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Ceramic tools/armor?

In order to make ceramic armor or tools, you would need to find clay blocks, and use them to create clay weapons/armor. The catch is, these would fall apart if you try to use them without baking them in a furnace first to turn them into ceramic tools. You could also call them terracotta tools/armor, but people might expect to be able to dye them in that case.

These tools would be the only ones in the game that don't require wood to craft (because wood would burn up in the furnace). Instead, the handle would also be made from clay. I picture ceramic armor and tools as being about half as durable as wood, but also harder/sharper and providing more defense/attack while it lasts. This would have the side benefit of making it possible to craft tools and armor in a desert biome if you can find a suitable river or lake, along with a village that has a library and a blacksmith. 

I feel that this adds more of an incentive to explore the surface of the world for lakes and riverbeds (not just oceans) and possibly risk being attacked by Drowners and other mobs early on in the game. I view iron armor as a reward for taking the common sense path of logging and mining until you find enough iron to craft armor. Leather armor is a lesser reward for creating a farm and breeding cows early on in the game, if you go that route instead. I think this ceramic armor could be a reward for exploring enough to find a village and a river/lake or two. It's the explorer's path, rather than the miner's path or the farmer's path. 

The way things stand now, wood is really the only resource worth gathering on the surface, especially early in the game (though if you don't care about decorative blocks, this remains mostly true even into the late game). You can get coal, iron, diamonds, gold, lapis, obsidian, etc... all from mining underground. As a result, the terrain on the surface just isn't that important or worth inspecting carefully... all you have to do is find trees in plain sight. I feel that if this were done, it could be another step towards changing that. 

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  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    I do agree that the surface may need more attention and need, but this isn’t the right way to do it, ceramic tools are a silly idea from any viewpoint, but maybe you can come up with something with clay that would make it more useful. I would like to see clay have more use, so take that idea and run! U will think of something. Keep trying!

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    This is a great idea!
    Clay armor/tools should act as a sidegrade to Leather/Wood. It should offer more defense than Leather, and more attack than Wood, but have less durability overall. 
    These would be crafted with uncooked clay balls, which would then be smelted in a furnace to make the armor usable. So technically, it does require wood, but in different means. Clay tools could mine up to Redstone/Lapis ore, but not Diamond.

    These items could also be dyable, although only in the 16 colors that terracotta is usually colored.

    It's helpful to have any kind of armor early on, and this is a nice addition in my opinion.