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Old 06-17-2020, 08:03 AM   #47
Fred Brackin
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Default Re: Meteoric iron immunities

Quote:
Originally Posted by malloyd View Post
Other similarly ambiguous options include "dead" iron and "grey" or "heavy" lead.
In Chivary & Sorcery's OCD alchemy system (1e and 2e) there were alchemical operations that separated the 7 metals into their essence and their quintessence. The quintessence was known as the "mercury" (and yes, you had a mercury of quicksilver) and was used for futher alchemy such as mixing the ultimate solvent and making the Philosopher's Stone. This was the "product" of the alchemical operation.

The substance that was the magical essence of the metal was the by-product and was not used in further alchemy but had numerous magical uses. This was usually called the "Star" of the metal (i,e Star of Iron) except for lead which became True Lead and this was the anti-magical metal.

Star of Iron was necessary for all arms and armor beyond +2 and Star of Silver was good for enchanted crosses to repel the undead.

In my college-era homebrew (c.1980) that grew out of attempts to patch the cracks in C&S 1e there was an enchantment that "refined" a substance (yes, it didn't care about alloys or even non-metals) and enhanced its' magical properties. It could be done three times and the thrice-refined version was the "True" form of the substance. True Steel was almost indestructible and so on.
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