Adamantium - What is it good for?

[SlashDash]

I've been reading some past strips. I got to the part with the fight with Crystal the golem.

Then it hit me that maybe part of the point was that we saw Haley buy the adamantium weapons and that they might play a part in the future.

So... Let's say that was the case here.

What could adamantium be used against? I thought the vampires but doesn't seem to be it.
I thought Sabine might show up sooner or later, but if she's a succubus they need cold iron.



Any idea what enemy of the party requires adamantium?

[thereaper]

Anything that an adamantine weapon would be good for, a magical weapon for also work for.

[tyckspoon]

Adamantine is probably best known for its ability to ignore Hardness less than a certain value. If those weapons show up again, it would probably be to shortcut through an otherwise locked door - say one that would take too long or is too difficult for Haley to reliably pick, or where the lock is secured by magic instead of by a normal mechanical lock. Instead of picking the lock or trying to break the entire door down, shove an adamantine dagger into the lock and just cut a new handhold into it.

[Kish]

Anything that an adamantine weapon would be good for, a magical weapon for also work for.

Except, you know, creatures with DR/adamantine, like golems. Mostly golems.

Hence Haley's bow not working well against Crystal.

[Doug Lampert]

Except, you know, creatures with DR/adamantine, like golems. Mostly golems.

Hence Haley's bow not working well against Crystal.

Adamantine overcomes some DR (as mentioned), bypasses the hardness of items with less than 20 hardness, and has 20 hardness itself.

Note that metal weapons and armor with a +5 enchantment are 20 hardness (10 base+2xEnhancement bonus), so Adamantine is very good at sundering anything but other adamantine or +5 gear. And adamantine is itself very hard to sunder.

Adamantine weapons are an easy way to open doors, or walls, or whatever.

[SlashDash]

I know it bypasses damage reduction... The question is damage reduction of what?

What creatures are vulnerable to it, to the point that these weapons would make an impact (assuming it happens)?

I knew about Golems (Hence Crystal) but was wondering if there's anything else.

[martianmister]

It creates antiheroes.

[Psyren]

I know it bypasses damage reduction... The question is damage reduction of what?

What creatures are vulnerable to it, to the point that these weapons would make an impact (assuming it happens)?

I knew about Golems (Hence Crystal) but was wondering if there's anything else.

I mean, there's lots so that's a fairly big ask. Scan for "DR X/Adamantine" in your monster manuals; usually its constructs that get it.

[Jasdoif]

Adamantine overcomes some DR (as mentioned), bypasses the hardness of items with less than 20 hardness, and has 20 hardness itself.

Note that metal weapons and armor with a +5 enchantment are 20 hardness (10 base+2xEnhancement bonus), so Adamantine is very good at sundering anything but other adamantine or +5 gear. And adamantine is itself very hard to sunder.

Adamantine weapons are an easy way to open doors, or walls, or whatever.

To add a little non-rules perspective to this: An adamantine dagger can easily scratch or gouge wood, stone or nonmagical steel; just as easily as it (or an iron dagger) can paper, cloth or ice.

[Doug Lampert]

I know it bypasses damage reduction... The question is damage reduction of what?

What creatures are vulnerable to it, to the point that these weapons would make an impact (assuming it happens)?

I knew about Golems (Hence Crystal) but was wondering if there's anything else.

Searching the hyperlinked SRD:
The Stoneskin and Iron Body spells both grant DR/adamantine.
A bunch of golems and epic constructs have it; and something called the Psion-Killer has it, and despite the name that is also a construct/golem.
And the Intellect Devourer has it.

So, spells that make your skin like stone or iron, constructs, and Intellect Devourers. Aberrations are disproportionately not in the SRD as Product Identity, so there may be other aberrations, but it mostly seems to be a property of creatures that might have their DR acting in place of the hardness of what they're made of.

[Edited for clarity and grammar.]

