Drow chain mail is a finely-crafted, satiny black metal mesh that does not encumber its wearer in the least. It is similar, but not identical to, the magical
elvish chain mail . It is typically fashioned only into tunics, as drow elves share their forest-bound cousins' preference for armor that adequately protects without being overly weighty or restrictive.
Much like their cousins in the sunlight, the drow have invented their own form of special armor. What is known for certain is that drow chain mail uses adamantite, the strongest metal known, as the principal component of their mystical alloy. It is mined by myriad drow-allied races in great quantities, and the drow war machine is wholly dependent on adamantite-related technologies. This alloy has special properties due to the peculiar nature of the radiation emanating from the drow homeland, giving even the basest form of the alloy the equivalent of a magical +1. Drow weapons, shields, armor, etc., all begin with a + 1 bonus, and based on the alloy, the amount of time spent in the forge, and the secret processes used, it can increase to as much as +5. The alloy does not radiate magic in the traditional way (a detect
magic spell reveals no trace of magical properties).
Whenever drow-alloyed creations, including armor, are exposed to direct sunlight, their magical bonuses are immediately lost and they begin to utterly and irreversibly decay. This happens even after one short exposure, meaning that even a set of drow armor that is immediately returned to utter darkness or the nearest drow homeland will still decay. Physical decay begins 1d12+8 days after exposure to sunlight. The armor completely falls apart after another 1d12 days have passed.
If extraordinary precautions are taken, an adventurer could theoretically use a set of drow armor, if worn only in the dead of night and returned to complete darkness (e.g., a light-proof chest or vault) before the break of day. However, the armor must be returned to the drow homeland once every two weeks to be re-exposed to the radiation. Armor must remain in the homeland two days per day spent above ground. If the armor is not returned to the underdark before two weeks have passed, the magic of the armor is permanently lost. Decay then begins as described above.
The fragments of metal that remain after drow armor deteriorates may be collected and reused for future forgings. However, the metal is nonmagical until the forging process imbues the enchantment.
The surface elves contend that these conditions are poor workmanship on the part of the drow, but scholars have noted many parallels between elven and drow alloys. For example, one possibility is that just as the strange magical emanations of the drow homeland aid in the construction of their special adamantite objects, it is has been surmised that moonlight, pure and cool, may have something to do with the forging of elven mithril armor. The fact that mithril is as reflective, light, and pure as adamantite is dull, heavy, and dense has not escaped observation.
What is certain about the two magical types of armor is that such parallels cannot be sheer coincidence. Somewhere in the distant past of the two races, when times were better and before the dark elves retreated to the earthen depths, there must have been one common armor technology. The drow took the secrets of forging elven metals with them when they left, but had to discover something to replace both the mithril and moonlight components of the ancient secret art.
What they eventually discovered, perhaps after many centuries of experimentation, was a magical alloy more abundant than mithril, yet not as stable as elven chain.
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