Armor made from Bulette hide?

[Dieter]

My players (the vultures that they are) are inquiring about the possibility of making armor from a skinned bulette hide.

1) Has anyone ever requested this? I know there are rules for making armor from dragon hide...but I can't find any general rules for fashioning armor from other beasts.

2) What did you do? (i.e. is it possible to make armor out of it, what would be the armor bonus, penalties, etc. ???)

 

[pontus]

Me, I'd just have them make the appropriate craft checks and then say "Ok, you have a Bulette hide armor" and then just use the statistics of an already existing armor (save me a lot of balancing). For Bulette hide, I'd substitute the stats for banded mail, so:

Bulette Hide (heavy armor) AC +6, Max Dex +1, Check Penalty -6, 35% spell failure

 

[Dieter]

I should have also mentioned that the party was just interested in the retail value of armor. Also, how many suits/coats of armor would one bulette possibly generate?

 

[pontus]

The retail value? Maybe 50-100 gp. More if they can find someone interested in "exotic armor". One Bulette might provide enough material for two suits, if they're lucky.

 

[Wolf72]

post more when I get home

I've got a whole little house rule about it (not at home at the moment)

bulette armor: Splint mail, but AC +7 (base AC increase by 1) (I'll post my dragon hide ideas so you can see where I went with this) or 2 large shields with AC +3.

there is a higher DC for the creation of, and there is a price increase for the creation cost (in sp).

 

[Thorntangle]

Come on people - it's a Bulette! It's not sheep or pig or even crocodile. It's a rare, vicious predator that swims under the ground and has super tough skin. That hide gives it a +12 natural armor bonus! A set of Bulette hide armor has got to have some style points too. Would it help if we made a matching Bulette-hide wide-brimmed hat to accesorize?

Also, that bulette killed our cleric. How can you put such a palty price on something like that.

Throw us a bone!

 

[Dieter]

Come on people - it's a Bulette! It's not sheep or pig or even crocodile. It's a rare, vicious predator that swims under the ground and has super tough skin. That hide gives it a +12 natural armor bonus! A set of Bulette hide armor has got to have some style points too. Would it help if we made a matching Bulette-hide wide-brimmed hat to accesorize?

Also, that bulette killed our cleric. How can you put such a palty price on something like that.

Throw us a bone!

Don't listen to him! He's just one of the aforementioned vult....er, I mean players in my game only in pursuit of building ever-more menacing spellbooks and other treacherous deeds against his very benevolent DM!!! FIEND!!!

 

[Sodalis]

was it just me or was this site crappin out a moment ago... I couln't load a page for my life...


anyhoo:

Thorntangle-
Come on people - it's a Bulette! It's not sheep or pig or even crocodile. It's a rare, vicious predator that swims under the ground and has super tough skin. That hide gives it a +12 natural armor bonus! A set of Bulette hide armor has got to have some style points too. Would it help if we made a matching Bulette-hide wide-brimmed hat to accesorize?


if you have a MM handy, check out the rules for making dragon armor- no matter how skilled you are, and how huge the dragon was, all you can do is make MW hide armor. No nat armor bonuses, no nothing.

If you really want a cool hide armor to sell, have the cleric (if he can be resurrected) or hire someone with the craft arms and armor feat (should cost a pretty penny tho) to enchant it with bull str and bull rush. Then you have a beefed up rhino hide armor which will do very well in the open market.

A bullete is no more exotic than any other creature in the MM. It is as rare as teh DM wants it to be. If he decided tomorrow that there is a festival where they run through the city and the townspeople run with them (the annual running of the bulletttes) then hell, I would say that bullette hide armor is a pretty common thing.

But as is, you should be happy that your DM is considering giving you the chance to make armor from this guy- just from the rules, you can only make hide armor. Dragon's hide is the only thing that is strong enough to make heavier armor (plate and mail)

 

[Vaxalon]

I'd use the Dragonhide rules on page 63 of the MM.

A huge bulette has a natural armor bonus of +12. A huge DRAGON has a natural armor bonus of +18 at a MINIMUM, and can range as high as +30.

One bulette (size huge) produces enough hide for a single suit of large hide armor. By selecting only choice scales and pieces of hide, an armorsmith can produce one suit of banded armor for a creature of medium size, or or one suit of half-plate for a creature of small size. I wouldn't make it masterwork because bulette hide is inferior to dragonhide.

By using TWO bulettes, a suit of half-plate could be built.

In addition, the skull-plate of the each bulette can be used to produce one large or small shield.

What's the advantage to this? People with no metalworking skill can produce banded armor when they would ordinarily be limited to hide.

 

[Moulin Rogue]

I believe the 2e write-up of the bulette said that the plates on the back of its head could be fashioned into extra-good shields, but didn't mention any other kind of armour. You can take or leave an "official source" of course, but I think that's what it said.