Alchemical Silver is not a weapon power

[Rykka]

As the title says, Item Special Materials like Adamantine, Byshek, Cold Iron, etc... are not weapon powers, they are materials that some creatures are inherently weak against. If you want to treat them as such, then delete them from your random assign a power to a named item generator or replace the slot with Metaline which is a power.

[C-Dog]

Unfortunately, it's both. Or at least, it was.

Iirc (and I may not, but let's go with it for now), with Crafting (which the random weapon effects draw from), you used to be able to apply "Alchemical Silver" to any weapon - and so, yes, it is/was an effect.

You can also find silver weapons - which are different, but have the same end-result.

The diff is/was that true Silver weapons are softer than steel that have had Alchemical Silver applies to them. So, actually, the two are not the same.

That, and I'm guessing it would be a pain to go back and change everything now.

(I'm also guessing that, rarely, you could find a silver weapon w/ alchemical silver on it - which would be the ultimate mud in the face along those lines.)

[Cantor]

Unfortunately, it's both. Or at least, it was.

Iirc (and I may not, but let's go with it for now), with Crafting (which the random weapon effects draw from), you used to be able to apply "Alchemical Silver" to any weapon - and so, yes, it is/was an effect.

You can also find silver weapons - which are different, but have the same end-result.

The diff is/was that true Silver weapons are softer than steel that have had Alchemical Silver applies to them. So, actually, the two are not the same.

That, and I'm guessing it would be a pain to go back and change everything now.

(I'm also guessing that, rarely, you could find a silver weapon w/ alchemical silver on it - which would be the ultimate mud in the face along those lines.)

I think their point is about the "4 effect rule" for current named item design. If you are counting metal-type as an effect you are basically missing an effect.

[Dreppo]

The OP is correct. Every single item has a material. If the material isn't silver/adamantine/cold iron/byeshk, then it's something else -- usually steel for most weapons, or wood for quarterstaffs etc. What the devs have done is decided that certain materials are more valuable than others because of DR breaking potential which can add DPS situationally. Therefore items made of "valuable" materials should have one fewer effect on them to bring them into balance. I'm not saying I necessarily agree or disagree with the devs' thinking on this. But the material is not, in point of fact, an effect.

[Memnir]