Well, My wizard and his Elf & Dwarf pals managed to get their hands on 39 Drow Chainmail and daggers and other weapons.
Darkoil works to protect it from sunlight for a while (It's variable), so I'm wondering if there's any other way that's permanent.
Else it will need to remain buried where we left it until we need it to go hunt some Yuan-Ti on those tunnels.
It needs to be RAW.
There's some ritual that clerics of Eilstraee can do that works on some weapons, but I don't think RAW it works on all items. I think it also needs to be repeated in months.
Arguably RAW:
Protection from Time targets a creature, and protects it from aging. It doesn't say anything about objects (it cannot be cast on one), however the effect of the spell extends for one inch away from the character. Arguably this could protect armor from the effects of the loss of radiation, but it wouldn't do anything about the sun.
I really can't find another spell, I thought for sure something was there that would protect it from the loss of radiation.
Obviously a darkness spell (or any effect) will work to stop the sun, but that's not really what you want either.
There's gotta be something though!
Quote from: Venka on June 18, 2023, 01:11:31 AM
There's some ritual that clerics of Eilstraee can do that works on some weapons, but I don't think RAW it works on all items. I think it also needs to be repeated in months.
Arguably RAW:
Protection from Time targets a creature, and protects it from aging. It doesn't say anything about objects (it cannot be cast on one), however the effect of the spell extends for one inch away from the character. Arguably this could protect armor from the effects of the loss of radiation, but it wouldn't do anything about the sun.
I really can't find another spell, I thought for sure something was there that would protect it from the loss of radiation.
Obviously a darkness spell (or any effect) will work to stop the sun, but that's not really what you want either.
There's gotta be something though!
Let me know if you think of something, I only know about the Darkoil but it's temporary and variable. My wizard would love to present a suit of adamantine Chainmail + Sword + Dagger to the Emperor of his homeland as a present.
a coat of paint? :P
"I cast Continual Darkness in a 1 mm radius on the sword." ;D
If you all change to the Otaku Class, you'll be set.
Wish, Limited Wish, Alter Reality.
Otherwise you're out of luck. It's set up so PCs can't get their hands on it.
Isn't it also the ambient underdark radiation that keeps the power, so it's being removed from that radiation that also makes it lose it, and sunlight just accelerates the process.
I don't think it's particularly possible because the rules I can find don't clarify how much sunlight is necessary to turn Drow adamantine into dust. It's easy to see Klava's suggestion working until you get into combat and a missed attack turns into a scratch, which destroys the whole suit of armor. Off the top of my head I thought of dispel magic, but rereading the rules, it only lasts 1d4 rounds on enchanted items.
This is probably a curiosity which will destroy a shirt or two, but exactly what kind of dust does it degenerate into under sunlight? I don't remember reading anywhere that Drow enchantments were transmutations, so it might just turn back into Adamantite ore dust, which would be pretty useful if you took it to a smith.
I feel like it's obviously something never meant to work on the surface world, and although people will naturally try to 'game the system' (it's a common gamer trait after all,) any GM allowing a workaround is failing to be true to the spirit of the rule.
Quote from: Fheredin on June 18, 2023, 08:33:53 AM
I don't think it's particularly possible because the rules I can find don't clarify how much sunlight is necessary to turn Drow adamantine into dust. It's easy to see Klava's suggestion working until you get into combat and a missed attack turns into a scratch, which destroys the whole suit of armor. Off the top of my head I thought of dispel magic, but rereading the rules, it only lasts 1d4 rounds on enchanted items.
This is probably a curiosity which will destroy a shirt or two, but exactly what kind of dust does it degenerate into under sunlight? I don't remember reading anywhere that Drow enchantments were transmutations, so it might just turn back into Adamantite ore dust, which would be pretty useful if you took it to a smith.
Except the heat needed to melt if is above the melting point of all materials a smith is likely to work with, meaning probably he can't forge an alloy from it.
Quote from: spon on June 18, 2023, 07:27:51 AM
Wish, Limited Wish, Alter Reality.
Otherwise you're out of luck. It's set up so PCs can't get their hands on it.
PCs are meant to use it, but just as underdark stuff. You are supposed to either sell it to someone in the underdark for a couple thousand gold, bury it at night right outside of an underdark entrance and sell it to someone in a town, or bury it deep enough that it is still "within the underdark" and can be subject to the "radiations"- but the book is clear that drow parties will likely run into it then, or something.
It's absolutely intended for PCs to have it, but not for it to affect the rest of the magical simulated world.
Quotebut exactly what kind of dust does it degenerate into under sunlight
In second edition it just loses its pretend pluses I think. It doesn't become dust. There's a ritual that clerics of the good drow goddess can do that will preserve a sword for like three months without radiation and in light.
Edit: A part of this is incorrect, in second edition it turns into "powder" if exposed to sunlight. The "loses its power" thing is if it goes without the "radiations". However, the cleric ritual described is RAW and will protect against both sunlight exposure and the radiations.
Quoteany GM allowing a workaround is failing to be true to the spirit of the rule
There's definitely exceptions in the game already. The spirit of the rule is threefold:
1- drow armies can't come attack the overland while having an entirely magically enchanted army
2- anyone trying to attack the drow in their home have to deal with said magically enchanted army.
3- the PCs get rewards for beating drow that are as useful as magical items against underdark foes, but can't be brought into the entirety of the campaign easily
Within the spirit of the rule, anything similar in cost to the actual magical enchantment in question should be able to preserve it- but there's not much RAW for that.
