A question about Clothborn armor from Relics & Rituals

[Abraxas]

A simple question - Does anyone know how the costs for the Clothborn armor enhancement (S&S's Relics & Rituals pg 154) were arrived at?

 

[Nightfall]

Badly. The errata for it was put up...but then they changed it again. Checking my copy of PG: Fighters and Barbarians, they list it as straight 21,500 gp. But that's for half plate only. I imagine someone forgot to do the rest of the armors.
Here's the link

 

[masque]

A simple question - Does anyone know how the costs for the Clothborn armor enhancement (S&S's Relics & Rituals pg 154) were arrived at?

The guy who wrote that was my DM for a while (Bryan Shipp, good man, a little intense though), and had them up on our campaign information website. For a really long time it was down, and now it's back (http://www.titansword.com).

I don't know exactly how it was put together, and so this is all speculation (keep that in mind).

Here is his original from the Room 209 Gaming website, cut and pasted without permission. This may be exactly the same as in the R&R book, but I don't have it or the eratta available to check. Any differences came from editing (source: http://www.titansword.com/Room209/items.asp).

Clothbearer Armor: These suits of armor appear to be normal clothing. When struck by an opponent, however, they prove to be as hard as steel. Clothbearer Armor provides an Armor bonus to AC from +1 to +8. In all other ways, Clothbearer armor behaves as Padded armor, with a weight of 10 lb, a maximum Dex bonus of +8, an armor check penalty of 0, and an Arcane spell failure rate of 5%. Note that the prices listed assume that the armor will be created from normal clothing. If the Clothbearer enchantment is placed on an actual suit of armor, the cost of the Masterwork armor (with the appropriate Armor bonus) must be added to the listed price. Caster Level: 7th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Mage Armor, creator’s class level must be twice that of the bonus placed on the armor; Market Price: 3,400 gp (+2), 7,650 gp (+3), 13,600 gp (+4), 21,250 gp (+5), 30,600 gp (+6), 41,650 gp (+7), 54,400 gp (+8); Weight: 10 lb

Compare with Leatherbearer armor, farther down on the website:

Leatherbearer Armor: These suits of armor often appear to be leather clothing or light leather armor. When struck by an opponent, however, they prove to be as hard as steel. Leatherbearer Armor provides an Armor bonus to AC from +1 to +8. In all other ways, Leatherbearer armor behaves as Leather armor, with a weight of 15 lb, a maximum Dex bonus of +6, an armor check penalty of 0, and an Arcane spell failure rate of 10%. Note that the prices listed assume that the armor will be created from leather clothing. If the Leatherbearer enchantment is placed on an actual suit of armor, the cost of the Masterwork armor (with the appropriate Armor bonus) must be added to the listed price. Caster Level: 7th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Mage Armor, creator’s class level must be twice that of the bonus placed on the armor; Market Price: 6,300 gp (+3), 11,200 gp (+4), 17,500 gp (+5), 25,200 gp (+6), 34,300 gp (+7), 44,800 gp (+8); Weight: 15 lb.

And now, Bracers of ARmor:

Bracers of Armor: These items appear to be wrist or arm guards. They surround the wearer with an invisible but tangible field of force, granting him an armor bonus of +1 to +8, just as though he were wearing armor. Both bracers must be worn for the magic to be effective.
Moderate conjuration; CL 7th; Craft Wondrous Item, mage armor, creator’s caster level must be at least two times that of the bonus placed in the bracers; Price 1,000 gp (+1), 4,000 gp (+2), 9,000 gp (+3), 16,000 gp (+4), 25,000 gp (+5), 36,000 gp (+6), 49,000 gp (+7), 64,000 gp (+8);Weight 1 lb.

Now, differences between costs for the original version and Bracers (done in my head, sorry for errors)...

+2: 600 gp
+3: 1350 gp
+4: 2400 gp
+5: 3750 gp
+6: 5400 gp
+7: 7350 gp
+8: 9600 gp

Um... hrm. I was hoping for some kind of obvious progression. In any case, I suppose it might be related to the difference in price between enchanted padded armor and bracers of armor.

I never understood the point besides the ability to go beyond the +5 enhancement armor bonus that Create Arms and Armor was limited to.

I suppose that was singularly unhelpful. I'm pretty sure that there's a pattern in there somewhere, because Mr. Shipp was far, far too methodical for it to be completely random.

Hope you find an answer.

 

[Nightfall]

Kind think my link helps...but okay.

 

[Abraxas]

Thanks folks.

Nightfall - I found that link already and was trying to find out the progression. From the prices listed in the table, the cost for clothborn armors up to Half-plate and Full-plate appears to be [(Armor Bonus - 1)^2]*1000. For Half-plate and Full-plate it appears to be (Armor Bonus^2)*1000. I was curious if there was a reason for the discrepancy.

The price in PG:Fighters & Barbarians doesn't fit any pattern that I can think of right now.

It appears that the only reason for this enhancement (for armor bonuses from +2 to +6) is to reduce the cost of obtaining a particular enhancement to armor class at a cost less than regular bracers.

Masque - the cost progression of the clothbearer armor you listed is [(Armor Bonus^2)*850]. It appears that Bryan Shipp decided that the limitation of effectively having bracers of armor with the encumbrance of padded armor should reduce the cost multiplier from 1000 to 850.

I have a player who is currently running a fighter/wizard who wants to obtain a suit of armor with this enhancement. I'm trying to decide if I want to let this into the game. If I do I will probably go with a cost of [(Armor Bonus^2)*900] and the same restriction of no additional enhancements.

 

[Nightfall]

Abraxes,

And probably the other reason is who REALLY sees a fighter wizard in full plate being able to get off a maximized empowered fireball without it fizzling? Just saying man.

Is he wanting the full plate or hopefully he'll settle for banded mail or something else a little lighter...