What is a reliable source of Adamantine?

Question

What is a reliable source of Adamantine for PC's with a level range of 13-16?

I am finding it difficult to locate appropriate Lore on adamantine, specifically where it comes from, where to find it, or monsters that consistently use it in their equipment. There is a blurb under the Adamant Golem regarding acquisition of large quantities of adamant from either the Elemental Plane of Earth or Outer Planes. Unfortunately the trail regarding specifics ends there.

Our DM is asking us to "Pre-Plan" our character progression / goals with as much detail as possible and as lore friendly as possible. He is basically asking us to plan out possible campaign ideas for him that he can pick and choose to drop into his story arc.

I want to build an Adamant Golem as early as possible with the help of my Party. With an Automatan Core and an Orange Prism Ioun Stone I can have a wizard capable of the 20th Level caster requirement for crafting as early as level 15. Possibly sooner if I can find more semi-permanent caster level boosts or find an Adamant Golem Manual. Character wealth for the party should be 240k per character by level 15, which would allow me to "craft" everyone's equipment and then have everyone chip in for the 350k construction costs.

So hard logistics aside, I need help with a lore friendly way to find, locate, and mine (or loot) the required 100k in precious metals necessary to craft this thing. Though it doesn't state what percentage of that 100k is the adamant itself. I also can't find any source detailing refining raw adamant ore, or the price per weight.

Recommending modules or adventures with sources of adamantine loot that could be melted down would also be an acceptable answer.

I could also try talking to the DM about "Transplanting" other regions into his game world or doing a quick plans hopping jaunt to other worlds to snag what I need.

Answer 1

The Elemental Plane of Earth (EPE)

At level 13 you should be able to cast plane shift to go to the Elemental Plane of Earth. As you note, the entry for an Adamantine Golem says:

The vast amount of adamantine required to build even one of these destructive golems is so significant that most worlds do not have enough resources, forcing the creator to travel to the Plane of Earth or remote Outer Planes simply to gather the raw materials needed to build the golem’s body.

So using plane shift to get there should allow you to mine enough material. If you have a cleric in the party they can cast plane shift as early as level 9, otherwise as a wizard, you'll have to wait till level 13 before you can plane shift there.

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Collection Methods

Wrest resources

The ritual teleports a specific natural resource from the ritual’s area and transports it adjacent to the primary caster. The natural resource is the same as the material component used in the ritual (for example, using 500 gp of gold as a material component causes the ritual to teleport all gold in the area). The area must be one the primary caster is familiar with and can clearly visualize, although he need not have line of sight or line of effect to the area at the time the ritual is performed. The sudden removal of these resources can cause the ground in the selected area to shift or collapse.

This Ritual would allow you to transport all the Adamantine in an area to you when you're on the EPE, allowing you to quickly harvest resources. As a ritual there are consequences for using it however, and you also face some GM fiat on whether it is allowed or not. This is likely the easiest method of extraction though.

Rod Of Metal and Mineral Detection

This rod is valued by treasure hunters and miners alike, for it pulses and hums in the wielder’s hand in the proximity of metal. As the wearer aims the rod, the pulsations grow more noticeable as it points to the largest mass of metal within 30 feet. However, the wielder can also concentrate on a specific metal or mineral. If the specific mineral is within 30 feet, the rod points to any places it is located, and the rod wielder knows the approximate quantity as well. If more than one deposit of the specified metal or mineral is within range, the rod points to the largest cache first. Each operation requires a full-round action.

This could be used to find resources in the area when you're on the EPE. You would have to dig through the earth however, so spells such as Stone Shape or Move Earth will be useful. I hope you packed a shovel, because you're going to be digging a lot. Earth Glide is also useful, allowing you to go through the ground to find deposits.

Locate Object

You sense the direction of a well-known or clearly visualized object. You can search for general items, in which case you locate the nearest of its kind if more than one is within range. Attempting to find a certain item requires a specific and accurate mental image; if the image is not close enough to the actual object, the spell fails. You cannot specify a unique item unless you have observed that particular item firsthand (not through divination).