[eilandesq]

For an online 3.5 game about ten years back, my L7 paladin/fighter character had a +1 adamantine keen evil outsider bane longsword. Obviously, it was good for smacking around evil outsiders--but it's ability to ignore object hardness below 20 made it great for chopping through any barrier with a hardness of 19 or lower. It was just a matter of time and making sure not to use *too* much Power attack.

[SlashDash]

I mean, there's lots so that's a fairly big ask. Scan for "DR X/Adamantine" in your monster manuals; usually its constructs that get it.

Sadly the SRD doesn't have a search function like that.

And I'm not asking anyone to do a massive search (unless they want to)
More like, is anything on the top of your head.

But we can start by narrowing maybe to things we've already seen appearing in the comics?

If we put the Monster in the Dark aside for now, anything else that we've seen that could be relevant?



Stoneskin could be a good catch! It's only Strength\Earth domains which Hel doesn't have, but maybe one of the vampires is a wizard or possibly for some later encounter.

[SlashDash]

For an online 3.5 game about ten years back, my L7 paladin/fighter character had a +1 adamantine keen evil outsider bane longsword. Obviously, it was good for smacking around evil outsiders--but it's ability to ignore object hardness below 20 made it great for chopping through any barrier with a hardness of 19 or lower. It was just a matter of time and making sure not to use *too* much Power attack.

OH... Just made me realize... That would mean it has a chance to destroy the last gate too, right? The same way Roy destroyed Girarad's gate?

(I'm still betting on it being in none of the doors as its another shell game, probably the statue of Kragor is where the gate actually is)

[goodpeople25]

Absolutely nothing.

Well either that or freeing slaves, defending yourself from a totalitarian aggressor, saving civilization agasint a horde of—

Oh, you said adamantium... did we do creating antiheroes yet?

We did... then killer robots, definitely good for killer robots.

[Fyraltari]

I saw it as an organic way to update Haley's equipment as she levels up and the story nears its climax, same as how Brlkar got a new vest around the same time.

[Kish]

Sadly the SRD doesn't have a search function like that.

Yes it does. Search box at the upper righthand corner of the page? Are you quite sure the problem isn't that you're typing in DR/Adamantium, rather than DR/Adamantine ? Or are you looking in the 5ed SRD or something?

[SlashDash]

Yes it does. Search box at the upper righthand corner of the page? Are you quite sure the problem isn't that you're typing in DR/Adamantium, rather than DR/Adamantine ? Or are you looking in the 5ed SRD or something?

Neither , I just thought there are more targets that I'm missing, since for example it didn't cover the stoneskin spell.


Either way, it seems as far as creatures go, it's basically just golem-ish stuff.

[SlashDash]

I saw it as an organic way to update Haley's equipment as she levels up and the story nears its climax, same as how Brlkar got a new vest around the same time.

Belkar's gear became significant in the plot.

V's massive purchasing of potions showed up later.

Haley's boots of speed showed up

And surely Roy's starmetal makes an impact.

( Side note - am I misremembering, or did we never see Durkon buy any sort of gear for himself? I only recall the joke after the first dungeon where he tried to find a quieter armor)

Almost every piece of gear the party got, became significant at some point.
The only exception is Haley's bow she got from Pete, but that was in a situation that seemed like a natural loot.

I'm still pretty sure that Haley's current gear is better than non magical adamantite dagger anyway.



Also, in general, the author has this lovely tendency of giving you side stories with seemingly random occurrences (often just punchlines) that become significant later on. It's part of what I love about this story so much.

For example, Roy battling Thog gave us Roy's knowledge of architecture and his ability to locate Girard's gate. Belkar run with Bloodfeast in the arena changed the entire party's fate etc

The fight with Crystal didn't seem to advance the plot at all. It closed the sub plot of Haley's background (unless the halfling will run the guild now and be back, but he doesn't seem the type) but it was already pretty closed as it is.

I suppose Grub saying he knows what happens to golems with intelligence could also be a factor, but I just have an inkling that dagger would be back at some point.



None of this is factual of course, just my own speculation.



