Xeviat
Hero
... You're joking right?
D&D 5E Druid Armor Restrictions
... You're joking right?
CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
I think you are being unnecessarily confrontational, and deliberately obtuse, about the point I am making. If my approach doesn't work for you, by all means, ignore me.
cmad1977
Hero
Someone’s off their meds.
bedir than
Full Moon Storyteller
I've never considered what to do if someone playing a Druid wanted armor benefits that aren't part of being a Druid. Getting hit once or twice more in an adventuring day shouldn't be a big deal
I'm playing a land druid and and I think the armor limitation is a fun feature to RP. Knowing that she couldn't just walk into a store and buy normal armor, it has been a major motivation for her to find something to make natural armor out of, the right person to make it, and enough gold to pay for it. At 6th level she paid someone to make studded leather using animal tusks and teeth she had been collecting whenever possible. I think it cost double plus some trade goods. At level 9 the party killed a green dragon and she skinned it and eventually used the dragon's chest plates to make a breastplate with some stylish dragon scale trim at the waist and shoulders. It took awhile to find someone to make it at 2x the cost of a regular breastplate. We never have much wealth accumulated so it has cost just about everything she had just to upgrade AC by 1 each time. Upgrading from AC 14 to 16 from level 1 to level 9, and spending most of her gold to do it, is hardly remarkable or unbalanced compared to other classes. Heck, wizards can have AC 16 at level 1 with mage armor. What's the point of med armor proficiency if you can't eventually find some?
I
Immortal Sun
Guest
Scale armor can be made from animals who have appropriate scales (mostly lizards and some fish). Heavier "plate" armor can be made from animals whose armor is more plate-like (giant insects and dragon-like creatures). The biggest limitation is availability (these creatures are typically rare) and someone who can craft gear from them.
I also allow "wooden" armor (and weapons!) made from various hardwoods for heavy armor. Again, finding the material and someone capable of crafting with it is the hard part far more than the monetary cost. These craftsmen will usually require you to provide the materials and go on some quest go give him supplies.
When accounting for moon druids these armors will almost always either "merge" with the wildshape in a way that gives the wild shape a scaled or bark-covered appearance and still function, or they will shapeshift to fit the animal forms.
I also allow "wooden" armor (and weapons!) made from various hardwoods for heavy armor. Again, finding the material and someone capable of crafting with it is the hard part far more than the monetary cost. These craftsmen will usually require you to provide the materials and go on some quest go give him supplies.
When accounting for moon druids these armors will almost always either "merge" with the wildshape in a way that gives the wild shape a scaled or bark-covered appearance and still function, or they will shapeshift to fit the animal forms.
Mouseferatu
Hero
Let us not lose sight of the fact that the druid restriction of "no metal armor" isn't a game balance decision; it's purely a legacy flavor thing.
And yes, this has been stated outright. (And no, I don't have a link to the source. You can take my word for it, or not.)
And yes, this has been stated outright. (And no, I don't have a link to the source. You can take my word for it, or not.)
ad_hoc
(they/them)
If you take the "flavor" out of the game what is there left?
Mouseferatu
Hero
I'm not arguing against flavor. Heck, I'm on record as saying that a D&D manual that isn't as inspiring to read as it is useful for play is a failure.
But specific flavor varies group to group and table to table. If the restrictions on druid armor aren't important to that group--and let us remember that they aren't even ditching said restrictions, just finding alternate methods of armor creation--there's no sin being committed. I'm sure they find plenty of alternate flavor elsewhere in the campaign, or maybe just in deciding what the heavier armors can be made of.
"Reskinning" is, in general, a way to improve flavor--for an individual game or character, if not for the whole game--and that's essentially all that's happening here.
Dessert Nomad
Adventurer
In the actual text of the books, the armors that are listed as not being made of metal are padded, leather, studded leather, hide, spiked armor (SCAG), and ring mail. (This is also what's legal for a druid in Adventuerer's League to wear). In my campaign, I don't have spiked, but do allow non-metal versions of chain shirt, scale, and breastplate at +50% cost and have things like half-plate and heavy armors as something you have to find in the world. I think that the 'non metal armor' restriction wasn't really thought out when they wrote the game rules and the lack of a couple of sentences to sort it out is pretty obnoxious. I suspect that the fact that it's not even clear what armor you can get is one of the contributing factors to druids as the least played class.
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