Variant Materials

Many weapons traditionally made from wood or metal might be made from alternative materials instead, covering the gamut from stone and ice to more esoteric materials like refined essence of ooze. For most campaigns, metal weapons can be treated as interchangeable with weapons made from these alternative materials without requiring significant changes or adjustments. Armors should generally not be crafted from materials other than those they are presented as being made from, since accessibility to stone and wooden armors directly affects the balance and progression of various classes. Rather than allowing a character to craft a suit of full plate from a non-metallic material, direct the character towards the non-metallic armors presented here.

GMs looking to add a greater sense of differentiation between weapons and armor made from nonstandard materials can find the statistics for differing materials here, particularly the statistics for bone and stone equipment. Generally, this shouldn’t significantly change the price of the crafted item (particularly for magic weapons) as long as you are sticking to basic materials. While a stone sword might be slightly more fragile than an iron sword, it’s also less prone to damage from effects like a rusting grasp spell or the predations of a rust monster.