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Elemental Crafting: Difference between revisions
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** ''Iron'' - The most common material for metal weapons like swords. One of the strongest mundane metals around. Generally includes steel but sometimes precedes the alloy in the hierarchy.
*** Basic 'iron' armors may also fall into a hierarchy. Chain mail is usually the weakest type, and may be reserved for light-weight warriors. This extends all the way up to scale, and eventually the sort of plate armor you think of when people mention the [[Knight in Shining Armor]]. Just as with all examples, the historical design or function is moot. It doesn't matter that a breastplate defended against arrows well or that the buckler was the most advanced [[Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me|shield type]] (during the Renaissance) - materials and type have a defined hierarchy that ignores this.
** ''Precious Metals'' - For some reason, precious metals like silver, gold, or even platinum are often treated as stronger than iron. Never mind that the durability, weight, and sharpness of these elements is in no way helped by the material being rare or expensive. Very slightly [[Truth in Television]]. It's fairly common for weapons and armor on display in museums to be gold-coated. That's because they're ornamental pieces, made for nobility and monarchs, essentially [[Gorgeous Period Dress]] for men. The more practical stuff tended not to be treated very delicately, so it was much less likely to last long enough to be exhibited.
*** ''Silver'' - The main utility of silver weapons is in serving as an [[Achilles Heel]] to supernatural creatures like werewolves or vampires. Still, because of this magical quality, silver is often treated as stronger than steel.
*** ''Gold'' - Soft and malleable even when cold and pretty much worthless outside of having a good electrical conductivity and resistance to corrosion. This is why some works try to justify 'gold' weapons as being actually gold-''plated'', or otherwise extensively decorated with the metal in question (though it ''still'' happens to be stronger than the plain stuff).
** ''Fantastic Metals'' - At a certain point on the scale, fantastic materials start getting thrown into the mix, which have properties which border on (or are) magical. Common examples include [[Mithril]], [[Orichalcum]], Adamantium, Neutronium, [[Unobtainium]], [[Thunderbolt Iron]], or any old [[Phlebotinum]].
* ''[[Power Crystal|Gemstones]]'' - Usually start to show up later on, with such materials as ruby, emerald, diamond, or even an undefined 'crystal'. Some might be incredibly rare gems like "[[Body to Jewel|the crystallized tears]] of [[Department of Redundancy Department|Crystal]] [[Crystal Dragon Jesus|Dragon Jesus]]." May be combined with [[Elemental Powers]]: Gems are placed on magical accessories where the gem in question has an influence on the effect; e.g. Rubies often give boosts related to fire. Diamond, at least, is partially justified since it is known as the hardest <s>[[Memetic Mutation|metal known to man]]</s> natural material on earth (despite the fact that real diamond is too brittle to be practical as armor), but it gets kind of silly when your character starts wearing armor made out of ''glass''.
** Partly averted in [[Real Life]] by the Mesoamerican warclubs with obsidian blades along their length (the best known being the Aztec version, the ''macuahuitl''). Obsidian, like all glasses, can take a sharper edge than any metal, though it doesn't last, and a far-future army might, say, equip soldiers with single-use ultra-cutters lined with synthetic diamond blades.
* ''Magical/Elemental equipment'' - Late in the game, equipment starts to take on explicitly magical properties to keep up with the [[Sorting Algorithm of Evil]] in the world. This often includes elemental weapons such as the [[Flaming Sword]] or [[Laser Blade]]).
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** However, armors were not made of those metals; they were made from [[Unobtanium|Gammanium, Orichalcum and Star Dust]]. The quantity of Orichalcum determined the rank, Bronze having less Orichalcum and Gold the most. It's [[All There in the Manual]].
** And all new enemies' armors were inferior to Gold armors as they were breakable, something that is impossible to do to a Gold Cloth unless done by a God or an artifact crafted by a God (such as the Main Pillar in Poseidon's Sanctuary.) The only superior armor to a Gold armor is a God armor if said armor has received blood from Athena.
*** I notice the distinctive lack of references about the (Anime only) <s>Iron</s> Steel armors. Not that I'm complaining, mind you.
* ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' has [[Unobtanium|Gundanium]], an alloy of various metals and non-ferrous elements<ref>yes, [[Artistic License Engineering|alloys do not work that way]], but that's what [[All There in the Manual|the official info]] says</ref> that is insanely durable, heat-resistant, and radar-disrupting. [[Humongous Mecha|Mobile suits]] made of Gundanium are a class above more common titanium-armored MS, but since the secret of its creation is limited to approximately six individuals out of the whole world it's pretty rare. Keeping with the theme of the trope, there are instances of Gundanium being used for something other than a whole machine, which does indeed producer a superior item.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* ''[[Sen Zar]]'' swore by this, to the point that it managed to completely break the game. This is one of the many reasons why it's considered one of the worst tabletop roleplaying games ever devised.
* ''[[Exalted]]'' features the five magical materials: orichalcum, moonsilver, jade, starmetal, and soulsteel. Each one has a somewhat exotic origin in the setting (orichalcum must be forged by a Solar from pure gold in the heart of a volcano using mirrors to capture sunlight; moonsilver must be forged in the depths of the Wyld; jade comes in many varieties and is found in the very depths of the earth; starmetal comes from the remains of dead gods; and soulsteel is made from boiled-down ghosts), and provides extra bonuses to the specific type of Exalted it's associated with (orichalcum for Solars, moonsilver for Lunars, jade for Dragon-Blooded, starmetal for Sidereals, and soulsteel for Abyssals). The bonuses are based on material; orichalcum is exemplary of the weapon or armor's quality, moonsilver is mercurial and ever-shifting, starmetal plays on fate itself to aid its bearer, and soulsteel focuses on causing pain or unnerving its bearer's foes.
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' has much of this trope, where armor and weapons can be made of many different materials, with different effects depending on the material - adamantine objects are heavy but nearly invulnerable, mithril items are generally lighter and more durable than steel. Ironwood is a type of wood that can be crafted into bladed weapons. These Ironwood weapons are chiefly used by druids, who have particular class-based issues involving wearing metal armor. Likewise, much of the leather items in the later game come from specific creatures (dragons primarily) where the quality and properties of the leather armor (leather, although it may be a heavy full plate set) is determined by the size and type of dragon. Druids are able to wear dragonscale armor, even if it is counted as a heavy armor.
** Averted sometimes in 3rd edition - many advanced materials in fact make weapons less damaging than steel does. Alchemical Silver is an example.
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* The creation of weapons, armor, and instruments in ''[[Legend of Mana]]'' are subject to this (there are some subtleties to the weapons and armor, but it's entirely to do with what materials you add and in what order.)
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' partially averts this trope. The precious metals are used in crafting but in small quantities compared to the common material. For example, you make iron bombs that use gold wire for the detonator. Not completely averted because there's still a linear path of better metals, leather, and cloth to make stuff out of. The game also use a skill system, meaning that to try to make metal smelted from ore containing the blood of an old god (saronite) one has to have a lot of experience.
** The full chain of metals found in ''World of Warcraft'' as of ''Cataclysm'': Copper < Bronze/Silver < Iron/Gold < Steel < Mithril/Truesilver < Thorium/Enchanted Thorium < Dark Iron/Arcanite < Fel Iron/Eternium < Adamantite < Felsteel/Hardened Adamantite < Khorium < [[Elements Do Not Work That Way|Cobalt]] < Saronite < Titanium < Titansteel < (Folded) Obsidium < Elementium < Hardened Elementium < Pyrium.
*** Elementium has been used here and there since the original game; making a couple of incredibly powerful weapons in [[WoW]] Classic and then used for flavor later on so signify luxury status. There are expensive rings with no stats made of elementium, and the game's custom-crafted motorcycles have elementium-plated ''exhaust pipes.''
** The important nature of druids and spirits of the natural world within the game and lore does screw up the order on a few occasions. One of the most famous orcs, Broxigar, lost his axe and had one gifted by a demigod - a wooden axe - and managed to '''wound''' [[Bigger Bad|Sargeras]] [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|the Destroyer]], Lord of the Burning Legion.
** Lower level pieces of leather can be stitched together to make higher pieces. One can only imagine how heavy a wicked leather headband (made of 12 rugged leather or 1440 light leather) would be.
* Averted in ''[[Azure Dreams]]'' for the Playstation, where the Gold Sword is one of the weakest weapons in the game, with an attack power of one. However, unlike other weapons, it's immune to the rust traps, which means a devoted player can actually make good use of the weapon by using Red Sands (though it would take * six* to make the Gold Sword as good as the otherwise strongest sword in the game). On the other hand, the Mirror Shield was better than most of the mundane shields, and also didn't rust (though the Diamond Shield was the best, as it too didn't rust).
