Special Armor

[blalien]

I do not understand the rules behind the special armor types, like Starleather or Godplate. The book says they're magic, but they're not listed in the magic item section. Exactly how much do these cost and what AC bonus do they give?

 

[davidthegnome]

From the way I understand it any magic armor with a bonus equal to or greater than the minimum designated in the armor chart can be that type. For example, Feyweave Armor has a minimum enhancement of +4 so it could be up to and including Troll Skin Armor on the chart. As far as the cost is concerned it is rolled into the magic item cost.

PHB p 214; Price: The item's cost in gold pieces. See individual magic items for their base market price and appropriate levels. The cost of masterwork armor is included in the cost of magic armor of 16th level or higher.

That's my best guess anyway. Feels like something may have been omitted though.

 

[blalien]

So for example...
Any plate mail with a +4 enhancement or higher, you may arbitrarily decide is made of warplate.
Any plate mail with a +6 enhancement, you may arbitrarily decide is made of warplate or godplate.
That seems like a very roundabout way of explaining things. An example or two wouldn't have killed them.
And we can probably assume that the +0 for cloth armor was meant to be a hyphen and is just a typo.

 

[Piratecat]

So for example...
Any plate mail with a +4 enhancement or higher, you may arbitrarily decide is made of warplate.
Any plate mail with a +6 enhancement, you may arbitrarily decide is made of warplate or godplate.
That seems like a very roundabout way of explaining things. An example or two wouldn't have killed them.
And we can probably assume that the +0 for cloth armor was meant to be a hyphen and is just a typo.

Think of the warplate, godplate, etc. as mithral or adamantine in 3e. You can have +5 plate armor, or you can have +5 warplate armor for more money (and a better AC). Each nifty sub-category is the same type as the base armor so it uses the same proficiencies. It's just better in certain ways, and has to be magical at a certain level to get.

If you want a timely explanation for that, think of Tony Stark's iron man armor if you dropped it into D&D. Let's say it's Godplate. If you crawled into it without its power source (ie a base level of magic enhancement), it wouldn't move. Add the power source (ie magic), and it's fantastic armor. 4e "special" armor is the same way. You need a baseline level of magic before it'll actually be wearable in combat.

That +0 for cloth isn't a typo. Wizards et al can have cloth armor (ie clothing) enhanced, so you can have +4 cloth armor. It's just that without magic it provides no protection.

 

[Irda Ranger]

If you want a timely explanation for that, think of Tony Stark's iron man armor if you dropped it into D&D. Let's say it's Godplate. If you crawled into it without its power source (ie a base level of magic enhancement), it wouldn't move. Add the power source (ie magic), and it's fantastic armor. 4e "special" armor is the same way. You need a baseline level of magic before it'll actually be wearable in combat.

I think a better explanation would be: just like Tony Stark's armor requires super high-tech computers and tools to be created, Starweave armor requires super high-magic to be created. The process of creating Starweave armor simply cannot result in anything less than +6 armor.

What I'm not sure about is whether the bonuses stack. So if you have Godplate +6, is it +14 to AC or +20 to AC? Is the magical bonus to AC already included in the number on the equipment list?

 

[Spatula]

Think of the warplate, godplate, etc. as mithral or adamantine in 3e. You can have +5 plate armor, or you can have +5 warplate armor for more money (and a better AC).

That doesn't seem to be correct, since the price for the special armor is said to be subsumed into the magic item cost - they have no cost of their own. Rather, all +4 or +5 armors are made of the first special material, and all +6 armors are made of the second. At least that's what I could gather; it is a bit confusing.

So there is no +4 (or +5) scale armor, only +4 (or +5) wyrmscale armor. And there is no +6 scale or wyrmscale, only +6 elderscale armor.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

That doesn't seem to be correct, since the price for the special armor is said to be subsumed into the magic item cost - they have no cost of their own.

Yep, that's how I understood it.

Rather, all +4 or +5 armors are made of the first special material, and all +6 armors are made of the second. At least that's what I could gather; it is a bit confusing.

So there is no +4 (or +5) scale armor, only +4 (or +5) wyrmscale armor. And there is no +6 scale or wyrmscale, only +6 elderscale armor.

I'm not so sure about this; I think you can have a +6 enhancement bonus on regular old plate or scale armor. Seems to me there is nothing wrong with that, other than having a weaker version of plate or scale. But I don't remember the RAW off-hand.

 

[Piratecat]

I could easily be wrong; I was trying to cite from memory. That'll teach me!

 

[Keenath]

My understanding was the same as Irda's -- that mastercraft armors are just made of bizarre materials that require a certain level of magic to be created -- so that "starweave" armor just has to be at least +3 or you couldn't make it at all.

Also, I could be wrong here, but I thought somebody said a while back that you couldn't MAKE like +4 armor out of regular steel and leather -- that you had to use some kind of exotic materials just to make it that powerful. So it's not like Adamantine, which costs a bunch extra, but rather "when you get +4 armor, pick one of these materials, each of which gives you a different special effect", and you can't really GET +4 armor with no special effect.

 

[Caliber]

I was perplexed by this area as well. If anyone manages to figure out how it works, I'm willing to offer a whole free internet!