The spell is blocked by even a thin sheet of lead. Creatures cannot be found by this spell. Polymorph any object and nondetection fool it.

This one may not work, the idea is we search for adamantine in general with it and get busy digging until we hit it. Rinse and repeat.

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As an alternate method you can use Blood Money and Fabricate.

By using blood money and taking 7 points of strength damage, you can use fabricate to create an Adamantine Longsword or other objects made of Adamantine, and store them until you've gathered enough to make the golem. Just beware of the books or dice that may be flung at your head by the GM when you bring up this idea.

Answer 2

Look at Numeria

Ever since a starship crashed into Numeria, it is one of the regions in the world of Golarion that has the most Adamantine, known commonly there as Numerian steel for that reason.

Numeria is for the most part a land of few natural resources. It contains large, windswept plains and few forests of any size. It is, however, the largest supplier of skymetals in the Inner Sea region, seven rare metals that were part of the ship that crashed on Numeria's plains during the Rain of Stars. These skymetals each have their own distinct properties and are useful in the construction of weapons and various magical artifacts. Of the seven, adamantine is the most common and known throughout the region as "Numerian steel".

But as shown in this other answer, that is not the only source of Adamantine, which is merely a type of rare metal from another world, commonly called as skymetals in Golarion.

Smithing adamantine

We had that discussion in this other question on this site. The price per pound of adamantine is not known, but considering that Adamantine Ore is priced similarly to Mithral in 3.5's Draconomicon, it should be at least 500 gb per pound.

In Shadow in the Sky (Second Darkness book #1), we found out that dwarves figured out long ago how to easily smith adamantine, using carbauxine gas:

Weapons made of adamantine are incredibly hard and durable, and adamantine blades can cut through almost any material with ease. It can also be fashioned into incredibly dense, protective armor.4 Manipulating the metal requires special forges capable of reaching extreme temperatures due to its high melting point. The dwarves long-ago discovered that carbauxine gas could be collected and used for this purpose.6

And here we have more info mentioning Numeria:

The town of Torch in Numeria is also capable of easily working with adamantine and other skymetals. Indeed, the town is founded on its capability for metalworking and smithing, even though the strange purple flame in the town that is used for forging can be dangerously unstable.

Having read the adventure that details this town (Iron Gods), and not trying to spoil anything, they have a large forge in the middle of the city that is fueled by alien technology, which projects a heat bean in the sky that is hot enough to melt adamantine.

Answer 3

Blood Money and/or Fabricate are the most reliable way to solve material needs for any high-level caster

While fabricate can, by itself, double the quantity of any single raw material you choose to use per casting, until you're dealing with quantities in excess of 1 cubic foot per caster level (i.e. more than enough adamantine to build your golem, even if the entire 100k is in adamantine alone-- adamantine is a whopping 300 gp per pound so ~50k gp per cubic foot), it can't normally make adamantine ingots unless you already have something expensive made out of adamantine. That means you usually want to use Blood Money to start off the process, and then repeatedly use fabricate on the produced adamantine ingots to continue from there. You'll also want to spend some money on a casting of Restoration, probably, to heal the damage dealt by Blood Money, but that's not strictly necessary.

Just buying it from the store is the most reliable method to acquire goods in general

Rogues have access to several abilities that allow them to determine what is available for sale in a town and at what price, among other setting details. These require only sufficiently high Diplomacy checks and let you spend your money however you feel like, often with a pretty steep discount. And that's assuming you/your rogue doesn't want to just go steal the goods outright.

By far the most important of these abilities is the rogue talent Black Market Connections which lets a rogue introduce artifacts and other priceless unique magic items to the game, but which also ensures the rogue can buy you a 10K block of adamantine in any small city or larger settlement with a 75% chance of success per week. If you have more money and are in a time crunch and can't tolerate that 25% failure rate, the rogue can buy magic items made of adamantine in any metropolis with a 100% chance of success, but the value of the adamantine used in such cases is often a lot less than the gold you put out for it and you can't use Fabricate to recoup the losses since that spell doesn't affect magic items (though you can still use Fabricate to make the money you need to buy the thing in the first place, of course). If you're going this more expensive route, Daern's Instant Fortress is probably your best bet, giving you 4 40'X20' sheets of adamantine and 2 20'x20' sheets plus some smaller pieces for 55 K gp.