Quote from: Grognard GM on June 18, 2023, 12:57:42 PM
I feel like it's obviously something never meant to work on the surface world, and although people will naturally try to 'game the system' (it's a common gamer trait after all,) any GM allowing a workaround is failing to be true to the spirit of the rule.
...Yeah, there is that. I would say that the spirit of the rule is unfun, but I have never been given to insist on RAW.
Quote from: GeekyBugle on June 18, 2023, 01:31:18 PM
Quote from: Fheredin on June 18, 2023, 08:33:53 AM
I don't think it's particularly possible because the rules I can find don't clarify how much sunlight is necessary to turn Drow adamantine into dust. It's easy to see Klava's suggestion working until you get into combat and a missed attack turns into a scratch, which destroys the whole suit of armor. Off the top of my head I thought of dispel magic, but rereading the rules, it only lasts 1d4 rounds on enchanted items.
This is probably a curiosity which will destroy a shirt or two, but exactly what kind of dust does it degenerate into under sunlight? I don't remember reading anywhere that Drow enchantments were transmutations, so it might just turn back into Adamantite ore dust, which would be pretty useful if you took it to a smith.
Except the heat needed to melt if is above the melting point of all materials a smith is likely to work with, meaning probably he can't forge an alloy from it.
Ahh, but here's the thing; while you need to melt things to make an alloy, you only need to melt one ingredient to make a composite. Unmelted flakes of the other ingredient work just fine. Alas, that would mean deviating from RAW.
Were I to homebrew, I would say that Adamantite's advantage as armor isn't that it breaks, but that it's light and wears out the user less than steel armor, so the benefit would directly correlate to how much adamantite you added, adjusted for the other metal's starting AC, with a max achievable percentage without melting the ore probably being about 50%. That said, I'm an avid homebrewer, and that's not RAW.
If you're being etymological about it, the melt temperature isn't that high.
Adamant is just the Greek word for Diamond. So when it shows up in mythology; ex. Cronus' adamantine sickle; it is in reference to a weapon or armor in which it made of diamonds or where diamonds are a crucial component (ex. an adamant ring would be a ring with a diamond setting).
The Underdark radiation is probably what keeps their adamantine weapons and armor from shattering (diamond is hard, but brittle).
So if drow stuff crumbles to dust, it should be into diamond dust... which CAN be alloyed pretty easily with steel with the right techniques (i.e. crucible steel vs. bloomery steel) and would be while not as hard as magically irradiated diamonds, would be significantly harder and stronger than the mild steel common to the dark ages/early medieval period.
Quote from: Chris24601 on June 19, 2023, 01:45:54 AM
If you're being etymological about it, the melt temperature isn't that high.
Adamant is just the Greek word for Diamond. So when it shows up in mythology; ex. Cronus' adamantine sickle; it is in reference to a weapon or armor in which it made of diamonds or where diamonds are a crucial component (ex. an adamant ring would be a ring with a diamond setting).
The Underdark radiation is probably what keeps their adamantine weapons and armor from shattering (diamond is hard, but brittle).
So if drow stuff crumbles to dust, it should be into diamond dust... which CAN be alloyed pretty easily with steel with the right techniques (i.e. crucible steel vs. bloomery steel) and would be while not as hard as magically irradiated diamonds, would be significantly harder and stronger than the mild steel common to the dark ages/early medieval period.
Except Adamantite (the ore) isn't diamonds, it's a metal, the books tell us as much, along with the melting point (~4,000 celsius IIRC), since diamonds don't melt but burn...
Sell it to a wizard for experimentation. 'Hey, maybe you can be the one to crack the code on this.'
But yeah. Drow adamantine is specifically 'coded' so you can't take it out of the Underdark. Honestly, I would allow the party to sell or trade it off in exchange for gear that doesn't start disintegrating in sunlight.
Quote from: Chris24601 on June 19, 2023, 01:45:54 AM
If you're being etymological about it, the melt temperature isn't that high.
Adamant is just the Greek word for Diamond.
Diamond has an absurd melting temperature. What OP is asking about is the alloy of steel and adamantite that the Drow use, called
Adamantine, a dark and flexible alloy. This is separate from
Adamantium, which is the heavy and dark indestructible metal.
Adamantine stuff needs to be exposed to unspecified "Underdark radiations" or, after several weeks, it will lose its magical properties. If it's exposed to sunlight for a couple rounds (minutes), or is subject to several even brief exposures over a few minutes, it turns into a powder (I had this incorrect in a prior post and corrected it).
In any event, I did find the spell I half-remembered, but it doesn't help with GeekyBugle's goal of gifting it to a king. The spell is called
Cloak of Dark Power, and it lasts a mere 3 rounds plus 1 round per level. Sadly, it's a creature target buff, not an object target buff- so while it will protect you and your worn items for sure, RAW, you'd be very hard pressed to find a way to make it permanent (your best bet would be to be a wizard and do the research to add it to the list of permanency things and find a way to cheat out a casting of the normally-Lolth-priestess-specific spell). More importantly, you won't be able to hand it over to someone else, as a gift, even if you somehow made all this work, as the cloak of dark power only hits you, the caster, and seems to be very likely to stop working on items when you let them go (you could argue that RAW it affects the items for the full duration if you started holding them, but it seems a bit of a stretch).