Yeah, what MarqFJA87 says, but in exactly opposite order. Gold is noticeably inferior (with almost 50% higher resistance) to copper in conductivity, and silver is slightly (5%) better and much more pricey than copper.
...though the difference is slight, so silver being supernaturally purifying would probably make up for any possible deficiency in conducting magical energy.
Well, gold is objectively much better at conducting electricity than either copper or silver, so the "help the smith enchant some protective magic" idea has merit if the magic involves some kind of mystical energy. Funnily enough, copper is better than silver despite being considered "inferior",...
Wooden weapons can still be effective just not as effective as a regular metal one. Just look at a Bokken, yeah it's wooden but it can still break bones while potentially being lethal compared to a real sword which could do worse.
Even better is when wolves drop weapons and armour. Ok, i can suspend my disbelief and say that gold and gems are from them eating people, i can even forgive the hammer. But how the hell did a wolf eat a claymore or full plate armour??
You want it worse? Apex Golden Knockdown shield. The Golden Helmet, Armor, and backpack helps you. The KD shield is a literal target that get you killed fast (either because you don't use it, or use it and let everyone know why they should kill you fast)
The Bard's Tale quickly satirizes, and then removes, all the dumb looting items that make no sense. Wolves only drop pelts, picnic baskets, and red cloaks.
Don't forget - gold is also significantly heavier than Lead.
And Albert - the glass used by elves is a strong volcanic glass, valued mostly for its hardness and light weight. It still breaks somewhat easily, though.
And then there's The Elder Scrolls where Elves can make fully functional, non-magical armor out of GLASS for no good reason. It makes me think they took Tolkien's note about Elves being such great craftsmen that what is mundane to them is deemed magical by everyone else too literally.
Gold is also heavy, ~1.7x as heavy as lead. For a (kinda) realistic loot system, look at Final Fantasy XII. They even have flavor text for all these pelts, bones, and crystals that monsters drop for your viewing pleasure.
Reminds me of the Rococo Armor from Arcana. Highest gold value, but one of the lowest defensive values. It was basically just expensive vendor trash. XD
When the famous Musashi fought Kojiro, a skilled swordman famous for his style using a long sword giving him reach advantage over Musashi’s two shorter swords he crafted a wood sword using an oar taking advantage of the longer reach defeating and killing Kojiro. Wood weapons are still deadly weapons
Wood armour and weapons have traditionally been used. In both cases, metal is better obviously but large quantities of metal and metal workers aren't always available.
In like Minecraft's case, gold is weak (barely better than leather, and weaker than chainmail, somewhere between leather and iron in strength) but enchants well. In something like Terraria's case... magic? I'd assume it's really some alloy like Electrum, and they just called it Gold for easy's sake.
