC? So...you could make a +1 battleaxe and a +1 heavy shield for +3,000gp...or you could make them out of "bone steel" for almost the exact same effects for, what, +10gp?A +1 heavy steel shield is way better than a heavy bone steel shield.
+1 vs bone steel
hardness 15 vs 10
hp 30 vs 20
shield bonus +3 vs +3
armor check penalty -1 vs -2As you can see, the +1 wins every category except shield bonus, which it tied.
In addition, a +1 battleaxe is mostly better than a bone steel battleaxe.
+1 vs bone steel
hardness 12 vs 15
hp 15 vs 5
attack bonus increase +1 vs +0
damage increase +1 vs +2
ignores dr/magic? yes vs no
can be given weapon special qualities from stuff like paladin's divine bond without first making it +1? yes vs no.Again, the +1 is the clear winner.
Furthermore, if it is worth 10gp less to have those as penalties instead, then the polar opposite must be true.
A lot of that only particularly matters if you have someone that sunders often which in my experience is uncommon. In addition a +1 bonus of course wins in most categories because it is 100 times as expensive. Finally you can stack bone steel on top of a +1 bonus for the low low price of 10gp.
I... I'm not even sure where to begin. Look, it's homebrew. So it can obviously be whatever you want. You don't need to factor in balance or whatever at all, if you so choose.
But it seems like you're actually trying to argue that this is a fair and balanced concept. And it's...it's just really, really not.
hardness 15 vs 10...hp 30 vs 20...
(1)Honestly, how often does hardness and hp for items matter? (2) Yeah, a +1 magic weapon has higher values...and costs 50 as much. So...not really seeing how that's a valid argument. (3) They're not mutually exclusive.
...shield bonus +3 vs +3
This is the whole point of armor and shields. The bonus to AC. The two options are equal in the area that accounts for 90% of what actually matters; that should be a pretty big red flag that you're off the mark, design-wise.
...armor check penalty -1 vs -2
Can't bone steel be masterwork?
For armor and shields, +1 AC and reduce ACP by 1 for +150+50% base. So, except for those 1 in 50 situations that involve item hp and hardness, masterwork bone steel provides the same benefit as +1 armor for a very small fraction of the cost.For a weapon, you could have +1 attack and +2 damage for +300+50% base. That provides a LARGER boost than a +1 enchantment, and it costs 1/40th as much, at the absolute worst.
...a +1 battleaxe is mostly better than a bone steel battleaxe.
(1) No, it's really not. (2) For the price difference, it shouldn't be MOSTLY better. It should be ENTIRELY better. Or just different (see below).
Furthermore, if it is worth 10gp less to have those as penalties instead, then the polar opposite must be true.
Says who? This system is much more than simple math.
If I had to guess, the designers wanted to simulate primitive materials in a way that made them feel and perform differently and weren't concerned about balance....which makes sense, really. It's not like bronze/iron/etc tools have drawbacks over bone/stone. There's really just nothing but benefits. Sure, it's easier to fashion a bone knife than it is to forge a steel one, but...it's still a good deal of work to make a bone knife, and the steel one is obviously superior in every way.
I would suggest the following:
1. Bone steel is not available everywhere, and it is only available in small quantities where it is available. A +2 longsword that performs normally in an antimagic field or whatever would be a cool end-of-adventure reward.
2. Bone steel is more like mithril or adamantium, in that it provides a niche benefit that not everyone will want.
Granted, mithril is so useful that this isn't really true, but adamantium armor is expensive enough to fit in that category, and adamantium weapons even more so; not everyone needs to deal with hardness, but when they do, adamantium is pretty great.
If your current incarnation was part of core Pathfinder, every single player ever would upgrade to bone steel everything as soon as they possibly could. There is just absolutely nothing else in the game that gives you that kind of bang for your buck.
And when you're hacking a game, the old adage "if no one wants it, it's not good enough. If everyone wants it, it's too good" is something to follow.
going by the lore you mentioned and already RAW elements/materials
I'd go with
+2 hardness, +25% hp of a normal metal(steel) item
+5gp for light, +10 for one-handed, +30 for two-handed
the advantage of harder substances is that they break less often, a iron dagger and a steel dagger cut the same, but the steel dagger will maintain its edge longer and is harder to break or damage, thus an increase in hardness.
If it is valid to invert the cost/penalty math for bone equipment then I want my "apprentice work" armor, 150gp lower cost and has +1 ACP.
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If it is valid to invert the cost/penalty math for bone equipment then I want my "apprentice work" armor, 150gp lower cost and has +1 ACP.
My wizard wants a -5 quarterstaff.
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I would look at the other Special Materials and how they function and cost and make something parallel to that.
With adamantium and mithral, there's a flat +gp cost for making armor, shields and weapons. The gp/lb cost is only for other items; after all, should the PC who wants an earthbreaker made of special materials have to pay TEN TIMES more than the one who wants a pair of daggers made of the same, from the perspective of game balance and design? Of course not.
As for the pseudo-magical nature of this material, I don't think making it a flat bonus to a few things is a good idea. That's what magical enchantments are for.
Again, look at the special materials. They all grant niche abilities or bonuses in very specific situations.
So what do you actually want this stuff to do? It's bone steel. So maybe it has something to do with undead; it gives you half damage against incorporeal creatures even if it's not magic? Or maybe it's more about the power of the ancestors within the steel. Once a day you can re-roll a natural 1 on an attack roll? Stuff like that.
And then, you know. Some extra hardness and hp. That part is pretty standard issue for Special Materials, and really isn't as important.