D&D 5E Can your Druids wear metal armor?

[J.Quondam]

Does a tinfoil hat count as a helmet? And is that considered "armor" for this purpose?

 

[Faolyn]

@Faolyn - Great find! Thanks. There is always more stuff out there; that said, I limited it to 1986 for a reason; in the interregnum after UA and before 2e, there was some strange expansions to the rules and the classes as the superstructure of OD&D/1e was groaning and falling apart (IMO). Still, I can't think of any other clear references like that.* Awesome!

*DMG, p. 43, states that "Elfin" chain mail is not subject to heat metal because it's ... not ferrous based? So it's not metal, maybe? At some point ... I can't even.

Maybe it's actually made of crystals. D&D has always said that gems have negligible weight, so a suit made of crystals should by definition be very light-weight. After all, the main selling point of elven chain is that it's so light you can wear it under your clothes. And crystals aren't subject to heat metal...

(In all seriousness, I imagine that Gygax or whoever decided that only ferrous metals were subjected to heat metal probably didn't want to go around melting people's gold pieces/XP.)

And hey, I like Bunnies & Burrows!

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Maybe it's actually made of crystals. D&D has always said that gems have negligible weight, so a suit made of crystals should by definition be very light-weight. After all, the main selling point of elven chain is that it's so light you can wear it under your clothes. And crystals aren't subject to heat metal...

How you like my elfin chain today?

 

[Oofta]

This thread is gunning for "longest circular discussion without being shut down by the mods."

Maybe we should start discussing whether there should be [race that originally was only in the 5E MM redacted] druids and their alignment so it gets shut down? Because I feel compelled to keep reading this silly thread because I've contributed.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Maybe we should start discussing whether there should be [race that originally was only in the 5E MM redacted] druids and their alignment so it gets shut down? Because I feel compelled to keep reading this silly thread because I've contributed.

DRUIDS MUST BE TRUE NEUTRAL!!!! JUST LIKE GOD & GYGAX INTENDED!!!!!!!

That is the only way for druids. Take ur player agency and smoke it.

If you're not neutral, you ain't a druid.


...how's that?

 

[Undrave]

I am not confusing them. But they both have the same result: the thing not being done.

Except that's not how you write rules for a game! You don't use two words to mean the same damn thing. Words matter! "Will not" is not the same words as "Cannot".

Back to my Yu-gi-oh example: some cards are formulated as "If X happen, you do Y" and others are formulated as "When X happen, you do Y". In common parlance those would be pretty identical, but in terms of RULES, there's a world of ruling between them. "When... you can" can miss timing but not "If... you can". It's essentially arbitrary, but it is an important distinction.

You can't just switch words in rules with their synonyms and expect them to be treated the same... that's shoddy rule text construction!

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Except that's not how you write rules for a game!

That's how WotC writes rules for a game, like it or not.

You don't use two words to mean the same damn thing. Words matter! "Will not" is not the same words as "Cannot".

They're not the same, but neither most definitely means 'totally will!" or even "might" and it is absurd to assume that.

You can't just switch words in rules with their synonyms and expect them to be treated the same... that's shoddy rule text construction!

Yes you can. And sure, it is a bit shoddy, but doesn't stop the rule applying. D&D 5e is written in natural language, I'm sure you could find all sort of minor inconsistencies if you started to look for them, and it would be ludicrous to assume that any such instance would stop a rule being a rule.

 

[DnD Warlord]

Wow this thread is hard to keep up with

so in my (real honest and only partially powergaming ) example of being a Druid/cleric/paliden is the phrase “a Druid will not xxxx” countered with “but a paliden would”?

to go more on point would it matter that I never planned on taking more Druid levels (I just needed cantrips and 1st level spells for my concept)

 

[DnD Warlord]

Then you're not following the rule. This is not hard.

Does not this thread show there is no consensus on if it is or is not a rule?

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Wow this thread is hard to keep up with

so in my (real honest and only partially powergaming ) example of being a Druid/cleric/paliden is the phrase “a Druid will not xxxx” countered with “but a paliden would”?

to go more on point would it matter that I never planned on taking more Druid levels (I just needed cantrips and 1st level spells for my concept)

Technically it wouldn't. 'Will not' is part of the rules of druid class, so it doesn't go away by gaining levels in another class. Now if majority of levels are paladin, then certainly might be a good reason for GM to waive the restriction. Though it seems far cooler to me to give the druid/paladin some sort of naturey chitin and/or wood based magical armour.