Shadow Vale: Metals

This is an addendum to my old posts on Shadow Vale rules and the Shadow Vale setting. Originally it was an appendix to Fantasy Metals, but in revising that article I decided it needed to be a post of its own.

Also, I’d like to introduce a terminology change:

I have revised old posts with the new terms.

Shadowlands Metals and Materials

The metals of the Shadowlands may resemble the metals of Earth but exhibit properties beyond earthly metals, including Otherworldly Hardness and Otherworldly Density. These metals and materials include:

Darkmetal

Banned throughout the Brightlands and most of the Shadowlands, but still used to create deadly weapons and poisons.

Graymetal

The usual material for weapons and armor in the Brightlands and among elite warriors in the Shadowlands.

Redmetal

Used for common weapons and armor in the Shadowlands, and for ornaments and utensils everywhere.

Skymetal

Rare even in the Brightlands, and more commonly found as arrowheads, spearheads, and daggers than as larger weapons or armor.

goblin metal

Used only by Goblins to create their wondrous devices.

mortal substances

Found and used on multiple Earths and similar worlds.

natural materials (bone, hide, stone, wood)

Used for weapons in the Shadowlands where Redmetal is scarce.

Hardness and Density Table

Hardness

The “hardness” of substance in the Three Realms affects what happens when a weapon of one material strikes armor or shield of another material.

• If a harder weapon strikes armor or shield, the weapon will penetrate the armor or shield, doing full damage and ruining it.

• If a weapon strikes armor of equal hardness, the armor blunts the attack, but both weapon and armor survive intact.

• If a weapon strikes a harder armor or shield, the weapon will blunt or warp while doing negligible damage, ruining it.

Also worth noting: the armor of monsters has the hardness of cast Darkmetal and the flesh of Paragons is as hard as Graymetal.

Density

Unlike Earth, density in the Three Realms has little relation to a material’s Hardness. Instead, density values correlate to the “great chain of being” in the Shadowlands:

A being wielding a weapon one density level higher than their own treats that weapon as one grade heavier than normal.

So, for example, a Brightlander could only use a Skymetal dagger like a sword, since to her the dagger would feel as heavy as a sword.

Similarly a being wielding a weapon one density level lower than their own treats that weapon as one grade lighter than their own.

So, for example, a Paragon could heft a Graymetal sword like it’s a dagger.

Multiple levels of difference stack. So, for example, a mortal (level 0) could only use a Graymetal dagger with two hands.

Denser weapons do proportionally more damage. This will be noted in the damage description for the creature and weapon.