Answer 4

Going along a different, more story based, harvesting path (will's answer covers harvesting by yourself pretty well); from the link you shared...

A adamantine golem’s body is made of more than 4,000 pounds of adamantine, mithral, gold, platinum, and other metals worth a total of 100,000 gp.

and under the requirements

Construction
Requirements Craft Construct, crushing fist, geas/quest, heal, stoneskin, wish, creator must be caster level 20th; Skill Craft (sculpture) DC 35; Cost 350,000 gp

And while the description is just ignorable fluff, it does say

The vast amount of adamantine required to build even one of these destructive golems is so significant that most worlds do not have enough resources, forcing the creator to travel to the Plane of Earth or remote Outer Planes simply to gather the raw materials needed to build the golem’s body.

Interestingly, despite the description, the RAW says as long as you have a piece of adamantine, mithral, gold, platinum, and enough other metals (like iron) to hit the 4k lb and 100k gp marks, you've satisfied the requirements. The fact that you included the cost of buying 100k gp in raw material in your construction cost (since harvesting 100k gp in anything by definition inflates your total assets by 100k gp) implies you want to be as lazy about this as possible.

Befriend the Merchant Guild

Whether it's a guild, association, or loose network of reliable people; the merchant's guild will be a valuable ally for getting connections for purchasing large amounts of raw material. You can even approach the local smithy to help you get in contact with their supply chain (since even common metals will contribute). The bigger the guild, the more likely they will know a guy who can help you get your hands on the rarer metals, and you may be able to secure a bulk discount from the mines directly.

Even if you want to be fair to RAI and use mostly adamantine, you can team up with high profile individuals in the guild to do a harvest run with (Transport caravans, heavy duty mining magic/equipment, harvesting areas too dangerous for your party alone, etc.). This will allow you to harvest more in few trips, and everyone profits. (Efficiency through mutual benefits)

Befriend the Adventurers Guild

Similar to the merchant's guild, the adventurer's guild will be useful for connecting with people of higher level magic / fighting capability. They also should have a vast trove of useful adventure information, like how to obtain large amounts of precious metals. Similar to the merchant's guild, you will want to use your connections here to find/tackle risky/high-profit adventures.

Befriend the (Black) Market

With the sear amount of material you need, you will probably want to pick up as much material as you can in every city you pass though. If you can get a connection to the black market as well, they will have more of the rarer metals (though, beware of scammers / local law enforcement; The DM has much more control of story based connections than class feature ones).

Create your own Organization

You are going to need a safe place to keep this hoard while you are in the stockpiling phase. Even with bags of holding, due to limits on the bag, it won't be easy to keep all the material with you. By establishing your own stronghold, you can keep your stockpile safe their, while obtaining a (small) army of (low level peasant) fighters that you can deploy to extend your networking influence and help reduce transport costs.

To be honest this one is kind of a lot of red tape/work. Definitely talk to your DM to make sure they are ok with it, and establish how much attention/effort will go into this side project.

Befriend a Deity/Demon/powerful-entity-from-beyond-the-veil

This will require the DM to sign off on, but powerful godlike creatures could easily harvest and give you the material. They also obviously won't do it for free, and they have no interest in gold. How you pay them would be up to you and the DM, but depending on the DM can turn into a really interesting side story. Especially if you agree to a magically binding blank check (like an idiot)!

(If shenanigans are okay) Kill your character

You know what is more efficient than gathering resources? Multiple people trying to achieve the same thing! Be a loose conglomerate of associates for golems. When the total stockpile is reached, start a winner takes all war and the sole survivor becomes your character.