Dwarves Deep says that adamantine is mithral with adamantite while Volo’s Guide to All Things Magical claims adamantine is purified adamant 5/8 silver 2/8 electrum 1/8 or steel+mithral.
Does the process transmute ’em into the same material or are there three alloys? There are five "adamantine" alloys.
"Just" mithral with adamant (=smelted, purified adamantite ore) is more brittle than the mixes that add silver or electrum (itself an alloy, though found naturally occurring). The less mithral, the less harsh the reflective gleam.#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 6, 2022
Ok, so those are separate alloys, thanks. I was wondering, is the steel+mithral one a process that yields adamantine alloy, or maybe the dwarves pulled a fast one on Volo? XP
— Italian Archmage Karsus (@ItalianKarsus) October 6, 2022
1)
Heh. I’d say they did, as you can’t get “adamantine” without adamant (the smelted, purified, VERY hard but brittle metal = smelted, purified adamantite) as an ingredient. You CAN add steel and still get adamantine, but you can’t leave out adamant. 2)
An alloy of "just" steel and mithral yields a steel that's better than stainless steel in terms of its rust resistance. Survives a lot of rust monster attacks, for instance. (However, dwarves and gnomes consider making it a waste of mithral.)#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) October 8, 2022