# Is there a mineral/metal with anti-magic properties in D&D?



## Quickleaf (Jul 17, 2014)

*Tl;dr: *Do you know of a mineral or metal or special material from any edition of D&D that possessed inherently anti-magic properties? Maybe something that would absorb spells or negate a magical ability of a creature coming into contact with it or in its presence?

[sblock=Longer explanation]I'm writing an adventure which involves the PCs exploring the Concordant Plane of Opposition (the Outlands) which has anti-magic properties the closer one gets to the center. One of the routes the PCs can take involves an encounter and sub-plot with an anti-magic mineral or metal. The abandoned mines for this material are "haunted" by a Lawful Neutral planar beholder called an observer, which is having trouble with its levitation and other magic abilities in the presence of this material. Later on, the PCs knowing about this material can come into play as a bargaining chip with some bad guys, or even be exploited as a trick to handicap the bad guys. 

I am thinking something like Dimeritium from the Witcher series which seems to provide a wearer with magic resistance as well as suppress any magical ability. I'm guessing there might be something like this from 3.5e, but I'm just not familiar with those books. Any help is appreciated [/sblock]


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## Mishihari Lord (Jul 17, 2014)

The only thing I can think of from an official source is that lead blocks certain scrying.  

One of my standard house rules though, is the inclusion of "starsteel," a black steel made from meteoric iron that totally blocks magic.  As examples, starsteel weapons ignore magical armor bonuses, disrupt illusions, and banish summoned creatures.  Starsteel helmets make one invulnerable to magical mental attacks, and armor gives really good protection against spells.  The stuff has the physical characteristics of adamantine, had about a +4 inherent bonus in 2E when used in a weapon or armor, and was very rare and very, very expensive.  Typically a party might acquire 2 or 3 starsteel items over the course of a campaign.


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## Dungeoneer (Jul 17, 2014)

Quickleaf said:


> *Tl;dr: *Do you know of a mineral or metal or special material from any edition of D&D that possessed inherently anti-magic properties? Maybe something that would absorb spells or negate a magical ability of a creature coming into contact with it or in its presence?




Why not simply invent one? Sci-fi and fantasy are chock full of 'unobtanium'-type metals with strange effects.


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## WayneLigon (Jul 17, 2014)

I don't think there has ever been one, because the first thing people will do is make 'instantly-shut-down-the-wizard' arrows with it. Having it as an extra-planar material is sensible, since you can then say that it loses this property when off it's home plane.

About the closest thing I can think of is the 'magnetic property' of the Underdark to disrupt teleportation.


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## Nagol (Jul 17, 2014)

WayneLigon said:


> I don't think there has ever been one, because the first thing people will do is make 'instantly-shut-down-the-wizard' arrows with it. Having it as an extra-planar material is sensible, since you can then say that it loses this property when off it's home plane.
> 
> About the closest thing I can think of is the 'magnetic property' of the Underdark to disrupt teleportation.




There's also the hand wave of adamantine/mithril alloy in Tomb of Horrors that shuts down a lot more.

I did a quick glance and found nothing general.  There is one Underdark material (Urdrukar, Arms and Equipment Guide) that makes scrying the wearer harder and increases arcane failure chance, but nothing that affects magic across the board.


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## Tony Vargas (Jul 17, 2014)

You'd think there would be, as D&D adventures often need to shut down casters to provide challenge or enable a plotline.

But, as I suppose is typical of D&D tradition, the only counter to magic is magic:  so use a permanent/enlarged anti-magic shell or an artifact or direct intervention by a deity or something of that nature.

If you reach outside of D&D tradition, iron (sometimes wrought 'cold' iron or pure iron rather than steel or alloys) is often anathema to magic or magical beings (something D&D traditionally represents only with a few monster 'hit only by' cold iron or magic weapons).    OTOH, it's also often /used/ in magic, so you can have it either (or both - it's magic, it doesn't have to make loads of sense) ways.


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## Nagol (Jul 17, 2014)

Tony Vargas said:


> You'd think there would be, as D&D adventures often need to shut down casters to provide challenge or enable a plotline.
> 
> But, as I suppose is typical of D&D tradition, the only counter to magic is magic:  so use a permanent/enlarged anti-magic shell or an artifact or direct intervention by a deity or something of that nature.
> 
> If you reach outside of D&D tradition, iron (sometimes wrought 'cold' iron or pure iron rather than steel or alloys) is often anathema to magic or magical beings (something D&D traditionally represents only with a few monster 'hit only by' cold iron or magic weapons).    OTOH, it's also often /used/ in magic, so you can have it either (or both - it's magic, it doesn't have to make loads of sense) ways.




Cold iron is a strong theme choice.  _Chivalry & Sorcery_ has True Lead (the normal metal magically purified gave magic resistance).  

