Homebrew rules: aluminum weapons and armor

[mike.the.monk]

These are rough ideas at this point, very much a work in progress, and so I would love to get your feedback. My goal is to make it not overpowered.

One of my character ideas is a melee crafter who crafts his own weapon and armor, eventually out of aluminum (either from getting an aluminum Soulcaster as a reward, or if my GM thinks that is OP, getting enough aluminum to make my weapon and armor as a reward).

What I'm trying to do is not directly covered in the rules, but some adjacent things are covered in the rules:

• The rules for Stonewalkers adventure includes aluminum manacles, so by comparing normal manacles to aluminum manacles, here are the differences - easier to break (Athletics DC is 5 lower to break them) and they don't take damage from a Shardblade or Surges (spirit damage). Weight is lower also.

• half-shards and Shardplate have charges and spending a charge increases deflect value by +10 and it applies to all kinds of damage, including spirit and vital.

• A lucky hit (i.e. an Opportunity) against Shardplate can cause it to lose a charge.

• Shields, since they are Defensive, can be used for cover with the Brace action provided that they reasonably can provide cover - i.e. a normal shield can't do this against a Shardblade. Same with other Defensive weapons.

So here are my thoughts:

All aluminum items - how to implement "easier to break" and "lighter"

• Option 1: crafting an aluminum item automatically ends up with the "half weight" upgrade and the drawback of "The item is delicate. A Complication on any test using the item causes it to break." This upgrade/drawback takes the place of one upgrade/drawback you'd normally get based on how well you rolled on your Crafting test.
• Option 2: the above upgrade/drawback are in addition to the normal upgrades/drawbacks you'd get based on how well you rolled on your Crafting test.

I currently like the second option better.

Aluminum armor (basically a weaker version of half-shard)

• Easier to break and lighter (see above)
• Can only apply to metal armor.
• Does not have charges and cannot increase deflect value by +10 by spending a charge.
• Deflect value can only reduce spirit damage but not vital damage since this armor doesn't fully encase like Plate and it doesn't make sense to me that the armor helps you take less damage from poison.

Aluminum shield (or any weapon with the Defensive trait)

• Easier to break and lighter (see above)
• Does not have charges and cannot increase deflect value by +10 by spending a charge. So, you might still take damage from a Blade, but less.
• Since shields are Defensive, you can use the Brace action with the shield as cover against Shardblade since it now reasonably can provide cover against a Blade, unlike a normal shield. Same with other Defensive weapons.

Aluminum weapon

I'm least sure of how to implement "aluminum weapons can damage Shardplate, but not as well as a Shardblade can, but better than a normal weapon (which requires a lucky hit i.e. an Opportunity)".

• Easier to break and lighter (see above)
• Option 1: Having aluminum weapon means I can raise the stakes (ignoring a Complication) when striking someone in Shardplate and if I roll an Opportunity, the Shardplate loses one charge as per the normal rules.
• Option 2: as above but don't ignore Complications, so your weapon might break. This one makes less sense to me since we don't see it in Adolin's duel with Abidi.
• Option 3: roll e.g. a d4 or a d6 and on the highest number, treat it as if you rolled an Opportunity and the Shardplate loses one charge as per the normal rules. This allows you to tweak the odds of getting a lucky hit - the normal plot die would give you 1/3 odds, which is too high, Adolin knows it will take 4 hits to the exact same spot to cause Plate to crack.
• Option 4: don't worry about implementing this at all.

I'm currently leaning towards option 3 but don't know which odds to use. Maybe it's based on your heavy/light weapons skill ranks, with d4 being for 5 ranks, d6 for 4 ranks, d8 for 3, d10 for 2, and d12 for 1 rank.

As I said, this is very much a work in progress and I'll need to discuss with my GM to make sure it's not too OP. I'd love to get your feedback!

Edited September 2, 2025 by mike.the.monk
formatting

[iceblade44 he/him]

Very nice and awesome breakdown for homebrew, its interesting the rulebook doesnt have much rules for aluminum weapons. I wonder if it will show up more in Mistborn?

[Shygun]

Just as a reminder, if your trying to stick to the time/lore of the books, Aluminum is NOT native to Roshar. the book even mentions that it can only be soulcast. (and that would be with an amethyst Gem for metal.) So this could be a fun side quest for a GM for their players to try to 1) find out what aluminum is, 2) acquire some Aluminum for a "seed" and 3) either find someone who can soulcast metal or find an amethyst (either from a mine or killing a large enough creature that have a Amethyst for their Gemheart) for a soulcaster to use.

[AaronGlover]

Your aluminum item ideas are solid. Option 2 for crafting upgrades/drawbacks makes sense-it balances power without being OP. For weapons, option 3 with a small die roll tied to skill ranks is a good way to model “lucky hits” without breaking game balance. Armor and shields as weaker, lighter versions of half-shard with limited deflect value also works. Overall, it’s a fair, playable approach if your GM agrees.