EDIT:

Actually rereading that sub plot again, it's also a reminder that Haley got Crystal's knife. That has to be magical and better than basic adamantium, right? Even though it's destroyed now, I don't see much reason to upgrade Haley's knife when she had a better one.


Also Elan got a wand of Cure Moderate Wounds. Though it's not hard to guess how that would come into play.

[Psyren]

I saw it as an organic way to update Haley's equipment as she levels up and the story nears its climax, same as how Brlkar got a new vest around the same time.

I don't think it's really an upgrade - my assumption was that those weapons they bought were non-magical, which makes them of very limited use at Haley's level. Handy against golems and walls, not so much against anything else.

[Rogar Demonblud]

(Side note - am I misremembering, or did we never see Durkon buy any sort of gear for himself? I only recall the joke after the first dungeon where he tried to find a quieter armor)

The only other instance of gear for Durkon was when he got that Amulet of Natural Armor as his share of the loot from the Dungeon.

[alwaysbebatman]

Absolutely nothing.

Say it again.

[brian 333]

A weapon with Enhancement bonus which cannot be dispelled even by Anti-Magic. Sweet.

[MesiDoomstalker]

A weapon with Enhancement bonus which cannot be dispelled even by Anti-Magic. Sweet.

Anti-Magic doesn't dispel anything. It suppresses magic within it's bounds. A magic weapon (all of which have an Enhancement bonus, period no exceptions) will be a masterwork weapon within an Anti-Magic field but otherwise is still magical.

[brian 333]

Anti-magic was easier to type than Mordekainen's Disjunction.

[Kish]

Adamantine is so costly that weapons and armor made from it are always of masterwork quality; the masterwork cost is included in the prices given below. Thus, adamantine weapons and ammunition have a +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls, and the armor check penalty of adamantine armor is lessened by 1 compared to ordinary armor of its type.

In other words, that bonus is from it being masterwork, not from it being adamantine. A masterwork weapon is +1 to hit; it can't be affected by any form of dispelling because it's about crafting, not magic.

[RatElemental]

I don't particularly expect the dagger to come up again, just like I don't expect to see that gnomish shopkeeper retired or for the thieves guild to make another return. If the dagger is used again it will probably not have a lot of hullabaloo made about it.

Haley certainly seems prone to acquiring new gear mid-fight and that gear playing out its plot significance (other than just being her general use gear) immediately.

[brian 333]

In other words, that bonus is from it being masterwork, not from it being adamantine. A masterwork weapon is +1 to hit; it can't be affected by any form of dispelling because it's about crafting, not magic.

Except for Sundering, hardness, and more hit points. And if armor, also DR. No, Masterwork is not just as good. Adamantine is way more expensive, so it may not be worth the extra cost if you're making it yourself.

[Kish]

Well done, you've conclusively disproven something I didn't say.

Looking at your "anti-magic" post and explanation for same, I wonder if that time "Masterwork is just as good as adamantine" was easier to read than what I'd actually written. Let me know when you feel like taking the time to communicate.

[brian 333]

Well done, you've conclusively disproven something I didn't say.

Looking at your "anti-magic" post and explanation for same, I wonder if that time "Masterwork is just as good as adamantine" was easier to read than what I'd actually written. Let me know when you feel like taking the time to communicate.

Sorry, but I also never said adamantine was not also masterwork. Your response appeared to imply that Masterwork was as good as adamantine in the same way your correction appeared to misinterpret what I didn't say.

I apologise for this post. I'm trying to not to rise to pedantic misrepresentations of my comments. I start out trying to explain and things go downhill. This was not my intent. My intent was to point out one benefit of Adamantine weapons. The point is still valid, even if other items have the same benefit.

[LuisDantas]

Sadly the SRD doesn't have a search function like that.

And I'm not asking anyone to do a massive search (unless they want to)

There is a "What links here" function in many Wikis that may come handy in situations like this.

Try http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Special...SRD:Adamantine for instance.