Armor Problems

[Votan]

Another quick and easy fix would be to swap the movement penalties added moving from light to medium and from medium to heavy armor. Players tend to value tactical combat speed over running multipliers.

Original Setup
Light Armor: No Penalty
Medium Armor: Reduced Tactical Movement
Heavy Armor: Reduced Tactical Movement and Running Speeds

New Setup
Light Armor: No Penalty
Medium Armor: Reduced Running Speed
Heavy Armor: Reduced Running Speed and Tactical Movement

This would be the simplest solution that would work. In general, light armor is more likely to be worn anyway. A Breastplate that you could move 30 ft per round in would make a major difference in desirability.

 

[Darklone]

Original Setup
Light Armor: No Penalty
Medium Armor: Reduced Tactical Movement
Heavy Armor: Reduced Tactical Movement and Running Speeds

New Setup
Light Armor: No Penalty
Medium Armor: Reduced Running Speed
Heavy Armor: Reduced Running Speed and Tactical Movement

Three

Well. That's how I've planned it above... guess I should have posted it separately from the class changes.

I'll use this.

Medium and light armors are mechanically pretty equal ... but now one is more worth it for the low dex types.

I guess I still will give DR 2/bludgeoning to chainmails. but piercing or bluedgeoning to platemails... dunno.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

In D&D 3.x there appear to be only two types of armor <snip>

I think that depends upon the group you're playing with. Some people always min/max, some never do, and most of us are somewhere in the middle. To me, it sounds like your group(s) contain mostly min/maxers. Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Groups with players who emphasize roleplay a little more look a little different...

For example, our current 8th level group in RttToEE ranges from unarmored to Platemail...and very little of it is magic, BTW. Our main min/maxers are the Wizard (who's spellbook most min/maxers could probably recite in their sleep) and the Dwarven Fighter/Cleric. Only one other PC wears heavy armor, and one wears chainmail (mine).

In my last campaign, we had only one minmaxer (a Ftr/Wizard by the same player as the Wizard above- only multiclassed due to campaign pressures). Most of the other PCs wore Leather or Studded Leather, and the Paladin wore Masterwork Fullplate, but she never had it enchanted, despite many opportunities.

Personally, only one PC I've run to date in 3.x has had either armor you mention- and it was a mithril chain shirt found in the course of the adventure. I have designed PCs that would use them, but haven't played them as yet.

While there are some good ideas on this thread, I think they are solutions in search of a problem. I mean, who cares if your PCs only use 2 different armor types? It just means you can equip your BBEG & his minions with spiffy armor that they'll probably ignore...

 

[Stalker0]

For those giving DR /- to their armors, I would suggest giving the same DR to both medium and heavy armor. Heavy armor is already good, lots of people take it. If you want to make medium armor better it needs to be competitive. Now a heavy armor wearer thinks, "hmm, I got the same DR with medium, I'm a little quicker, and less ACP...might be worth it." While a light armor wearer thinks, "Hmm, medium armor lowers my dex bonus to AC, and more ACP, but I get some DR, might be worth it"

I also switched the speed reduction of medium and heavy in my game. Medium x3 run, full speed. Heavy, x3 run, reduced speed.

 

[seans23]

No, I was noticing the horrible difference between a Chain Shirt and a Breatplate:

oops. my bad.

IMC, my 16th level cleric wears mithril breastplate, but he has the celerity domain, and needs light armor for 40' speed. I sort of regret buffing it to +4, when I could have made it +1 medium fortification (or ghost touch, etc) and then just cast magic vestment. I must be punished for not min-maxing to my full potential.

 

[Votan]

oops. my bad.

IMC, my 16th level cleric wears mithril breastplate, but he has the celerity domain, and needs light armor for 40' speed. I sort of regret buffing it to +4, when I could have made it +1 medium fortification (or ghost touch, etc) and then just cast magic vestment. I must be punished for not min-maxing to my full potential.

It isn't so much the issue of min/maxing; it's just that the medium armor is so bad compared to the alternatives that it never makes sense to wear it. And, in general, the armor progression chart doesn't support flavor choices.

I can use a suboptimal weapon and get away it it much easier than with armor. That encourages flavor chocies because a point of damage per hit isn't a big deal. But 3 points of AC or a 10 ft speed difference is something that will anhnoy me in every combat that I play in.