Eons ago, funglets first pioneered harvesting mushrooms as a viable building material in the Underworld. The draaki, once the ancient rulers of a cosmic empire, were the first to draw power from the bones and scales of great dragons. Dwarves claim to be the only people to discover the secrets of that most rare alloy, adamant, but knowledgeable svirfneblin vehemently disagree. Elven silversmiths became so adept at their craft that they created a new metal, today known as mithral. There are countless unique crafting materials created by the peoples of Aventyr, each one familiar to their makers and exotic to all others.
Cost. This value represents the additional cost to create an item of this material, per 1000 gold pieces of the item’s value. The cost also includes any additional material components required, the value of which may far exceed the costs associated with the process of crafting. Obtaining these additional material components may be a quest unto itself.
Adamant
Cost: +500 gp; adamant ore, [redacted]
Whether ‘twas dwarfkind or the deep gnomes who first sought to unlock the secrets of adamant ore, none but the gods can say. Mining, harvesting, refining, and forging adamant are tasks not even attempted by any but the most masterful of crafters, and both the dweorg and the svirfneblin pride themselves on being just that.
Adamant. Weapons made of adamant sunder non-adamant weapons or armor on a critical hit (your choice), count as both magic and silver against creatures’ damage resistance, and deal double damage to objects and structures. While wearing armor made of adamant, you are immune to critical hits.
Special, ultrarare metals like adamantium and mithral have been a D&D staple from the very beginning. While 5th Edition preserves this tradition, it doesn’t do much to provide game mechanics for weapons and armor crafted from these legendary metals. I’ve included rules for them here to provide a common baseline for special crafting materials: it doesn’t get harder than adamant and it doesn’t get… elfier than mithral. These rules also provide a modern take on the ancient lore associated with them, as appropriate for a game of generic high fantasy.
Adamanth
Cost: +500 gp; adamant ore, [redacted]
A drow-made alloy of adamant and an unknown component. It is said the drow breed dweorg smithslaves to create adamanth, not having the expertise themselves. Notably, even masterfully wrought adamanth will decay rapidly when exposed to direct sunlight, a testament to the fleeting whims of the power-hungry drow.
Adamanth. Adamanth weapons and armor function as adamant and weigh half as much as they normally would. Upon exposure to direct sunlight, adamanth begins to slowly flake and decay. When next used, the item performs its function one last time: A weapon makes one last attack, and armor grants its benefits versus one last attack, before disintegrating into black dust.
Boletann
Cost: +100 gp; mushroom skins
Boletann is a funglet word that when translated into Common means, “Skin of the Mushroom.” Throughout the Underworld, boletann is harvested from mushrooms of all kinds, and used in all manner of applications, much as trees are on the surface world. However, the mushroomfolk have mastered the art of crafting from boletann through a unique curing process designed to create porous pockets within the item’s structure.
Boletann. Weapons made of boletann store and deliver poison exceptionally well, holding up to three doses of poison at a time. Armor made of boletann grants you resistance to poison once per short or long rest.
Darkwood
Cost: +100 gp; darkwood
Known by many names throughout the cosmos—entwood, bronzewood, ironwood—darkwood is as dense as steel, yet as pliable as any wood.
Darkwood. Items crafted of darkwood have AC 19, and when a darkwood item in your possession would be destroyed, you may make a death save. On a success, the item survives.
Dragon Bone
Cost: +100 gp; bones of a dragon
Weapons crafted from the bones of the ancient dragons their kind once held mastery over are prized amongst the draaki.
Dragon bone. Weapons made from dragon bone deal 1 additional point of damage (of the weapon’s type). You may spend Hit Die as a bonus action to rekindle the ancient power of dragon bone. For one hour, you deal 1 additional point of damage, the type determined by the kind of dragon that provided the bones. You may not spend another Hit Die in this way until you complete a long rest.
| Dragon | Damage Type |
| black, copper | acid |
| blue, bronze | lightning |
| brass, gold, red | fire |
| green | poison |
| silver, white | cold |
Dragon Scale
Cost: +100; scales of a dragon
Dragon scale. You may spend one Hit Die as a bonus action to rekindle the ancient power of dragon scale. For one hour, you gain resistance to one damage type, determined by the kind of dragon that provided the scales. You may not spend another Hit Die in this way until you complete a long rest.
Dragon Sinew
Cost: +100 gp; sinew of a dragon
Few remnants of the Progenitors remain in draaki culture today, but the knowledge of harvesting sinew from draconic creatures has served them since time immemorial.
Dragon sinew. Dragon sinew weapons also have extended range (+20/+40 ft.).
Grekian Bronze
Cost: +500 gp; Grekian ore
Amongst ancient Grekian scholars, Grekian bronze was known as “The Clay Ore,” for its infinite possibility as a crafting material. In its refined state, Grekian bronze coalesces into a stable ball shape; it requires ancient Grekian magic to “forge” items of Grekian bronze, a process that looks more like painting than metalwork. Grekian bronze is nigh-impervious to damage, its hardness surpassed only by adamant. Indeed, the first dwarven master smith introduced to the human-made alloy was said to have remarked, “Another ten-thousand years and you’ll almost have it!”
Grekian Bronze. Weapons crafted from Grekian bronze count as adamant, magic, and silver against a creature’s damage resistance, and they sunder non-adamant weapons and armor on a critical hit (your choice). Armors crafted from Grekian bronze increase their armor class by +1.
Mithral
Cost: +200 gp; moon-forged silver
Elven smith-philosophers consider mithral the perfect metal: As hard as steel, as light as air, and as graceful as silver.
Mithral. An item crafted from mithral weighs half as much as that item normally would.
Mithral weapons are both magic and silver against a creature’s damage resistance. Any non-heavy weapon made of mithral has the Finesse property, and weapons that normally have the Heavy property do not when made of mithral.
Mithral armors do not impose disadvantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks and have no minimum Strength requirement.
| Material | AC |
| cloth, paper, rope | 11 |
| crystal, glass, ice | 13 |
| wood, bone | 15 |
| stone | 17 |
| steel | 19 |
| mithral | 21 |
| Grekian bronze | 22 |
| adamant | 23 |
What other unique crafting materials would you like to see updated for your 5th Edition game? Jump on our Discord and let us know!