When the real world and fantasy clash in an interesting way, we have a chance to work a touch of common sense and logic into the dynamic and dramatic hand waving we, the GMs, have to do for things to make sense.

Coloured Metals: Reality vs Fantasy is strong here. In the real world, you make a sword red or blue, or three different colours, which requires you to layer it with a bluing process, This gives it several colour options. In a fantasy setting, we have access to Magic and Alchemy.

Alchemy gives GMs a perfectly sciency way to tint a weapon, be it through bluing or during the forging process. Alchemy is a mechanism to allow us to do cool things with metals – deep blue swords, bright red armour, or even sunset orange shields.

The number of colours is limited by the size of the item being coloured. It would be advisable to limit this process to three colours. Size should be an important variable. A suit of chain may have two colours while a suit of plate could have up to 4. I limit my games to three colours,

There are two separate processes here; Bluing and Forge Colouring.

Bluing: This is an after-forging process. This process protects the weapon from rust but will start to chip off if used extensively (farming blow blade) or aggressively (armour or weapons). Use your common sense. I usually set a DC of 12 for this process¹. You can use INT or WIS for the check.

  • A high success may add months to years to an item’s bluing lifetime. Extensive use should be a major factor in deciding how long the bluing lasts
  • Using an item in several combats will shorten the bluings lifetime
  • Items can be blued multiple times. I charge a 50% fee to have items blued again (half the prices of the original item).
  • ONLY another person with both Smithing and Alchemy can offer the Helping action to this process. People must have a clear understanding of both proficiencies to know how to help.

¹Failure: If the process failed to meet or beat the DC, the process failed. The colour did not take. If the check fails by 10 consider ruining the item. Some magical items may resist the bluing process. 

Forge Colour: This process is much more difficult but permanent when successful. During the forging process, a pigment is added to the metal as it is hammered, folded and finally finished. This process is much more difficult but can lead to a magnificent look. DC 20 and +2 for each added colour². Three colours would be a DC of 24³. You can use INT or WIS for the check.

  1. This process is permanent. 
  2. This process does not offer rust protection for non-magical items. 
  3. ONLY another person with both Smithing and Alchemy can offer the Helping action to this process. People must have a clear understanding of both proficiencies to know how to help.
  4. I charge three times as much for this process, and it requires 3 extra days per colour. Three colours would add 9 days to the creation process. It is expensive because it is difficult.³
  5. No, this can not be done to an existing magical item. But it can be added to the creation process of a magic item. Again adding 3 days to the process, but follows the same Magic Item creation rules.

²Failure means the process did not take and the weapon can come out with no colour tint. Failure by -5 could mean a random colour or a terrible mix of colours. -10 should ruin the entire item. 

³Let common sense rule here. While it is fun to be creative, there should be some sort of limit to what can be done. Some strange mixtures of colours may require the group to find a rare item or plant. 

These numbers DO NOT include the Smithing DC, ONLY the Alchemy DC.

(This page is subject to change as I refine my rules.)