Special materials

Material	Item	Hᴅ	hp	Th.	DC
Paper/cloth	—	0	2	1	–
Rope	—	0	2	1	23
Ice	—	0	3	1	–
Glass	—	10†	1	1	–
Leather/hide	—	2	5	1	–
Wood	—	5	10	1	–
Wood	Chest, small	5	1	‌¹⁄₈	17
Wood	Hafted weapon, light	5	2	‌¹⁄₅	–
Wood	Hafted weapon, 1H	5	5	‌¹⁄₂	–
Wood	Projectile weapon	5	5	‌¹⁄₂	–
Wood	Shield, light	5	7	‌³⁄₄	–
Wood	Door, simple	5	10	1	13
Wood	Hafted weapon, 2H	5	10	1	–
Wood	Door, good	5	15	1 ¹⁄₂	18
Wood	Chest, treasure	5	15	1 ¹⁄₂	23
Wood	Shield, heavy	5	15	1 ¹⁄₂	–
Wood	Door, strong	5	20	2	23
Wood	Shield, tower	5	20	2	–
Wood	Door, barred	5	—	3	25
Stone	—	8	15	1	–
Stone	Masonry	8	90	12	35
Stone	Hewn (solid)	8	540	36	50
Iron/steel	—	10	30	1	–
Iron/steel	Blade, light	10	2	‌¹⁄₁₅	–
Iron/steel	Blade, 1H	10	5	‌¹⁄₆	–
Iron/steel	Chain	10	5	‌¹⁄₆	26
Iron/steel	Shield, buckler	10	5	‌¹⁄₆	–
Iron/steel	Blade, 2H	10	10	‌¹⁄₃	–
Iron/steel	Hafted weapon, light	10	10	‌¹⁄₃	–
Iron/steel	Manacles	10	10	‌¹⁄₃	26
Iron/steel	Manacles, Mw.	10	10	‌¹⁄₃	28
Iron/steel	Shield, light	10	10	‌¹⁄₃	–
Iron/steel	Hafted weapon, 1H	10	20	‌²⁄₃	–
Iron/steel	Shield, heavy	10	20	‌²⁄₃	–
Iron/steel	Door, iron	10	60	2	28
Iron	Bars (bend)	10	20‡	‌²⁄₃	24
Mithral	—	15	30	1	–
Adamantine	—	20	40	1	–
Adamantine	Manacles, Mw.^Ds	20	15	‌¹⁄₃	52

† Officially glass has a d20 hardness of 1, but it’s actually harder than steel (just very easy to break once hardness is overcome).

‡ The Hit Points (and diameter) of iron bars are not actually given in the rules. The values are based on real world examples.

Formula for Break DC ? ( Hᴅ×2 + ½Hᴅ/in. )

Faerûn

Metal

Adamant

Volo’s Guide to All Things Magical (1996, AD&D, p.55) by Ed Greenwood with Eric L. Boyd

This is the pure metal form of the hard, jet-black ferromagnetic ore known as adamantite, from which the famous alloy adamantine is made. Adamant is rarely found in nature, but when it is, it is always be in large spherical pockets in hardened volcanic flows.

Adamant is one of the hardest substances known on Toril, but it is also brittle. A sword made of adamant could slice through most metals—but would snap off if struck by another blade or even a smartly wielded wooden cudgel. It sees use in Faerûn only in dwarven experimentation and in styluses used to etch metal with names, strike chased ornamentation, and imprint inscriptions. Such a stylus shatters if dropped to the floor, though the chips can be used to scratch things. Adamant styluses typically costs 35 to 50 gp, if one can be found at all; Waterdeep and the Great Rift of the dwarves are the best places to shop for one.

Adamant is a gleaming, glossy black. Any reflections seen in it acquire rainbow edges, and this peculiar optical property is the sure-fire way to identify this surprisingly light, valuable metal.

Adamant is worth five times its weight in gold and takes enchantments readily. Some dwarves have worked together with human wizards to make adamant plate armor bound about with enchantments so that when it shatters, the pieces hang together around the wearer, providing some—albeit flawed—protection. Specifically, adamant shields against all fire and heat, magical or nonmagical, that it comes in contact with, so a wearer of adamant armor can stride through a small fire (one which still allows him the use of some oxygen to breathe) unscathed and even emerge from a fireball blast suffering only 1d6 points of damage from fiery damage to exposed areas. Items made primarily of adamant automatically succeed in all item saving throws vs. normal fire, cold, and electricity. They receive a +6 bonus to all item saving throws vs. magical fire and a +4 bonus to all item saving throws vs. acid, disintegration, and lightning. Unless items are enchanted to compensate for adamants brittle nature, however, they receive a −4 penalty on all item saving throws vs. crushing blow and fall.

Adamantine

Volo’s Guide to All Things Magical (1996, AD&D, p.55) by Ed Greenwood with Eric L. Boyd

This alloy, of five-eighths adamant to two-eighths silver and one-eighth electrum (itself a natural alloy of silver and gold) retains the hardness of adamant, but combines it with a rugged durability that makes adamantine so hard to shatter that it is the favored substance for the making of war hammer heads, the best nonmithral armor, and harbor chains. (By one of the miracles granted by the gods, adamantine can also be derived by combining steel and mithral—if one knows how.) Adamantine is black, but has a clear green sheen in candlelight—a sheen that sharpens to purple-white under the light given off by most magical radiances and by will-o’-wisps.

Adamantine is tricky to make, and must be forged and worked at very high temperatures by smiths who know exactly what they are doing and who have access to special oils to slake and temper the hot metal in. Almost all such expert smiths are dwarves, as the Deep Folk guard the secrets of working adamant jealously, but a priest or wizard seeking to enchant items can make use of finished adamantine items and need not necessarily have to work with a smith to create an adamantine work anew.

Adamantine readily takes enchantments, adding a +2 bonus to all saving throws of awakening, enchant an item, holy vesting, and wondrous web spells cast upon it. It is often the primary material for enchanted armors.

Items made primarily of adamantine automatically succeed in all item saving throws vs. normal fire, cold, and electricity. They receive a +4 bonus to all item saving throws vs. acid, crushing blow, disintegration, fall, magical fire, and lightning.