Encouraging no armour use.

[Kzach]

Although I'm generally a fan of 4e's abstraction, there are still some parts of me that gets irked by little things like being able to dance and sleep and walk around all day in heavy armour.

I'd like to create a nice and simple method of discouraging this and encouraging not wearing armour during 'down' times.

Sure, when you're tromping through the dungeon, by all means, walk around in plate mail, but travelling between cities, or even in and around cities and towns and whatnot, people just don't wear armour.

I also really like the idea of having encounters during down times where characters aren't always in their Sunday best. A bit of swashbuckling, acrobatic, athletic, candelabra brawl type action that's all fun and games till someone gets an eye poked out... and then the real fun begins

So I was hoping for some suggestions on how to go about this in 4e. I was thinking along the lines of burning healing surges and perhaps using Endurance checks, but I want to keep it as simple and easy to track as possible without creating an exercise in micro-management. Any ideas or thoughts?

 

[generalhenry]

even in and around cities and towns and whatnot, people just don't wear armour.

That's cultural, you also don't wield weapons in the city. Easy enough to enforce with RP. (city guards)

I also really like the idea of having encounters during down times where characters aren't always in their Sunday best.

Invite them to a social event where plate would not be acceptable. Fill the room with guests so the wizard's AOE doesn't work either.

Any ideas or thoughts?

To sum it up. Solve RP problems with RP solutions.

 

[Eyada]

Just remember to do something to badly nerf all of the other members in the party if you do an encounter where the "Tank" isn't allowed to be geared up. The encounter isn't fun for the party Fighter if he's the only one operating at a massive disadvantage. (Which he will be. Don't expect an unarmored Fighter to be able to stand up to anything close to what he could normally defeat.)

As to long-term discouragement of constantly wearing armor, I can only say that initially my group had the same mindset; however, after much deliberation, we eventually decided to simply say that Armor Proficiency (the Feat) entails knowledge of how to operate in said armor for extended durations without suffering physical side-effects --assuming that any reasonable opportunities to remove the armor and bathe/clean the armor are taken. Ultimately, it's a game balance issue, and enforcing armor "fatigue" only penalizes one person in the party while leaving others completely unaffected, and, as such, is generally unfun. So we ditched it.

 

[generalhenry]

simply say that Armor Proficiency (the Feat) entails knowledge of how to operate in said armor for extended durations without suffering physical side-effects

yep. Crunch wise there's absolutely no problem with armored characters wearing armor all the time. Simply put, they're balanced that way.

So there's no need to touch the crunch at all.

 

[chromeraven]

You want them to take their armor off during down time, don't ambush them during downtime. Plate wearers especially are going to hate you if you're always ambushing them when they're down around AC 10.

If you have to kick them while they're down, give them their normal AC. explain it as the adrenaline rush of fighting for one's life in ones skivvy's making them just as dodgey as the rogue.

 

[Kzach]

If I had wanted to be told this was a bad idea, then I would've posted in the rules forum asking if it was a bad idea.

As it stands, I posted in the house rules forum asking for suggestions on how to enable this concept.

Really people, is it so much to ask that you stick to the topic? If you don't like the idea, create a whine post in another forum about it.

 

[Is_907]

If you have to kick them while they're down, give them their normal AC. explain it as the adrenaline rush of fighting for one's life in ones skivvy's making them just as dodgey as the rogue.

this does not mean that you are proposing a "bad idea." in fact, that's probably the best solution. although, I would suggest doing this:
make sure any combat (brawls, ambushes during camp-out rest, etc) are a bit easier and perhaps give them back half their armour AC for "adrenaline rush" (as mentioned above) and you'll be good to go.

 

[generalhenry]

how to enable this concept.

and two different solutions have been posted.

A. deal with it (an RP issue) with RP solutions
B. make it (an RP issue) crunch neutral

Any direct confrontation is just a nerf to heavy armor users. But the thing is, they're balanced as they are.

 

[chromeraven]

a further thought: do you include taking off your comfy magic cloak/necklace when you remove armor? If they're keeping this item on, something attacking vs. a non-AC defense might also be appropriate for non-armored encounters. Which roles shine will depend on which defense is being targetted, allowing a bit more customization than something that's solely attacking AC (where strikers and controllers will pretty much always shine vs. de-armored leaders and defenders)