Adjusted armor

[Kerrick]

I never really thought about tweaking armor until I saw a thread on the Wizards boards where a few people were discussing it. After I started working on a new movement/encumbrance system, I had to adjust a few things armorwise, so I decided to go whole hog and redo the entire system.

So, I incorporated changes from a couple different sources - that thread, a post by someone on the 4E boards (Dex penalty instead of Max Dex) - and added a few changes of my own.

Since it's a big table and would look better in Word, I'll summarize the changes here:

Max Dex was changed to a Dex penalty. This affects everyone more equally, and doesn't penalize those who use light armor as much.

Arcane spell failure is gone. I've always thought that it was unfair that mages were penalized when it came to armor, but clerics/druids could wear it without penalty. Instead, I implemented a Concentration penalty - ALL spellcasters must make Concentration checks while wearing armor, but having the Armored Spellcaster feat (see the attached doc) reduces them slightly. The main problem I can see here is that high-level mages could take a couple feats and run around casting in plate mail with little or no problem, but I'm sure they've got better things to blow their feats on. I'm sure most would take AP Light at the least, simply because even a 1st-2nd level mage can wear padded or leather with a reasonable chance of casting spells.

Speed was tweaked. Chain shirt and breastplate have been reduced slightly, and all Medium armors have also been reduced. This was done partly to tie into the encumbrance rules I’m working on, and partly to balance out the best armors in Light and Medium categories – they provide the best armor bonus for that class, but they’re also the heaviest (chain shirt is just as heavy as hide), so it’s logical for them to reduce the wearer’s speed slightly. This will, I think, prevent people from going for chain shirts and breastplate as soon as they can.

Weights for chainmail and several of the shields were adjusted slightly in keeping with the above.

Shields have also been adjusted. Steel shields, being heavier than wooden ones, have greater penalties to offset their greater strength and shield bonus. All shields have a Concentration penalty – having several pounds of wood or steel hanging off one arm tends to hamper spellcasting – as well as a (small) Dex penalty. Bucklers were also lightened up (and their prices reduced slightly), to make them more attractive than light shields.

This is only a first version, so any comments/criticisms are welcome.

 

[calebw]

there are armor variant rules in unearthed arcana. they talk about translating it into damage reduction and the like. you also might want to look at that book for ideas.
overall, not too bad. i like how you replaced spell failure with a concentration check penalty. makes alot more sense then just plan failing.

 

[Kerrick]

Sorry, due to technical difficulties, I've been offline for the last week.

there are armor variant rules in unearthed arcana. they talk about translating it into damage reduction and the like. you also might want to look at that book for ideas.

Yeah... I'm not really interested in armor as DR, though.

overall, not too bad. i like how you replaced spell failure with a concentration check penalty. makes alot more sense then just plan failing.

Thanks. I'm trying to get away from the percentage thing - ASF, concealment, and whatever else uses it - because it's clunky, unfair to the PCs, and just adds more dice-rolling (especially concealment - you have to roll it every single time you swing at a ghost. Ugh.).

 

[Switchblade]

Mail slow you down? You might be supprised but it doesn't. I have a steel mail hauberk that weights a third of my body weight and comes down to below my knees and elbows (and I'm 6ft tall) which I bought for LARP. While I tired faster while wearing it it made very little difference to my actual top speed though I was a little slow at accelerating (or stopping for that matter). A lighter mail shirt I wore for an event didn't slow me in the slightest and I was wearing it from 10am - 2am. And no, I'm not a particularly strong or fit person I'd leave the speed alone for the light armour chain shirt, it might make it harder to dodge but it really doesn't slow you down.

Though if we wanted realism we wouldn't be playing DnD

 

[Kerrick]

Mail slow you down? You might be supprised but it doesn't. I have a steel mail hauberk that weights a third of my body weight and comes down to below my knees and elbows (and I'm 6ft tall) which I bought for LARP. While I tired faster while wearing it it made very little difference to my actual top speed though I was a little slow at accelerating (or stopping for that matter). A lighter mail shirt I wore for an event didn't slow me in the slightest and I was wearing it from 10am - 2am. And no, I'm not a particularly strong or fit person I'd leave the speed alone for the light armour chain shirt, it might make it harder to dodge but it really doesn't slow you down.

No, that's good. I added the speed penalty for medium armor simply to follow the progression; I didn't really have any anecdotal evidence to the contrary. I mean, I wore 20 pounds of body armor/helmet when I was in Iraq; that slowed me down at first, until I built up the muscle necessary to wear it all effectively. By the end of my tour that 17-pound vest felt like a light jacket.

So... I guess I could keep the movement rates the way they were - 30 feet for medium armor and 20 for heavy. Probably no one would wear heavy armor if they were limited to half speed AND moderately enumbered anyway.

 

[Meeki]

So... I guess I could keep the movement rates the way they were - 30 feet for medium armor and 20 for heavy. Probably no one would wear heavy armor if they were limited to half speed AND moderately enumbered anyway.

Except dwarves since they can tumble when encumbered and in heavy armor.