Masterwork armor in OCB's new inventory

[Thraug]

I thought I understood how masterwork armors work in 4e but after trying to give out a L19 Benefactor chainmail armor to one of my players I'm not so sure I understand how they work or how they work in the new inventory view in the Online Character Builder.

For example, the character is a L7 Templar that currently has chainmail (no bonuses) and a light shield, giving him a AC of 20 (10 + 3 [1/2level] +6 [chain] +1 [light shield]. When I equip this character with L19 "Benefactor Chainmail +4" Chainmail, his AC goes from 20 to 27. When I equip him with "Benefactor Kankmail +4" his AC goes from 20 (basic chain) to 26, and his Will goes up 2.

What I don't understand is why basic chain gives 1 more AC than Kankmail. Is this basic chain the best masterwork material available? I've lost track of what all of the masterwork armors are at this point, and what they do. :/

 

[Ryujin]

Sounds like a bug, that should be reported. Chainmail has a basic AC bonus of 6. Kankmail has a basic AC bonus of 8, with an additional +2 to Will. To those numbers, you add the enhancement bonus, to get the AC.

 

[Mentat55]

Not a bug. Since Essentials came out, magic armor not only has an enhancement bonus, but the armor bonus also increases. This matches the original masterwork armor tables from the PHB1 and some of the follow-up masterwork armors (but not the masterwork armor that also gives a boost to another defense or adds damage resist).

In the OP's example, the character is wearing +4 chainmail. According to the updated rules, the armor bonus provided by +4 chainmail is +9 (armor) +4 (enhancement) = +13, compared to mundane chainmail's +6 -- hence the increase in AC from 20 to 27.

For reference, see p. 344 of Heroes of the Fallen Lands or p. 345 of Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms.

 

[Ryujin]

Neither of which I own. Go figure; they built a math fix into the basic rules.

 

[the Jester]

That math fix was always built into the rules, but it was easy to overlook. All magic item of sufficient enhancement bonus was supposed to be masterwork; masterwork armor adds some extra armor bonus to the armor on top of the enhancement bonus.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Yeah, all Essentials really did was get rid of the explicit concept of Masterwork, the armor bonuses work the same as ever. Not sure how the +defense armors work into that, haven't really tested those.

 

[mneme]

Indeed. I really like the idea here of even making the "basic" armors of each type effectively masterwork with sufficient enhancement bonus. It was always intended that all armor with a sufficient bonus would be masterwork (even were it magically enhanced by the players); that was built into the scaling of the game.

But previously, it was possible for a GM to misinterpret the rule and decide to deny players access to masterwork armors -- making PCs easier to hit than they should be and badly hosing heavy armor wearers who needed the large masterwork bonuses to keep up with light armor.

 

[Colmarr]

Not a bug. Since Essentials came out, magic armor not only has an enhancement bonus, but the armor bonus also increases.

** blink **

How is it that I haven't heard of this before now?!

I don't own either HotFX book, but aside from that

So, are the basic masterwork armours still in the game? Godplate is pointless if plain plate provides the same AC at the relevant level. Obviously there's still room for the masterworks that swap AC for some other bonus.

 

[IanB]

** blink **

How is it that I haven't heard of this before now?!

I don't own either HotFX book, but aside from that

So, are the basic masterwork armours still in the game? Godplate is pointless if plain plate provides the same AC at the relevant level. Obviously there's still room for the masterworks that swap AC for some other bonus.

It's just down to whether you call it godplate or not, +6 platemail is essentially godplate. I'm happy enough to get rid of the silly names, personally, but there's no reason you can't keep calling it godplate if you like the names.

 

[ceiling90]

That's how I always thought it to be... Platemail turns into Godplate, so a +6 platemail... was always godplate. Unless you changed the properties to something like Tarrask Plate or whatever.

So they got rid of the silly names, so a +6 plate, is just +6 plate, with the higher masterwork AC value, and something like Tarrask plate had different properties, and lower masterwork ac value.

I didn't even notice.