Mithril Armor in Dungeon Fantasy

[mlangsdorf]

Mithril is likely copyright, so I doubt we'll see it in any official SJ Games product. But I'm throwing some suggestions out for home use:

Mithril is an armor modifier only available for mail and double mail. It can be (and usually is) combined with Elven, Fine, Ornate, and Thieves'. It comes in 4 grades:

Common Mithril provides +1 DR at 1/2 the usual weight: +29 CF.

Heavy Mithril provides +1 DR, and can be under other armor without a DX penalty for layering. Only one of Giant Spider Silk or Heavy Mithril or Superb Mithril can be worn without a layering penalty, though: +99 CF.

Superb Mithril provides +1 DR at 1/2 the usual weight, and can be under other armor without a DX penalty for layering. Only one of Giant Spider Silk or Heavy Mithril or Superb Mithril can be worn without a layering penalty, though: +139 CF.

Exquisite Mithril provides +1 DR at 1/2 the usual weight, and can worn under other armor without a DX penalty for layering. Exquisite mithril can be worn with Giant Spider Silk! A full suit of exquisite mithril can be traded for a Shire's worth of land: +399 CF.


Do these costs seem reasonable to other people? It's basically the Giant Spider Silk or Orichalcum CFs applied to mail armor.

At the top end, a mobile character could an Orichalcum Fine Corselet (DR4, $50700, 10 lbs), an Exquisite Mithril Fine Elven Double Mail Hauberk (DR6*, $212400, 16.5 lbs), and a Fine Giant Spider Silk Cloth Torso armor (DR 2*, $3270, 4.5 lbs) for DR4+8* at $266370 and 27 lbs.

A heavy armor warrior could replace the Orichalcum Corselet with a Fine Triple Proof Dwarven Steel Breastplate (DR10, $29900, 54 lbs) and save enough money to get Lighten (50%) cast on it. The extra 17 lbs of gear would increase armor to DR10+8* - very useful when dueling siege beasts and stone golems!

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

The extra 17 lbs of gear would increase armor to DR10+8* - very useful when dueling siege beasts and stone golems!

Although you can substitute a pile of HP and a healer for the armor. Costs less in dollars, costs more in CP, and a pixie healer weighs less than 17 lbs!

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

Do these costs seem reasonable to other people? It's basically the Giant Spider Silk or Orichalcum CFs applied to mail armor.

As I wrote it up, orichalcum is to bronze what mithril is to steel.

Bill Stoddard

[Kromm]

. . . and it's also important to note that I took stats for alkahest, orichalcum, and paut in DF from GURPS Cabal, not GURPS Fantasy, so it's possible that the orichalcum there a different thing again!

[Ed the Coastie]

Mithril may be a copyrighted word, but the concept isn't and yttrium silver fills the same niche that mithril does. Now I just have to find an appropriate "fair use" word to represent it.

[Evil Roy Slade]

Originally Posted by Ed the Coastie

Now I just have to find an appropriate "fair use" word to represent it.

Seems to me it was occasionally referred to as "true-silver" in LOTR. And I am revealing to much geekiness here, but in Sindarin it means "grey-glitter."

[mlangsdorf]

Do the Cost Factors seem balanced for the weight, DR, and layering advantages?

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by Evil Roy Slade

Seems to me it was occasionally referred to as "true-silver" in LOTR. And I am revealing to much geekiness here, but in Sindarin it means "grey-glitter."

According to Wikipedia:

In the first 1937 edition [of the Hobbit], the mail shirt given to Bilbo was described as being made of "silvered steel".

However, the term 'mithril' was apparently never officially trademarked, and copyrights don't apply to individual terms.

I'm partial, personally, to somewhat odd magic armors. My settings have things like silver-thread (basically, Elven kevlar). My dwarves, though, tend to favor craftsmanship (er... craftdwarfship). They are more likely to use a ritual intended to give the smith endurance and wisdom than to directly affect the materials.

[Lupo]

Originally Posted by Ed the Coastie

Mithril may be a copyrighted word, but the concept isn't and yttrium silver fills the same niche that mithril does. Now I just have to find an appropriate "fair use" word to represent it.

Please note that single words and names cannot be "copyrighted". You can trademark them if you want, but this is rarely done.

So if you write a book where you mention "mithril", the book itself will be automatically copyrighted, but the names of characters, places, things are not.
Words need to be specifically trademarked if you want to prevent others from using them.

In the case of Mithril, it's quite obvious it wasn't trademarked, as it is used in dozens of rpg and video games...

According to Wikipedia:

The name mithril or similarly spelled variations (mithral, mythril, and others) is present in other fictional contexts like role-playing games, since the Tolkien Estate did not trademark the term. One early example is Dungeons & Dragons most notably the Forgotten Realms setting. It appears in many computer and video games such as: The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall and Time of Castles, IV: Oblivion, EverQuest, RuneScape, Dark Age of Camelot, Lineage II, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Tales of Symphonia, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy, Maplestory, Patapon, Star Ocean, Cabal Online, Harvest Moon and Kingdom Hearts. The name is usually used for a special type of metal (often used as armor, and is then almost always the best type), or as a denomination of currency, or as a name for a project or device.