Feature Specification: Special Materials

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Special Materials
I've used the 3.5 edition definition detailed below with some modifications as the starting point for our discussion. A fair amount of rework may be necessary as some things in PnP don't translate well to NWN. Admin and H/DM opinions welcome.

For a short explanation of the feature specification format, visit:
http://www.alandfaraway.org/phpbbforum/ ... hp?t=27229

Functional Requirements
Some creatures are unharmed by what would normally be considered lethal damage. Trolls and other regenerating creatures can only suffer lethal damage with the aid of fire or acid. All other damage is treated as nonlethal and can at most result in knocking them unconscious. Weapon enchantments that contain fire or acid elemental damage as well as substances like alchemists fire that can be applied to weapons can be used to cause lethal damage to these creatures. Additionally, a basic torch, oil & fire, and acid flasks can also be used in this fashion.

A regenerating creature automatically heals nonlethal damage (hit points only) at a fixed rate per round, as given in the MM entry for that creature. Lethal damage cannot regenerate. A regenerating creature that has been rendered unconscious through nonlethal damage can be killed with a coup de grace using an attack causing lethal damage. Regenerating creatures can regrow lost portions of their bodies and can reattach severed limbs or body parts.

Other creatures are only vulnerable to weapons of a particular material. In addition to magic items created with spells, some substances have innate special properties. If you make a weapon out of more than one special material, you get the benefit of only the most prevalent material. Each of the special materials described below has a definite game effect.

Iron, Cold: This iron, mined deep underground, known for its effectiveness against fey creatures, is forged at a lower temperature to preserve its delicate properties. Weapons made of cold iron cost twice as much to make as their normal counterparts. Also, any magical enhancements cost an additional 2,000 gp.

Items without metal parts cannot be made from cold iron. An arrow could be made of cold iron, but a quarterstaff could not.

Cold iron has 30 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 10.

Silver, Alchemical: A complex process involving metallurgy and alchemy can bond silver to a weapon made of steel so that it bypasses the damage reduction of creatures such as lycanthropes.

On a successful attack with a silvered weapon, the wielder takes a –1 penalty on the damage roll (with the usual minimum of 1 point of damage). The alchemical silvering process can’t be applied to nonmetal items, and it doesn’t work on rare metals such as adamantine, cold iron, and mithral.

Alchemical silver has 10 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 8.

Type of Alchemical Silver Item....Item Cost Modifier
Ammunition...............................+2 gp
Light weapon............................+20 gp
One-handed weapon................+90 gp
Two-handed weapon................+180 gp

NWN Object Dependencies
Metal Weapons, Torch, Oil & Fire, Alchemists Fire, Acid Flask, Regenerating Creatures, Lycanthropes, Fey

Local Variables and External Configs
sRegenRate, sNonlethalDamage

Logging and Debugging (global LOG & DEBUG (on/off) constants)
None

Persistence Requirements
Nonlethal Damage

Event Dependencies
OnDamaged

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It looks like this will be included in NWN2 so I've locked this thread pending review of Obsidian's implementation. I'll leave it stickied until we're certain what direction to take.