* All ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' games play this trope straight, with Silver Weapons being stronger, but more expensive, than Iron weapons.
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* [[The Last Remnant]] uses this, to some measure. While it's not obivious, there's a rigid scale between the metals needed to upgrade/create 90% of the weapons, which goes (YMMV) this way: Light Metal < Jhana Alloy < Iron < Steel < Vackel Iron < Royotian Steel < Crimson Ore < Necrotic Metal < Damascus Ore < Jewel Steel.
* ''[[SaGa|Final Fantasy Legend]]'' armor normally bronze > gold > silver (mithril) > dragon (elemental) > Arthur (historical legendary) > [[Lost Technology|Parasuit]]. The strongest <s> sword</s> weapon of the game is the Glass Sword which naturally breaks in after one use (in a game where all weapons have limited usage.)
* Played with in ''[[Phantasy Star IV]]'': Some weapons and armor are said to be made of Titanium, Carbon, or ''Graphite'', and the "Silver" of certain items is actually a colloquialism for a low-grade version of [[Unobtanium]].
** The item descriptions state graphite suit is "made of special graphite fiber." Per Wikipedia: The name "graphite fiber" is also sometimes used to refer to carbon fiber or carbon fiber-reinforced polymer.
* Averted for the most part in the ''[[Total War]]'' series, where the armor of any particular unit is determined by two things: the basic equipment and purchasing power of the troops (i.e. nobles and merchant militia can afford better arms and armor than commoner soldiers, who can afford/are outfitted with better gear than peasant militias) and also by the facilities you build in a particular settlement. In order to fully equip a unit you'll need to upgrade to leather tanners, then blacksmiths, then armorers, and so on. Thus, materials are generally irrelevant to how well-armored your troops are.
* Used in ''[[Castlevania]]'' generally, but played with in ''[[Order of Ecclesia]]''. The Blacksmith in it needs gold ore to make his best armour, but says this is because armour needs to be able to take hits and the gold allows for flexibility.
* ''[[Diablo]]'' has this in a slightly unusual form; they have a rather standard set of metals and gems, but mechanically they're treated like any other magical item power, so an "Iron Short Sword" or "Bronze Dagger" is considered a magic item by the game. In the original Diablo, the useful metals are Bronze < Iron < Steel < Silver < Gold < Platinum < Mithril < [[Thunderbolt Iron|Meteoric]]; the negative ones are Tin and Brass. Gems provide elemental resistances; Topaz < Amber < Jade < Obsidian < Emerald give across-the-board resistance to everything. The specific resistances are ''colors'' (Red and Crimson for fire, White for magic, Blue for lightning, etc.) at the lower levels, but become gems when more powerful; Pearl < Ivory < Crystal < Diamond for resistance to general 'magic', Garnet < Ruby for [[Playing with Fire|fire]], Lapis < Cobalt (OK, it's a metal, not a gem) < Sapphire for [[Shock and Awe|lightning]].
** Diablo 2 adds even more (and changes the meaning of some of them, the 'blue' series (Lapis, Sapphire etc) become [[An Ice Person|cold]] resistance, as that [[Elemental Powers|element]] was added for Diablo 2; as generic "magic" resistance was removed, Amber becomes Lightning resistance, and Jade and Emerald become Poison resistance ([[Universal Poison|poison as an elemental damage type]] is also a Diablo 2 addition).
* Played straight in [[Minecraft]], where you can make tools out of Wood, Stone, Iron, Gold, or Diamond and armor out of Leather, Iron, Gold, or Diamond; except that [[Reality Ensues|Gold is soft and lasts no better than Wood]]. However, gold tools are faster even than diamond as of a recent update, though still rarely used due to gold's other uses and the low durability.
* Also played straight in ''[[Terraria]]''. You start out with Wood, then move up through Copper, Iron, Silver, and Gold to Demonite, [[Meteoric Iron]], Hellstone, Cobalt, [[Mithril|Mythril]], Adamantite, and finally, Hallowed.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Role Playing Game]]▼
[[Category:Video Game Items and Inventory]]
[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]
[[Category:Elemental Crafting]]
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