Armour & Weapon Metals - (Copper/Bronze/Lead/Iron) Quest

[Raegenhere (Huscarl)]

In original RQ1 RQ2 there were different metal types.

Bear with me, in case I make a complete mess of what I recall... ;-)

As I recall Bronze was the basic and allowed Battle Magic (Common Magic) to be cast through it.

When a PC made Rune Level, they were presented with metal arms / armour applicable to their cult:

Elves - Copper? - no visible armour benefit but lighter / same on weapon damage
Trolls - Lead? - no visible armour benefit but heavier / ? can't remember if bludgeoning weapons had higher damage due to mass
General - Iron - I think higher armour values, not sure about lighter / weapons higher armour points

I can't recall, but I seem to remember about weapons / armours of different metals having different effects against each other.

For Rune Magic (Divine Magic) to work, I think the Rune Lord or Rune Priest had to attune the metal to allow their Battle Magic and Divine Magic spells work through those metals.

Does any of this still count in RQI and RQII from a Glorantha perspective in the 2nd Age under the new rules?

Apologies for the long ramble...

 

[Draconis13]

I had done quite a bit of research on this topic for MRQ1 since they mention rune metals but don't really get into them.

Most of the old RQ 1, 2 and 3 rules have some really oddball rules in regards to say Copper weighing less and not needing as much as it can be drawn thinner, but once penetrated lost more AP's to damage. Mostly stuff that isn't covered in MRQ2. Anyway some of them are much more applicable.

Lead is the Darkness metal naturally enough while being heavier then bronze or iron its does not clank or reflect light.
Ignore the lead armor worn for armor check penalty for hiding or moving silently.

Aluminum or solidified quicksilver (Glorantha metallurgy is obviously does not follow Earths rules) is the rune metal of water and alluvial deposits are found beneath the waves or expose by weathering along the coast.
Aluminum is lighter then bronze and can be used for weapons or armor either of which will present no penalty when used in water remaining just below neutrally buoyant sinking like a feather falling through the air.

Copper used by the elves is grown from special trees which produce copper leaves. Copper when specially worked is no better or worse then bronze. Otherwise copper items are a tad bit weaker then bronze or iron.

Gold is basically by the arms and equipment guide, soft and heavy it can be worked by sun worshipers much like lead is worked by the Uz so that it becomes strong as bronze. Theres also a bit about it retaining a faint inner glow like torchlight in the dark when worked but thats up to you.

 

[EricJ]

Gold is basically by the arms and equipment guide, soft and heavy it can be worked by sun worshipers much like lead is worked by the Uz so that it becomes strong as bronze. Theres also a bit about it retaining a faint inner glow like torchlight in the dark when worked but thats up to you.

One set of rules said that Light spells cast on gold items have doubled duration.

The Runic metals also count as magic to lycanthropes and similar creatures.

 

[Raegenhere (Huscarl)]

Thanks EricJ / Thanks Draconis13

Were / are there any additional rules for the AP, HP of the different Runic Metals and what metal trumps what in combat, i.e., iron shears lead for example?

 

[Vatras]

The only rules for special metals I could find are in the RQ 3 book Elder Secrets. The effects were a kind of enhancement to the metals nature, they did not trump each other or anything like that. To bring out a metals special qualities required a rune spell (Enchant (metal)), and did therefore require sacrificng POW.

The most interesting metal to fighters was iron. In it's unenchanted raw form it blocks magic, a suit of plate makes you magic-proof (and you can of course not cast spells either ). The resistance was 5% per ENC, and raw iron counted as magical weapon. The enchanted form, steel, had one-half more AP than bronze armor, and the same ENC.

Copper could be used to make armor very resilient to getting damaged (in RQ 3 armor loses AP by wear and tear), or use this resilience to make lightweight armor (half ENC), with 2 AP less per location.

Gold doubled tghe effectiveness of light spells cast on it, and the example was a lightspell having double radius. The wording was vague and I am sure there are a few Yelm/Yelmalio spells which could use that boost...
Armor and weapon values are as for bronze when enchanted, if not you cannot make such from it (too soft).

Lead as armor does not clank, enchanted or not, and so does not detract from stealth. Weapons made from lead did +2 damage. I also think it was weightier than bronze.

Silver in normal form is too soft to be of use, but enchanted it can make armor and weapons with values like bronze, and silver weapons count as magical.

There was something more in the book, but you get the idea. My players usually were interested only in steel (which was rare), and used mostly enchanted bronze and leather armor, once they were able to make it.
The presence of iron and it's anti-magic effects was an easy way to keep mages/priests from running wild, from the GMs view. It also made many plots feasible, which by the inner logic of a magic world are not going to work, if they are to stay plausible to the players.

 

[Raegenhere (Huscarl)]

Thanks for that Vatras.