House rules for Athas materials (3e)
Introduction
In many centuries of the Brown Age, the life on Athas adopted to the new conditions. Devoid of metals, the craftsmen mastered other resources, honing them to perfection; the warriors and workers found ways to use them to maximum effect. No Athasian would call such weapons and tools inferior in good conscience; rather, it’s the metal items that are considered superior.
The following rules are meant to rebalance the most common materials on Athas, making them all viable in some way or form. I also intended to give the metal weapons a clear edge over other materials.
Basic rules: Post-battle weapon damage
While superior to their equivalents on other worlds, the Athas bone and obsidian is less durable than metals. An Athasian warrior risks damaging their weapon in every fight, which leaves them with a dulled, chipped blade – or, if they’re careless, unarmed.
To represent this lack of durability, once a combat encounter is over, each character needs to make a Post-battle weapon damage test for the weapon they used most often. To take the test, roll a 1d8. If the character rolls an 8 (7 or 8 for obsidian weapons), their weapon becomes damaged.
Material Post-Battle Damage test failed on:
Bone: 8
Obsidian: 7-8
Bronze: 8
A damaged weapon loses all of its material-provided bonuses. In addition, its current Hit Points are halved (rounded down) and it’s considered to be made from an inferior material , imposing a -1 penalty to all Attack and Damage rolls.
Optional: At DM’s discretion, a character armed with a damaged bone or obsidian weapon may have to continue the Post-Battle Damage tests. If the test is failed, the weapon breaks and becomes unusable. This never applies to bronze weapons - they can become damaged, but not broken.
Special: A character with a Weapon Focus feat automatically passes all Post-Battle Damage tests with their weapon of choice. A character with an Optimised Combat feat automatically passes all Post-Battle Damage tests. Wrought iron and true steel weapons never have to test for Post-Battle Damage.
Athasian materials
Bone
In a world where both metal and wood is rare, bone is the staple of craftsmanship. The diverse Athasian fauna provides bone materials with various useful properties, many of which come from species bred specifically for their skeletons. The bone-shapers of Athas use animal acids to make the material more malleable and ductible for production, then harden it with resins once an item is ready. Bone products combine decent hardness with elasticity, making them surprisingly resistant to damage.
Special rules
- Bone can be used to create any weapons and equipment.
- It is considered the ‘standard’ material, providing no bonuses or penalties.
- All hafted weapons with stone heads are considered bone weapons.
Obsidian
This volcanic glass breaks at extremely sharp angles, creating blades that put even steel weapons to shame. It is a brittle material, however, prone to shattering on impact. An obsidian weapon provides a literal edge in combat, but it often won’t survive the confrontation. Armies that favour obsidian weapons carry big supplies of spare blades, but individual fighters often favour bone weapons because of this drawback.
Special rules
- Because of its brittleness, obsidian can’t be used to create one-handed and two-handed bladed weapons.
- Slashing and piercing obsidian weapons receive a +2 modifier to Slashing / Piercing damage. Obsidian arrows and bolts still benefit from this bonus, but they can never be recovered.
- A one-handed macahuitl counts as a one-handed hafted weapon. A two-handed macahuitl counts as a two-handed hafted weapon.
Wrought iron
The vast majority of metal weapons on Athas are made of wrought iron: An weak alloy made from the inferior Tyr ore. These weapons are pathetic imitations of the true steel of the Green Age: The wrought iron is brittle, easy to damage and can’t hold a sharp edge very well. Still, in the metal-deplored world, it makes for a superior material.
Special rules
- Wrought iron can be used to make any weapon.
- All wrought iron weapons provide a +1 bonus to hit rolls.
- Wrought iron weapons never have to take Post-Battle Damage tests.
- A character armed with a wrought iron weapon is always considered to have the Improved Sunder feat against enemies equipped with bone, obsidian or wood weapons. This rule includes hafted weapons with wrought iron heads.
Bronze
The pinnacle of Athas metallurgy, this copper alloy is superior to wrought iron in almost every way. Harder, less brittle and easier to work with, it also holds a vastly superior edge. Its only drawback is its relatively high malleability and ductility. While a bronze weapon is unlikely to break, it’s prone to bending or chipping in the heat of battle.
Fortunately, bronze items are very easy to replicate. Their production involves melting the metal, then casting it into a new shape. It makes repairing a bent bronze weapon a trivial matter: a blacksmith can smelt a damaged blade then cast it again in the same shape. Such feats are impossible with wrought iron or steel, which rely far more on the exact composition of the alloy.
