Publication:World of Warcraft: The Role Playing Game/Special Materials

Special Materials
Most weapons, armor and similar items are made of solid wood or steel. The Warcraft world includes more exotic materials as well; objects made from these substances are more expensive than their mundane versions, but they carry special innate properties.

If you make a suit of armor or weapon out of more than one special material, you get the benefit of only the most prevalent material. However, you can build a double weapon with each head made of a different special material.

Each of the special materials described below has a definite game effect. Some creatures have damage reduction based on their creature type or core concept. Some are resistant to all but a special type of damage, such as that dealt by good-aligned weapons or bludgeoning weapons. Others are vulnerable to weapons of a particular material. Characters may choose to carry several different types of weapons, depending upon the campaign and types of creatures they most commonly encounter.

Adamantine
As SRD Adamantine.

Arcanite
This grayish metal looks dull even when tempered, but it holds a keener edge than any other metal. An arcanite weapon has a +1 enhancement bonus on damage rolls, and, if it is a slashing or piercing weapon, its threat range expands by 1. This expansion stacks with other abilities that expand a weapon’s threat range, such as the Improved Critical feat, but arcanite always expands the threat range by just 1 point (this point is not doubled due to the Improved Critical feat, for instance). For example, a moon sword has a threat range of 18–20. An arcanite moon sword has a threat range of 17–20, a moon sword wielded by a character with the Improved Critical (moon sword) feat has a threat range of 15–20 and an arcanite moon sword wielded by that same character has a threat range of 14–20.

Arcanite is extremely flexible and can be worked into a springy armor that turns aside the mightiest blows. Whenever a critical hit is scored on the wearer, there is a chance that the critical hit is negated and damage is instead rolled normally. This chance depends on the armor type: light arcanite armor has a 10% chance to negate critical hits, medium armor a 20% chance and heavy armor a 30% chance. An arcanite heavy shield has a 5% chance to negate critical hits, which stacks with the chances provided by wearing arcanite armor. (Arcanite bucklers and light shields provide no special benefi t.) This property does not stack with similar effects.

Weapons or armors fashioned from arcanite are always masterwork items as well; the masterwork cost is included in the prices given below. Only weapons, armor and shields normally made of metal can be fashioned from arcanite; a warblade can be made of arcanite, but a tauren totem cannot. Weapons, armor and shields normally made of steel that are made of arcanite have one-quarter more hit points than normal. Arcanite has 30 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 15.

Dragonhide
Not to be confused with SRD Dragonhide.

Armorsmiths can work with the hides of dragons to produce armor or shields of masterwork quality. One dragon produces enough hide for a single suit of masterwork hide armor for a creature one size category smaller than the dragon. By selecting only choice scales and bits of hide, an armorsmith can produce one suit of masterwork banded mail for a creature two sizes smaller, one suit of masterwork half-plate for a creature three sizes smaller or one masterwork breastplate or suit of full plate for a creature four sizes smaller. In each case, enough hide is available to produce a light or heavy masterwork shield in addition to the armor, provided that the dragon is Large or larger.

Dragonhide is inherently magical. All dragonhide armor has an arcane spell failure chance of 0%. Dragonhide is rare and difficult to work; armor made from it costs 25 times its normal (non-masterwork) price (20 times if you provide the dragonhide) and takes three times longer than normal to craft. The DC of the Craft (armorsmithing) check to make dragonhide armor increases by +10.

Dragonhide has 20 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 10.

Mithril
As SRD Mithral.

Thorium
This rare metal combines the weight of lead with the strength of steel. Orcs prize it for weapons because the extra weight allows a skilled user to strike with more force.

Using a thorium weapon properly requires the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (thorium weapons) feat. A character wielding a thorium weapon with which he is proficient applies 1-1/2 times his Strength bonus, or double his Strength bonus if wielding a two-handed weapon, on damage rolls for melee attacks with the weapon. So, a hero with a +3 Strength modifier has a +4 bonus on damage rolls when using a one-handed thorium weapon with which he is proficient and a +6 bonus when using a two-handed thorium weapon with which he is proficient.

Thorium armor is amazingly heavy and strong — only adamantine pierces it with any degree of reliability. Armor made from thorium has a nonmagical +2 enhancement bonus to AC and provides damage reduction 3/adamantine if it is light armor, 6/adamantine if it is medium armor, and 9/admantine if it is heavy armor. (A thorium shield provides no special benefit.)

Thorium armor is considered one category heavier than normal, to a maximum of heavy. (The damage reduction values given above apply to the armor before this adjustment — that is, a thorium chain shirt provides damage reduction 3/adamantine, even though it is medium armor). Thorium reduces the maximum Agility bonus for a piece of armor by –2 (to a minimum of +0); furthermore, both the armor check penalty and the arcane spell failure chance are doubled.

An item made from thorium weighs twice as much as the same item made from other metals. In the case of weapons, this heavier weight does not change a weapon’s size category or the ease with which it can be wielded (whether it is light, one-handed or two-handed). Items not primarily of metal are not meaningfully affected by being partially made of thorium. (A bullet can be a thorium weapon, while a whip cannot be.) Weapons, armor and shields normally made of steel that are made of thorium have twice as many hit points as normal.

Weapons or armors fashioned from thorium are always masterwork items as well; the masterwork cost is included in the prices given below. Though thorium armor is masterwork, the armor is so heavy and unwieldy that the masterwork quality does not reduce the armor check penalty — thorium armor must be masterwork to function as armor at all. Thorium has 40 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 25.