Special Materials

Some items can be made from rare or unusual materials instead of ordinary wood, leather, bone, cloth or metal. A special material grants the finished item one or more traits, properties or rules listed in its entry, and they stay part of the item for as long as it's made of that material. A material can change the item's cost, Craft DC, required tools, setup time or other crafting requirements, as its entry says, and if it can only be used for certain kinds of items, its entry says so.

Unless a rule says otherwise, an item keeps its material's traits and properties if it is later made Masterwork or enchanted with runes. If more than one special material would apply to the same item, the GM decides whether they can be combined; usually an item is made of only one.

Using Special Materials

When you start a project, you can declare that the item is made from a special material if you have enough of it. Use the item's normal statistics and rules unless the material's entry says otherwise. A material never changes an item's category unless its entry says so: a sword of a special metal is still a weapon, and a cloak woven from a rare fiber is still a worn item. If a material grants a trait that overlaps one the item already has, use the stronger or more specific version (GM's call).

Special Materials and Magic Items

Special materials affect the physical item; Masterwork improves its quality; runes add magical properties. A special material can be the base for a Masterwork item and a magic item unless its entry says otherwise.

Reading a Material Entry

Each entry lists its Applicable Items, a short Description, the Traits Granted, its Effects (benefits, penalties, and any change to damage type, Durability, Soak, Hardness, weight or other statistics), its Scaling Profile, its Crafting Requirements (minimum rank, tools, workshop, formula or other prerequisites), its Crafting Modifiers (extra raw material cost, higher DC, longer setup or special handling), its Restrictions (item categories it can't be used for, non-stacking interactions, other exceptions) and, where relevant, its Magic Item Interaction.

Design Standard

Special materials are permanent physical crafting materials that change the finished item itself, distinct from alchemical ingredients and magical runes. A material grants a passive, always-on benefit drawn from the physical nature of what was harvested, the family it came from and any relevant subtype or trait. They should only grant effects that come from a creature's body, construction or lasting supernatural nature, never one-use or consumable effects, or anything better handled by an alchemical concoction.

A special material never grants an activated ability, never needs Strain to work, and never replaces the role of runes. Where a material and a rune share a theme, the material's version is narrower, weaker and always passive; the rune's stays broader, stronger, scalable or activated. Good material effects: durability, preservation, environmental resistance, minor passive protection, handling, grip, structural stability, or narrow passive creature-themed properties. Not material effects: major magical powers, broad offensive riders, on-demand supernatural effects, or marquee abilities that belong on runes. In short, a special material is the item's passive physical identity; runes are its stronger magical escalation.

Scaling

Some materials scale with the level of the finished item (not the wielder), across the item-level bands 0–4, 5–10, 11–16 and 17+. A scaling material improves one step each time the item enters a higher band. A step should do one thing: raise a narrow flat bonus; widen the situations where the material applies; improve a physical statistic such as Hardness, Durability or weight; or add or improve a minor interaction with a matching rune, essence trait or item property. Materials that already scale through the item's own statistics (full Soak instead of half, or a percentage of Durability) usually need no extra scaling text. A material never grants a stronger effect than a same-theme rune.

• Inherent: already scales through its own effect or the item's statistics; no extra rule unless the entry says otherwise.
• Flat: +1 to the listed flat bonus each time the item enters a higher band (5, 11 and 17), unless the entry says otherwise.
• Synergy: at each higher band (5, 11 and 17), improve one listed interaction with a matching rune, essence trait or item property, as the entry describes.
• Hybrid: scales partly through its own effect and partly through a Flat or Synergy rule, as the entry describes.

Material Summary

Each material is written out in full in the Special Materials compendium.