Can anyone explain Masterwork Armour?

[Kzach]

I just don't grok it.

Take Warplate for instance. It's +11 AC and has a +4 minimum enhancement bonus.

What does that actually mean?

How does it actually come into play?

Does it simply mean it has to have a minimum +4 magic item bonus making the total AC bonus from the item +15?

If so, does that mean it can be combined with item powers?

For instance, Dwarven Warplate +4.

If that's the case, how do you determine total cost and value?

It's all very confusing and by no means clearly spelled out.

 

[Cadfan]

It was spelled out clearly, but it gave me fits understanding it anyways because I kept expecting something else. The following is my understanding.

Armor gets certain boosts in effectiveness, granted by means of materials. This is because of the way dexterity/intelligence bonuses work with armor.

Suppose armor just increased linearly, with +X bonuses.

At level 21, a character in heavy armor would have an AC of Armor1 +X.
A character in light armor who was investing his ability score points in dexterity would have an AC of Armor2 +X +3. The +3 is because his dexterity score would have gone up by 6 in that time.

If this was allowed to happen, it would make light armor eventually outpace heavy armor. So now there are improvements to armor that are specific to various armor types which fix the problem.

Once you get to the point where you can afford armor of +X, you can get it made as armor of a specific material for no extra charge. Its basically a point where the ac from an armor makes a bit of a jump.

 

[chaotix42]

It is pretty weird but I guess it works.

Is there any point in having a suit of +6 scale mail when you can have +6 uber scale (or w/e the name is) for the exact same cost?

 

[Andur]

You are basically right K,

Here is the breakdown:

"Base" Armour:

Take any armour and then look up its armour bonus, ths is your starting point. You then can enchant that armour up to a +6 version.

So for plate you have the following of the same "type" of armours and their AC's

Plate Armour +6 = +14 AC
Warplate Armour +6 = +17 AC
Godplate Armour +6 = +20 AC

Now the kicker is that Warplate and Godplate HAVE to be enchanted with a minimum enhancement bonus, where regular plate can be just regular old plate. It actually explains the non-linear "jump" between level 15 and level 16 magic items and again the level 30 jump...

Edit: Chaotic, nope out with the old in with the new...

 

[Wulfgar76]

I just don't grok it.

Take Warplate for instance. It's +11 AC and has a +4 minimum enhancement bonus.

What does that actually mean?

How does it actually come into play?

It's all very confusing and by no means clearly spelled out.

Agreed. I am similarly confused by the whole "Masterwork Armor must have a minimum enhancement bonus of +X" as well. Can someone please explain what this means.

What does it mean when it says Warplate (+11 to AC) has a "+4 minimum enhancement bonus"???

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

It's not that weird, it's just a way of keeping PC armor bonuses competitive without have +10 magical plate or what have you.

Cadfan's got it right basically. You've got an armor that has a specific AC bonus. Its masterwork versions have higher bonuses, and they must be magical. The cost of the masterwork version is part of the cost of the magical item (i.e., does not add to its cost). That's all we really need to know.

 

[Cadfan]

I don't think so. I think you're expected to get the +6 uber scale, for math reasons.

 

[Wulfgar76]

You are basically right K,

Here is the breakdown:

"Base" Armour:

Take any armour and then look up its armour bonus, ths is your starting point. You then can enchant that armour up to a +6 version.

So for plate you have the following of the same "type" of armours and their AC's

Plate Armour +6 = +14 AC
Warplate Armour +6 = +17 AC
Godplate Armour +6 = +20 AC

Now the kicker is that Warplate and Godplate HAVE to be enchanted with a minimum enhancement bonus, where regular plate can be just regular old plate. It actually explains the non-linear "jump" between level 15 and level 16 magic items and again the level 30 jump...

So there is no such thing as +2 Warplate or +4 Godplate?

This is making little sense to me.

 

[Obryn]

It was spelled out clearly, but it gave me fits understanding it anyways because I kept expecting something else. The following is my understanding.

...snip...

Once you get to the point where you can afford armor of +X, you can get it made as armor of a specific material for no extra charge. Its basically a point where the ac from an armor makes a bit of a jump.

Alright. It's confusing, but yeah - I see what you're saying.

It does look like that's built into the cost of magic armor, as well. Very interesting.

-O

 

[Aservan]

Cadfan's explanation is essentially correct.

The mechanics of the new armor construction/materials are actually simple once you get it but I had to read through it a few times before I understood what it meant.

To use your example of Warplate: You can't make warplate without a magic bonus of +4. In other words it will always be ____ Warplate +4 or higher. So yes you can make Dwarven Warplate +4 or Dwarven Warplate +5, etc. You can not have Warplate +3 because the +3 is not enough to maintain the enchantment. Incedentally the Warplate +4 would have an AC bonus of 15. 4 for the magic and 11 for the Warplate itself. It is a neat way to get around magic bonuses can't stack with themselves. If the armor itself has a better bonus then you bypass that rule.

Like Cadfan said it is really about keeping up with the monsters and making sure that heavy armor keeps its utility all the way through the game. The idea that magic materials and construction will always yield magic armor is a fluff justification to make sure that you can't have level 5 characters running around in Godplate +1 with a +14 to AC.