D&D General What would you do? (Example from my game)

[el-remmen]

or have a discussion about why that seems to be happening frequently and what we can do to mitigate it.

This discussion has been had a lot and we all know the answer.

 

[Horwath]

use druids spell slot to heal who needs most healing(people at 1Hp) and make a break for it.
Bunker somewhere in the wilds and then re scout the area before continuing.

 

[Horwath]

(with chainmail +1

off topic;
maybe this is a munchkin talking out of me right now,
but I always wondered, why +1 chainmail exists?

maybe as custom order from a weakling noble that is too frail to wear a full plate?

why would someone bother to enchant piece of sh## boot camp grunt armor that gets replaced probably by 2nd level?

now, in 3.5e, most armors had sense as they had different max DEX and check penalty, so most armors were a compromise and dependent on your dex score. Sure there was trash armor there, but in every category there were 2 or 3 armors that were equally viable. Except medium armor, there was breastplate and nothing else.

why would some mage bother to enchant heavy armor that is not full plate?
just dont waste my time with that garbage...

 

[el-remmen]

off topic;
maybe this is a munchkin talking out of me right now,
but I always wondered, why +1 chainmail exists?

maybe as custom order from a weakling noble that is too frail to wear a full plate?

why would someone bother to enchant piece of sh## boot camp grunt armor that gets replaced probably by 2nd level?

now, in 3.5e, most armors had sense as they had different max DEX and check penalty, so most armors were a compromise and dependent on your dex score. Sure there was trash armor there, but in every category there were 2 or 3 armors that were equally viable. Except medium armor, there was breastplate and nothing else.

why would some mage bother to enchant heavy armor that is not full plate?
just dont waste my time with that garbage...

I guess it just depends on if you only see it mechanically, where the rules of the game are perfectly reflected in the reality of the world and only those rules, or whether there are issues of available resources and aesthetic preferences which might effect those choices, which is how i prefer to think of things.

But I think, “that’s what was available to enchant at the time” is a perfectly cromulent answer as well.

Anyway, this armor like most magical items in my game, has other abilities I didn’t bother to list since they didn’t seem relevant to the situation (unlike , for example, the halfling’s bow’s pass without trace ability)

 

[Horwath]

Anyway, this armor like most magical items in my game, has other abilities I didn’t bother to list since they didn’t seem relevant to the situation (unlike , for example, the halfling’s bow’s pass without trace ability)

that is great. +X only items are boring as hell.
but still, the new rules about small species and Heavy weapons, what is the point of having shortbow over longbow?
you do not have 13dex? you dont need any bow.

 

[el-remmen]

but still, the new rules about small species and Heavy weapons, what is the point of having shortbow over longbow?

Not sure about the new rules. We play with house ruled 2014 rules. Small folk can’t use a long bow (in fact the magic of the halfling’s bow let’s it count as a long bow for him).

you do not have 13dex? you dont need any bow.

I don’t understand this claim.

 

[Koloth]

off topic;
maybe this is a munchkin talking out of me right now,
but I always wondered, why +1 chainmail exists?

maybe as custom order from a weakling noble that is too frail to wear a full plate?

why would someone bother to enchant piece of sh## boot camp grunt armor that gets replaced probably by 2nd level?

now, in 3.5e, most armors had sense as they had different max DEX and check penalty, so most armors were a compromise and dependent on your dex score. Sure there was trash armor there, but in every category there were 2 or 3 armors that were equally viable. Except medium armor, there was breastplate and nothing else.

why would some mage bother to enchant heavy armor that is not full plate?
just dont waste my time with that garbage...

Depending on the game version, chain vs plate was medium vs heavy. Also encumbrance, if important, there is a small weight difference. Possible that in game, a wizard owes you a favor now and the best armor available is chain.

But if you are a heavy armor character, chain seems a bit silly unless it is the only thing available. If the old school rust monster has just rendered your +2 full plate a pile of worthless pile of rust, that chain starts looking mighty good.

If the adventure was converted from an earlier/different system, chain vs plate might have been missed in the conversion.

 

[el-remmen]

Some folks just don't care about sub/optimal choices, and that's okay.

 

[billd91]

Some folks just don't care about sub/optimal choices, and that's okay.

It's also worth considering what the magic item (in this case armor) represents in the setting. Plate may be an option for PCs now, but it may not have been an option for the lost empire that crafted it for a famous warlord who served their monarch well in a troubled time.

One of the things I notice in these discussions of what is an optimal choice is the relative lack of trade-offs. With respect to armor, there's cost, strength requirements, weight, and whether or not stealth is at disadvantage to differentiate them and offer any reason to NOT go for the best AC on the subtable you have access to by training. And both weight and cost are minimal factors since almost nobody seems to use encumbrance as a rule and PCs blow past the cost restriction quickly in their adventuring lives. All heavy armors impose disadvantage on stealth, so that's not a factor either. So why opt for chainmail instead of plate? Presumably because your strength topped out below 15. And that's IT. That may be a factor for a cleric who has proficiency in heavy armor, but is it really a factor for a fighter or paladin? Probably not. And frankly, splint armor might as well not even be on the table, right?
Unfortunately, basic pluses for magic armor aren't really a help here since they just shift the AC of the armor. And this is where D&D's evolution tends to work against itself. In several prior editions, magic armor's weight was ignored in calculating encumbrance or it stopped reducing movement rates. But those are functionally irrelevant in 5e. So why would anyone wear +1 splint armor when plate armor is available? The +1 splint armor is worth a lot more to sell, even with downtime rules, than wear.
Unless you find other reasons for it to be interesting... at least for the types of players who like that sort of thing.

 

[el-remmen]

It's also worth considering what the magic item (in this case armor) represents in the setting. Plate may be an option for PCs now, but it may not have been an option for the lost empire that crafted it for a famous warlord who served their monarch well in a troubled time.

Yeah, that's what I meant when I referred to "available resources."