D&D 5E DMG Excerpt: Wonderous Items

[Leatherhead]

Yes but I meant in the first phase: if you have 103/103hp, put on the amulet, would you rule you now have 114/114hp or 103/114hp?

By RAW, it only does the second.

Considering it requires a rest to attune to an item, I would be willing to let the first slide.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

From this excerpt (along with those already released) we see the trend that offensive magical attack bonuses are a step ahead of defensive magical bonuses in rarity continues.

Armor ... Adamantine (Uncommon), +1 (Rare), +2 (Very Rare), +3 (Legendary)
Weapon ... +1 (Uncommon), +2 (Rare), +3 (Very Rare)

 

[Tormyr]

Yes but I meant in the first phase: if you have 103/103hp, put on the amulet, would you rule you now have 114/114hp or 103/114hp?

Sorry. I would go with 103/114hp. The Constitution modifier only affects max hp. You need something to fill that up. Although in my game because it is a 3.5 AP conversion we use milestones for gaining levels. If we hit the point to gain a level, I let them gain as much hp as their max increased.

 

[Fralex]

With regards to the issues people are having with adamantine armor, it doesn't look like it's supposed to be as good as magic armor. +1 armor is a step rarer than adamantine. I think it's just supposed to be better than regular armor. I mean, it's barely magical, this is just ordinary armor made from a fictional metal that's really hard.
Of course, nothing's stopping you from making magical +1 adamantine armor. But without the +1 built into it, you get to give it to lower-level adventurers. That's something.

 

[Dausuul]

I don't know. That adamantine armor will negate probably as much damage as a difference in AC of 1. And it would negate the big hits instead of the slowly strung out damage. I know our Paladin would have preferred to take 12d6 instead of 24d6 when the assassin surprised him.

If crits did double damage, then adamantine armor would have the same impact as +1 AC in most situations. Since crits only double the dice of damage and not the fixed mods, adamantine is usually not as good as a +1. This is clearly intentional, as adamantine armor is Uncommon while +1 armor is Rare.

However, if the enemy can crit with less than a natural 20, adamantine is typically better than +1 AC. Assassins and Champion fighters are two good examples. Another case would be if you get paralyzed or knocked unconscious and the monsters keep beating on you instead of moving on to the other PCs; in this case, adamantine is a godsend.

I rather like how it works out. Adamantine is generally less powerful than magic armor, but it is not strictly worse; it's different.