Armour of Spell Resistance - now worth the money!

[Mistah J]

Hey folks,

I was looking over the various armour enhancements in the DMG and I thought to myself, "I wonder if anyone else feels that the Spell Resistance qualities are lacking?" I mean, don't get me wrong, spell resistance is a pretty potent factor in the D&D world and the ability to just buy it should be watched carefully. Yet, there is something about the way it is done that makes me feel it just isn't worth it.

You can get SR 13, 15, 17, and 19 for +2, +3, +4, and +5 enhancement bonus respectivley. The upper ones seems kind of low for that kind of price (not just money mind you, but also the "price" of giving up a limited amount of enhancement bonus). I didn't do all the math, but it feels like if your character is at the point where they can afford a +5 to their armour - the spellcaster's they face wouldn't consider SR 19 a problem.

Anyway, while I was thinking this it dawned on me that the most usual instances of SR derived from the formula base number + HD (or character level). Usually they have a cap too and that's just fine.

Would it be so bad to have the armour enhancement follow the same principle? Each version has a particular base, then you add the HD of the wearer - making sure to include a cap, or maybe not (Drow don't have one for instance). Or maybe the lower versions do and the highest ones don't..

It's a rough idea, but I'd like some input if you got it.

 

[Sravoff]

8th level 27k
SR 19 25k

So, if a character spent all their money, well most of it, on a suit of armor, he would basically get 55% chance to be unaffected by any given spell. Now thats pretty good, if you are dealing with spellscasters. If not, then, well, if you are your doing pretty good.

Now, at 14th level, when a character can spend aprox. 1/4 his gold on SR 19, the creatures he fights with spells will get about +14, atleast. So 6/20 times he will be unaffected. Thats 3/10, or 25%. So its really up to you, and where do you want your SR to be.

If you allowed the SR to scale, whatever the base is, what translate directly into the "percentage" SR it gave. If it was 3+HD, that would basically be SR 15%. Since most the time, an opponent will get around +Your HD. With that being the case, you could just return to the old SR=%. And feats like Spell penetration would lower SR by 20%. Of course keeping it with the D20 will ensure that higher level characters with SR will have a better chance.

So the easiest way to decide how much SR should be, is how much SR do you want a character to have, when s/he gets a spell cast on her by wizard of the same level?

 

[Sound of Azure]

How about you have it as an addition (+X,000 gp) to the armour's normal cost, instead of as a effective enhancment?

There's a a pretty little formula in the DMG:

Spell Resistance: 10,000 gp per point above SR 12; SR 13 minimum. Example: Mantle of Spell resistance

That way you can pay for as much as you want/are able to, and can have it increased later.

You might increase the price by 50% since it's effectively "sharing" the armour slot, rather than being in a wondrous item.

 

[Stalker0]

I do agree the SR from armors is crappy, but I don't think scaling is the way to go. This infringes on classes that get SR innately, and the spell "Spell Resistance"

I like the idea of making it a static +10,000 gp or whatever instead of +1, +2, etc. So while your SR gets weaker at higher levels its also makes up less of your total money. The problem with +1 if you pay for it the entire game, because you could have just raised your AC.

 

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

Some quick formulea.

Spell Resistance - For every +1 enhancment spent, the armor grants a +2 save bonus vs. spells and spell-like abilities.

or

+1 = SR 13
+2 = SR 16
+3 = SR 19
+4 = SR 21
+5 = SR 24
(Each +1 grants +3 SR to a base of 10).

or

+1 = SR 11
+2 = SR 13
+3 = SR 16
+4 = SR 20
+5 = SR 25
(Base 10 +1+2+3, etc).

or

SR 11 = 1,000 gp
SR 12 = 4,000 gp
SR 15 = 25,000 gp
SR 20 = 100,000 gp
SR 25 = 225,000 gp
SR 30 = 400,000 gp
(Bonus squared, add to base 10. Just like ability bonus items, aplied as an add on, not a +X).