Material
A material is the substance or substances out of which a thing is or can be made. In GemStone IV, there are numerous materials that weapons, armor, shields, and other useful objects can be crafted of that may or may not have real life counterparts.
Functional Materials
Functional materials are those which can serve as the base material for weapons and armor.
The standard material for all weapons (except ranged weapons and staves) and metal armor is steel. The standard material for ranged weapons and staves is wood. The primary material for shields may be either metal or wood. However, if the primary material for a shield is wood, it is assumed the shield is banded with steel. If the primary material for a shield is metal, then it is assumed the shield is ALSO made of wood.
Clothing and robe armors (ASG 1-2) are made of cloth, and leather armors (ASG 5-12) are made of leather. Cloth and leather are considered functional materials, but there are no mechanical distinctions between different types of cloth and leather. Armors from the "hard" leather group (ASG 9-12) may sometimes have a metal as a base material, where it is assumed the armor is mainly made of leather and the metal is used for reinforcements.
The base material of an item can be determined by INSPECT.
Properties
Each functional material has the following mechanical properties:
- Attack Strength bonus when used in weapons
- Defensive Strength bonus when used in armor or shields
- Material weight modifier which determines how heavy an item made out of the material is
- Modifier to enchantment/ensorcell difficulty
- Strength/Durability (not yet implemented, part of the breakage system)
Metals
| Known Metals | ||
|---|---|---|
Woods
See list of woods for more information on functional woods.
Most mundane types of wood simply INSPECT as "wood" and have no additional properties.
| Mundane Wood Types | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Woods that are considered distinct materials | |
|---|---|
| These woods have magical or special properties | |
|---|---|
Lockpicks
Some materials used for lockpicks are not technically considered functional materials, but have known properties specifically for locksmithing.
Materials in this category include alum, laje, and vaalin.
Other
| Misc Material Types | |
|---|---|
|
|
Level Restrictions
Characters cannot hold items made of a specific material until they have reached a required training level. For example, an adventurer must be at least level to wield a vultite weapon.
An inexperienced adventurer attempting to pickup such an item will quickly drop it:
>get vultite longsword As you reach for it, you feel a pulse, like an intensity of essence surrounding the vultite longsword. It might be difficult to hold onto it for very long.
The following formula, which is based on the item’s inherent bonus, can be used to calculate the level required to wield it:
The result must always be rounded up. With vultite, () the bonus clearly shows a level requirement. With glaes, (), the bonus yields 7.5 which rounds up to a level requirement.
Since there are so many materials in Elanthia, the bonus of combat gear is most commonly referred to in multiples of 5. Thus a +5 mithril item is referred to as 1x, a +15 glaes item as 3x, and a +30 item as 6x. Simply take the bonus and divide by 5 (vultite: +20 / 5 = 4x).
Also, objects can have a different bonus than might seem evident. For example, a wizard can increase an item's bonus by enchanting it. The highest possible enchantment bonus is +50, which can only be used by characters of level 25 and above.
Some rarer materials such as kroderine may have additional special restrictions. See the individual articles for more details.
Base Enchantment Bonuses
Decorative Materials
Decorative materials have no distinct functional properties, either because they are not suitable as weapons or armor, or because they fall within one of the existing broader material categories ("mundane wood" or "leather"). They may be used as jewelry or embellishments.
Many real-world materials can be used as decorative materials as long as they are suitably "in-genre". However, be aware that just because something exists on Earth does not mean it is on Elanthia. For some of the materials exclusive to the world of Elanthia, see Category:Materials and the alteration noun list.
Note: When you hand an item to a GameMaster or a merchant, they are required to check that the decorative materials on it are approved and will be forced to change its description if the materials are not. If you are not sure about the existing materials on an item but would not like the item to be changed without your permission, verify before you hand it over.
Enchant/Ensorcell Difficulty
The following table shares the modifications each material can cause when attempting to enchant or ensorcell an item primarily made of such material. This list is subject to revision as materials are added or modified.
Material Weapons Shields Armor Bows Runestaves adamantine -500 -500 -500 alexandrite -500 0 black-alloy 0 -50 0 bone -250 10 -250 bronze -50 -50 carmiln 10 10 cloth 0 copper -50 -50 coraesine -999 deringo -20 -20 -20 drakar -50 -50 -50 drake 0 eahnor 15 15 15 eonake -60 faenor 15 faewood 10 0 feras 0 fireleaf 15 15 glaes -10 -10 -10 glass 0 glowbark -10 -10 -10 golvern -10 -10 -10 gornar -50 -50 -50 hoarbeam 5 5 5 illthorn 0 0 imflass -30 -30 -30 invar 0 0 0 ipantor -40 iron -30 -30 -30 ironwood 0 0 kakore 0 0 kelyn 0 krodera -999 kroderine -999 -999 -999 leather -10 lor -25 mein -10 -10 -10 mesille 0 0 0 mithglin 15 15 15 mithril 20 20 20 modwir 0 mossbark 0 0 0 obsidian -500 ora 0 0 0 ora-black -75 ora-white -40 orase 0 0 razern -20 rhimar -50 -50 -50 rolaren -40 -40 -40 rowan 20 ruby -500 ruic -60 sephwir -25 steel -10 -10 -10 stone -500 urglaes -999 -999 -999 urnon -999 vaalorn 10 10 10 veil-iron -50 -50 -50 villswood 0 0 0 vultite 0 0 0 white-alloy 0 0 witchwood -75 wood -100 -10 -100 -10 -10 wyrwood -60 yew -20 zelnorn -999 -999 -999 zorchar -50 -50 -50 metal1 -500 -500 -500
1 If the item inspects as "metal" (rather than a specific type of metal) something is wrong. ASSIST to get it fixed.
Behind the Scenes: History of Materials in GemStone
- Main article: ICE materials
GemStone III had at least as many different types of materials in it as exist on Earth because everything from iron and steel to oak and yew can be found there. Where it gets more interesting is in the different magical materials that exist. Originally, these materials had names taken directly from Iron Crown Enterprises' "RoleMaster" gaming products.
Until 1998, ICE had the worldwide gaming rights to the Middle-Earth world-setting created by J.R.R. Tolkien. The names that he created--mithril, eog, galvorn, and others--are therefore found throughout ICE's gaming products.
When GemStone III was written, the names of these materials were used but the properties of them were not necessarily copied over as well. For example, in "RoleMaster" the material eog has a +30 magical bonus; in GemStone III, eog was only +10.
At the end of 1995 when the ICE age came to an end, Simutronics was legally required to change all references to materials with "RoleMaster" names. Items actually in the possession of characters were allowed to retain their old material names, with the stipulation that should the item ever be handled by a GameMaster, the material would be converted to whatever the corresponding new material was called. (For example, an old "galvorn" item that a GameMaster needed to work on for some reason would be returned to the player as a "golvern" item.)