The body of a dead god might give you a interesting variation (and limit the amount of material).


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## Quickleaf (Jul 17, 2014)

[MENTION=91777]Dungeoneer[/MENTION]
Yep, definitely can make up my own. As [MENTION=3649]WayneLigon[/MENTION] points out, however, there could be far reaching consequences to introducing an anti-magic material. What would be reasonable properties to give it that didn't invite serious exploitation?

 [MENTION=23935]Nagol[/MENTION]
Something like Urdrukar could work, I suppose, if I expanded its properties a bit. I had actually initially thought of some kind of lodestone that affected magic rather than magnetism.

 [MENTION=996]Tony Vargas[/MENTION]
Hah! To clarify, in my adventure, it's not important the PCs lose the ability to cast magic, rather it's important that the beholder-like creature is having difficulty with its magic abilities...and since it's underground in the Outlands a sensible interesting way to explain that would be an anti-magic mineral. Also, while I like the idea of cold iron, since this is a D&D adventure that would expand what cold iron does a bit too much beyond tradition/expectation.

@ Nagol
The body of a dead god is a great idea, but since it's the Outlands and not the Astral that would get a bit tricky to justify. Definitely might work with the adventure idea though.


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## Tony Vargas (Jul 17, 2014)

Quickleaf said:


> To clarify, in my adventure, it's not important the PCs lose the ability to cast magic, rather it's important that the beholder-like creature is having difficulty with its magic abilities...and since it's underground in the Outlands a sensible interesting way to explain that would be an anti-magic mineral.



 Since, strange as they are, beholders are alive, could it be exposure to a toxin, hallucinogen, or infection in the area, rather than something that specifically futzes with magic, that could be causing his problems?  If you need to concentrate to use magic, then a psychoactive substance could cause the difficulty - if the beholder's magic is a physiological property of it's eyes, then a bad case of Outlands Subterranean Pink-Eye Fungus could do it...


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## Nagol (Jul 17, 2014)

Tony Vargas said:


> Since, strange as they are, beholders are alive, could it be exposure to a toxin, hallucinogen, or infection in the area, rather than something that specifically futzes with magic, that could be causing his problems?  If you need to concentrate to use magic, then a psychoactive substance could cause the difficulty - if the beholder's magic is a physiological property of it's eyes, then a bad case of Outlands Subterranean Pink-Eye Fungus could do it...




That's a good thought.  There may be a slime/ooze/mold/fungus that is more anti-magical than the materials we found.  There are certainly precedents in earlier editions.


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## Dungeoneer (Jul 17, 2014)

Quickleaf said:


> @_*Dungeoneer*_
> Yep, definitely can make up my own. As @_*WayneLigon*_ points out, however, there could be far reaching consequences to introducing an anti-magic material. What would be reasonable properties to give it that didn't invite serious exploitation?
> 
> ...
> ...



Are there non-magical planes? I'm not really familiar with the Great Wheel. But presumably if there was one it could be intruding on this region.

I think any anti-magic material is going to present the problem of "why don't people use it all the time."

Could also be the result of some kind of nearby artifact.


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## Nagol (Jul 17, 2014)

[MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION], did you need an OGL option or is closed content fine?


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## Quickleaf (Jul 17, 2014)

Dungeoneer said:


> Are there non-magical planes? I'm not really familiar with the Great Wheel. But presumably if there was one it could be intruding on this region.
> 
> I think any anti-magic material is going to present the problem of "why don't people use it all the time."
> 
> Could also be the result of some kind of nearby artifact.



Quick tidbit about the Outlands from the 1e Manual of the Planes:
[sblock]The First Edition Manual Of Planes states that the center of the plane takes various forms at different times (a mountain, a huge tree, etc.) and godly powers are lost as one moves toward the center, as well as spells, beginning with the highest levels of spells at the farthest out and then gradually losing the lower ones step by step the further one moves inward. Within 100 miles (160 km) of the center, not even chemical reactions take place, and neither man nor deity can get closer than 100 miles (160 km).[/sblock]

That's true that if it can be mined and used broadly, then it could unbalance the game. Maybe I can come up with a device that explains how it was a failed mining venture (the property of the mineral fades soon after extraction). That way it becomes more an environmental property than something that can be arrived around and used.



Nagol said:


> [MENTION=20323]Quickleaf[/MENTION], did you need an OGL option or is closed content fine?




I'm curious to hear about the closed content, yes, but if/when I decide to turn this into a published product, then obviously I'd be going OGL.


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## Tony Vargas (Jul 17, 2014)

Well if the underground area is near and leads to that center, there you go.  It's powers are being leached off that way.  The eye-rays are mostly equivalent to various-level spells, or you could ballpark a level.  Levitation's only level 2 (though the Beholder's is better, though not as good as level 3 fly), so it'd go last.


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