D&D 5E Can your Druids wear metal armor?

[Maxperson]

Rules don't say that. Half plate is metal armour and rules say druids don't wear that.


And if they didn't mean half plate to be metal armour, they wouldn't have written it is metal.

Seriously, just stop. You think they just put rules that the don't intend to do anything in the game, I don't.

So then they can wear ring mail, since that doesn't say that it's metal like the other armors do. The rings are just heavy, not metal.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

So then they can wear ring mail, since that doesn't say that it's metal like all the other armors do. The rings are just heavy, not metal.

If they take heavy armour proficiency via a feat, according to the rules, yes. No one in their right mind would ever waste a feat for that though.

 

[Maxperson]

If they take heavy armour proficiency via a feat, according to the rules, yes. No one in their right mind would ever waste a feat for that though.

Or else we can understand that even if it wasn't written, ring mail is typically metal and other armors are also understood by the designers to have materials available for them outside of the norm in a great many games, so they accounted for it. We can also understand that the only armor that is superior is plate mail. All of the others are the same as studded 19=19 or 16-18<19, so druids are in fact balanced around everything up to plate mail, regardless of material. And hell, plate mail is really not superior, because the +1 isn't good enough to counter the disadvantage at stealth.

 

[Yaarel]

If they take heavy armour proficiency via a feat, according to the rules, yes. No one in their right mind would ever waste a feat for that though.

If the Druid takes heavy armor proficiency via a feat, this same feat would grant proficiency with metal armors. Thus all armors become available.

Technically, they could only wear heavy armor that was metal. But I would handwaive that to mean, becoming proficient with metal generally, thus can wear chain, scale, and studded leather too.

(Of course, both studded leather and ring armor are erroneous armors, mistaking stylized illustrations of brigandine and chain, respectively. However, ring armor can be real in the sense of a very inferior scale armor, where metal is scarce.)

 

[Maxperson]

If the Druid takes heavy armor proficiency via a feat, this same feat would grant proficiency with metal armors. Thus all armors become available.

Technically, they could only wear heavy armor that was metal. But I would handwaive that to mean, becoming proficient with metal generally, thus can wear chain, scale, and studded leather too.

(Of course, both studded leather and ring armor are erroneous armors, mistaking stylized illustrations of brigandine and chain, respectively. However, ring armor can be real in the sense of a very inferior scale armor, where metal is scarce.)

Well, no. The the blurb, "Will not wear metal armor" does not limit proficiency, so they are already proficient with medium metal armors. But if you believe that the blurb "Will not wear metal armor" kept druids from being proficient with metal armor when they took the medium armor proficiency, the same would apply if they take the heavy armor proficiency. They would not get any of the metal armor proficiencies, because they still "Will not wear metal armor." Believing one and not the other is inconsistent.

 

[Yaarel]

Well, no. The the blurb, "Will not wear metal armor" does not limit proficiency, so they are already proficient with medium metal armors. But if you believe that the blurb "Will not wear metal armor" kept druids from being proficient with metal armor when they took the medium armor proficiency, the same would apply if they take the heavy armor proficiency. They would not get any of the metal armor proficiencies, because they still "Will not wear metal armor." Believe one and not the other is inconsistent.

Heh, you know perfectly well what I think about your house rule that ignores page 45.

According to the rules as written, the Druid lacks metal armor proficiency. A feat can grant it.

In any case, the specific rule of a feat, beats the general rule of a class.

 

[Maxperson]

Heh, you know perfectly well what I think about your house rule that ignores page 45.

And you know that page 45 is erroneous as pages 65 and 164 spell out in more detail what page 45 screws up.

According to the rules as written, the Druid lacks metal armor proficiency. A feat can grant it.

Incorrect. Page 45(and page 164) isn't even a rule. It's a brief synopsis of the rules that are written elsewhere. The only place the rule is actually written out is on page 65.

In any case, the specific rule of a feat, beats the general rule of a class.

Class features are also specific.

"That said, many racial traits, class features, spells, magic items, monster abilities, and other game elements break the general rules in some way, creating an exception to how the rest of the game works."

The druid taboo is also specific(if you choose to believe it's a rule). Specific does not beat specific, so the new armor proficiency would change nothing.

 

[Yaarel]

"That said, many racial traits, class features, spells, magic items, monster abilities, and other game elements break the general rules in some way, creating an exception to how the rest of the game works."

Likewise the mountain dwarf armor-wearing racial trait breaks the Druid class proficiencies.


There is just no room for a house rule that pretends a Druid neva eva eva wears metal.



And such an intolerant house rule is bad for D&D gaming.

Reallife D&D players need to be free from someone elses reallife opinions about how religions work.

Likewise, players need to be personally COMFORTABLE with the character concepts that they are playing. They need to be able to build their own character concepts that make sense to them, that they can identify with.



The house rule that unconditionally forbids metal armor under any circumstance is both ridiculous and an evil.

 

[Yaarel]

Saying, "My female character can be strong," and, "My cosmic force Cleric character doesnt worship gods", is not so different from, "My Druid learned magic from earth elementals, and wears metal armor."

 

[Undrave]

This whole stupid thread would have been way better if they hadn't placed a random piece of fluff into the RULE section.

If they didn't want Druid to wear half-plates they should have just limited their proficiencies instead of this BS half-baked solution that is not written like a rule at all.