There are no copper or tin mines on Athas, which makes bronze a rare material indeed. Fortunately, bronze is very resistant to corrosion. Aside from a slight, dark surface layer, bronze items don’t undergo much decay. This makes ancient bronze items extremely valuable, as any old relic can be smelted down and cast into a more useful shape. Only a handful of dwarven blacksmiths knows the secret of producing bronze from copper and toxic minerals – a secret most jealously guarded.
Special rules
- Bronze can be used to produce any weapon.
- The superior quality of the alloy provides a +1 bonus to all attack and damage rolls (+1 damage for arrows and bolts).
- A character armed with a bronze weapon is always considered to have the Improved Sunder feat against enemies armed with bone, obsidian or wood weapons. This rule includes hafted weapons with bronze heads.
Just like wrought iron weapons, serviceable bronze weapons are worth their full price in gold. A pound of bronze is worth 200 ceramic pieces; a pound of copper can be worth as much as 300 ceramic pieces to a buyer who knows a skilled bronze metallurgist.
True steel
These ancient weapons have been made of true steel back in the Green Age. Very few specimens survive to the modern times; while true steel is a superb material, it is not resistant to corrosion. Most of the artefacts of the past days have long since decayed into useless scrap. A lucky prospector who finds one intact soon becomes very rich… Or armed with the best weapon available on Athas.
Special rules
- True steel was used to produce all weapons.
- Its superior quality provides a +1 bonus to all attack and damage rolls (+1 damage for arrows and bolts).
- True steel weapons never have to test for Post-Battle Damage.
- A character armed with a true steel weapon is always considered to have the Improved Sunder feat against opponents armed with bone, obsidian, wood, wrought iron or bronze weapons. This rule includes hafted weapons with true steel heads.
- All bone, obsidian, wood, wrought iron and bronze weapons reduce their Hardness by 4 when stuck by a True Steel weapon.
No Athasian blacksmith is capable of creating true steel. A true steel weapon is worth four times its normal price in gold.
Weapon hardness
Short blades:
Bone Hardness: 8 HP: 1
Obsidian Hardness: 6 HP: 1
Wrought iron Hardness: 10 HP: 2
Bronze Hardness: 12 HP: 2
True steel Hardness: 15 HP: 3
One-handed blades
Bone Hardness: 8 HP: 3
Wrought iron Hardness: 10 HP: 5
Bronze Hardness: 12 HP: 5
True steel Hardness:15 HP: 6
Two-handed blades
Bone Hardness: 8 HP: 5
Wrought iron Hardness: 10 HP: 10
Bronze Hardness: 12 HP: 10
True steel Hardness: 15 HP: 12
One-handed haftedweapons
Bone Hardness: 8 HP: 8
Obsidian Hardness: 6 HP: 5
Wrought iron* Hardness: 10 HP: 20
Bronze* Hardness: 12 HP: 20
True steel* Hardness: 15 HP: 25
Two-handed hafted weapons
Bone Hardness: 8 HP: 15
Obsidian Hardness: 6 HP: 10
Wrought iron* Hardness: 10 HP: 20
Bronze* Hardness: 12 HP: 30
True steel* Hardness: 15 HP: 40
Light hafted weapons
Bone Hardness: 8 HP: 3
Obsidian Hardness: 6 HP: 2
Wrought iron* Hardness: 10 HP: 10
Bronze* Hardness: 12 HP: 10
True steel* Hardness: 15 HP: 20
*A hafted weapon only counts as metal if both the haft and the head are made of metal. Metal heads on other hafts count as bone weapons.
New skills
Craft: Bonecrafter and Craft: Obsidian Crafter
These new applications of the Craft skill allow one to work with raw bone / obsidian and turn it into a craftable material. The skill is also required to repair any tools and weapons made with these materials, though crafting new weapons is covered by Craft: Weaponsmith skill.
New feats
Optimised Combat
Years of practice taught you to minimise the wear on your weapon, so you can fight with it another day.
Benefit: A character with the Optimised Combat feat automatically passes all Post-Battle Damage tests.
Normal: A character has to take a Post-Battle Damage test for their most-used weapon at the end of every combat encounter.
Special: A Fighter may take Optimised Combat as one of their bonus feats.
Bronze Metallurgy
You have mastered the secret of producing bronze alloy from copper and secret ingredients.
Prerequisites: Metalsmith
Benefit: A character with this feat can use Craft (blacksmith) skill to produce bronze. A pound of bronze requires one pound of copper and an ounce of arsenic. Put the product’s value in silver pieces when calculating the creation time.
At the end of smelting, the character needs to take a Constitution Save or suffer poisoning from vapours produced during smelting (primary and secondary damage: 1d2 Constitution damage).
Special: You do not require this feat to cast bronze items from smelted bronze. Treat such items as regular metal items for the sake of crafting.
