D&D 5E Armor in D&DNext

[Transformer]

A lot of the ideas in here seem unnecessarily complicated to me. I think adding DR to the armor system, only for heavy armor, is a bit odd and unnecessary. I'm with YRUSirius; bump heavy armor by +2, medium by +1, and you're done. Or maybe lower light by one and raise heavy by one.

That way the armor the PCs generally end up with are:

Light - Chain Shirt: AC 13 + Dex
Medium - Splint: AC 15 + Half Dex
Heavy - Plate: AC 18

Now a guy with a Dex of less than +3 gets an advantage from Medium over Light, and a Light guy would need a +5 Dex to equal a plate wearer's AC.

 

[BobTheNob]

This might sound crazy, but perhaps, it's not meant to be "balanced"?

Believe it or not, not all armor is created equal. Maybe they are trying to make armor act like it does in the real world, not arbitrary game mechanics?

I dont disagree that there isnt a need to balance armor types, but you would at least expect that, given the fighter is MEANT to be durable and heavy armor is MEANT to be an advantage, that the imbalance should be in favor of heavy and not light.

The "historical accuracy" bit. I for one would never put historical accuracy before game relevance when designing equipment. I hate when they design 20 different items that are just variance on a theme and players only end up using one because its cheaper and better in game terms.

 

[Otakkun]

It's all bringing back memories of 3.5, where everyone was in a Chain Shirt, or Full Plate, because medium armor sucked.

Sometimes breastplate got used, only because Mithril changed it to Light class armor, making it less .

Those were the days

 

[Zaruthustran]

It does seem weird to have the non-fancy armors broken out at all. Each armor has a best-of-class: Chain Shirt for light, Splint for Medium, Plate for Heavy. You'll be able to afford the best armor after your second or third adventure; certainly by the time you hit 2nd level. So if the other armors won't be used for the other 9 levels, why even have them at all?

Also, I've always thought that shields shouldn't grant AC. They should grant cover.

 

[mlund]

It does seem weird to have the non-fancy armors broken out at all. Each armor has a best-of-class: Chain Shirt for light, Splint for Medium, Plate for Heavy. You'll be able to afford the best armor after your second or third adventure; certainly by the time you hit 2nd level. So if the other armors won't be used for the other 9 levels, why even have them at all?

Henchman, mercenaries, and NPC guards and soldiers.

Those market prices aren't just what adventures deal with for their own gear, but also barons and warlords (NPC or high-level PCs someday).

When you've got to outfit a hundred men-at-arms "top of the line" is not longer a given.

- Marty Lund

 

[Transformer]

Henchman, mercenaries, and NPC guards and soldiers.

Those market prices aren't just what adventures deal with for their own gear, but also barons and warlords (NPC or high-level PCs someday).

When you've got to outfit a hundred men-at-arms "top of the line" is not longer a given.

Yeah, pretty much, having obviously inferior armor that costs less right there in the table helps to add a little realism.

Besides, hasn't every edition of D&D had such an armor table, with the cheap armor no PC would be caught dead in on there just because everyone knows Studded Leather is a thing? Maybe I'm wrong; someone correct me then.

I don't really mind the table the way it is, provided the math is tweaked slightly. If there were a way to add a meaningful variety of armor in each class without doing something complicated and fiddly, I'd be open to it, but I dunno.

 

[shamsael]

For those who have seen the the How-to-Play pdf of the playtest document, you may have seen the Armor section. With the exception of the Tier 4 armors, they seem to be balanced in the following way:

Tier X Light armor with Dex 16 = Tier X Medium armor with Dex 18 > Tier X Heavy Armor

I kind of see a problem with this considering that the prices are problematic as well.

Tier 2 Medium Armor and Tier 3 Light armor is cheaper than Tier 1 Heavy Armor
Tier 2 Light armor is cheaper than Tier 1 Medium armor
Tier 3 Medium armor costs the same as Tier 2 Heavy armor

What are you thoughts on this?

I'm suspecting their might be some kind of proficiency system that we're not seeing yet wherein some classes just have to use heavy armor and can't effectively make use of the lighter options.

 

[Stalker0]

Upping armors by +1 would keep them in-line with a light armored/high dex character to a point, but eventually dex bonus will outpace armor.

Just a reminder that under the current rules a character can never have a dex higher than 20 (+5).

 

[Stalker0]

While I agree with keeping the inferior armors in there for realism and henchman, etc....I would put it in a seperate tables.

Adventurers start out with the good stuff normally, but the other table is there if the DM wants to use it. But no sense having newbies pick weak armor because they don't know better.

 

[On Puget Sound]

How is this for a first-approximation fix?
Slashing attacks get damage disadvantage (roll damage twice and use the lower result) vs heavy armor. Slashing attacks get +1 to attack.

Piercing attacks get damage disadvantage vs heavy armor. Piercing attacks score a critical hit on a 19 or 20.

Bludgeoning (I prefer "crushing", to account for constriction and rocks falling) attacks get no special properties vs any armor.

Weapons with more than one damage type can be used either way when attacking; the attacker specifies.

Most creatures with natural armor are treated as medium armor. Dragons, iron golems and a few others may be specified as "AC20, heavy", while pixies might be "AC20, light".

A few odds and ends:
Finesse bludgeoning (unarmed attacks, nunchaku) get damage dis vs heavy armor when used with finesse, but not when used with STR mod.
Chain or flexible weapons (flails) get +1 attack vs shields and/ or cover.