Can anyone explain Masterwork Armour?

[ForbidenMaster]

Ok, I am going to make a list of how I think AC bonuses work and tell me what you think:

Leather: +2 AC
Leather +1: +3 AC
Leather +2: +4 AC
Leather +3: +5 AC
Leather +4: +7 AC = Darkhide +4
Leather +5: +8 AC = Darkhide +5
Leather +6: +10 AC = Elderhide +6

Proof:

Magic armor adds an enhancement bonus to AC, so a
set of +5 black iron dragonscale adds a total of 15 to the
wearer’s Armor Class (10 from the scale armor and 5
from the enhancement bonus).

The stats for scale are:

Scale armor +7
Wyrmscale armor +10 +4 minimum enhancement
Elderscale armor +13 +6 minimum enhancement

So for the dragonscale armor, since its +5 its a combination of the Wyrmscale armor and the enhancement bonus. If the enhancement bonus was less then 4 then it would be 7+enhancement bonus, and if the enhancement bonus was +6 then it would be a total AC of +19 (there is no higher enhancement bonus then +6).

 

[Andur]

Irda, if you would actually read the thread your question was answered on page one, with a breakdown of the explanation...

Carry on with your demands though if it makes you happy.

Forbidden master, don't understand your chart at all, it is not that difficult though: Every armour is given a base value (doesn't matter if it is Plate, Warplate, or Godplate, they all have a base starting value.) then you ADD any enhancement bonuses to that starting armour value.

So technically Plate +3 = Warplate, Plate +6 or Warplate +3 (which can't be made since it needs at least a +4, but for comparision sake) = Godplate.

 

[ForbidenMaster]

Irda, if you would actually read the thread your question was answered on page one, with a breakdown of the explanation...

Carry on with your demands though if it makes you happy.

Forbidden master, don't understand your chart at all, it is not that difficult though: Every armour is given a base value (doesn't matter if it is Plate, Warplate, or Godplate, they all have a base starting value.) then you ADD any enhancement bonuses to that starting armour value.

So technically Plate +3 = Warplate, Plate +6 or Warplate +3 (which can't be made since it needs at least a +4, but for comparision sake) = Godplate.

The last part of your post is just confusing. My chart is an explanation of what enhancement bonuses do to armor.

A set of +2 leather armor adds a total of 4 to the wearer’s Armor Class (2 from the leather armor and 2 from the enhancement bonus).

A set of +4 leather armor adds a total of 7 to the wearer’s Armor Class 32 from the leather armor and 4 from the enhancement bonus).

A set of +6 leather armor adds a total of 10 to the wearer’s Armor Class (4 from the leather armor and 6 from the enhancement bonus).

Note the above is the same format as the quite from the PHB

a set of +5 black iron dragonscale adds a total of 15 to the wearer’s Armor Class (10 from the scale armor and 5 from the enhancement bonus).

I think the situation is pretty plain and simple.

 

[Irda Ranger]

Irda, if you would actually read the thread your question was answered on page one, with a breakdown of the explanation...

Carry on with your demands though if it makes you happy.

I did read through the first page, thanks, and I saw what looked like personal opinions. I didn't see a citation to a rulebook page or a clarification from someone in the know. And that's what I was asking for.

I found my own cite though:

Magic armor adds an enhancement bonus to AC, so a set of +5 black iron dragonscale adds a total of 15 to the wearer’s Armor Class (10 from the scale armor and 5 from the enhancement bonus).

That's all I wanted. Thanks for the help, Andur!

 

[mach1.9pants]

So I am confused. Is this correct?
a) If the armour is non-magical, +1, +2 or +3 it is of the normal sort and supplies the normal AC bonus (e.g. chainmail, giving a +6, +7, +8 or +9 bonus respectively)
b) If the armour is +4 or +5 it is of the second listed sort (e.g. Forgemail, giving a +13 or +14 bonus respectively)
c) If the armour is +6 it use the third listed sort (e.g. spiritmail, giving a +18 bonus)

The cost of the change in armour type is included in the cost of the magic item itself? There is no extra cost added like in 3E if you use mithril instead of normal steel. You cannot have normal steel of +4 or higher bonus.

Thus Magic armour of the chainmail type has an AC bonus of +7, +8, +9, +13, +14, +18 for +1 to +6. The cost is from 360gp (+1) to 1,125,000gp (+6). The same price for magic cloth or magic plate.

That is what it seems to me but it is not very well explained.

 

[TheSleepyKing]

The way I read it is that you - can - have normal plate +6, and it's not the same as Godplate +6.

It wouldn't make sense if you couldn't. You'd end up with rather large gaps in the AC spectrum. Going from +3 to +4 armor would then effectively improve your armour by 3 or 4 points, as would going from +5 to +6.

 

[Kurotowa]

There are two ways to read it. If all high level armor is masterwork, then:

"In addition to the advancement of enhancement bonuses, armors receive an innate advancement at roughly 16th and 26th level. Light armors improve their armor bonus by +1 at those tiers, and heavy armors improve by +3."

On the other hand, if not all high level armor is masterwork, then:

"At higher levels AC can advance more quickly than the enhancement bonus progression. Use masterwork armors as appropriate to raise the AC of the item to the desired level."

Of the two, I'm inclined to believe the first is the correct one. Firstly because there's no additional cost to make masterwork armor, once you can craft a magic item of sufficient level. Secondly because, as people have pointed out, the math demands a way for heavy armors to keep their lead over the increasing Dex/Int bonus to AC with light armor.

 

[Oompa]

So leather armor has an minimum of 2 ac and an max of 8 ac? (making it +6 leather armor?)
Feyleather an minimum of 7 and max of 10 (because it has an minimum of +4 and max +6?)
Starleather has 10 ac and cannot be higher or lower? (because it has an minimum of +6 enhancement?)

Is this correct?

 

[Sashi]

The real question is "can you have +3 leather armor, or does making it +3 automatically upgrade it to masterwork armor?"

I don't think there's an explicit answer to this. We know that warplate must have a +3 bonus, but we don't know if increasing +2 plate's enhancement bonus automatically makes it warplate.

Personally, I'm going to run masterwork armor as having a level boost. You can have +3 plate as a level 16 armor, but +3 warplate is level 18. This keeps 16th level characters from having their AC suddenly jump 4 points.

 

[mrpiercejg]

In game world terms, you can only enchant normal materials up to +3. After that, you have to find special materials to go +4 or higher. In real world terms, they are using a mathematical mechanic to compensate for the ability bonus for Light armor wearers at higher levels. Using the term "Masterwork" is just flavor text to justify the mechanic. If you chart it out, you can see what I mean.

For example...

30 Lvl Wizard w/ max Int bonus (+9) and Starweave +6 = AC 42
30 Lvl Rogue w/ max Dex bonus (+9) and Starleather +6 = AC 44
30 Lvl Ranger w/ max Dex bonus (+9) and Elderhide +6 = AC 45
30 Lvl Fighter w/ no ability bonus, and Godplate +6 = AC 45

If you chart out the armor type material bonuses and enchantment bonuses from 1st level to 30th level, you can see the pattern. I made a chart to post here, but ENWorld won't allow imbedded pix. That awkward +2 to +4 jump in AC around 16th level is just a side effect of the mathematics.