Dark Sun: Metal is inherently worse?

[twilsemail]

Alright. Here's my dilemma. I'm starting play in a Dark Sun game rather soon and I've come across a conundrum. Metal is inherently worse than the other materials you can make weapons/armor out of as far as I can tell.

Metal weapons function as normal.
Bone/obsidian/other materials function as metal but also have the weapon breakage rule.

Chitin/horn/bone armor functions as Metal armor.
Metal armor grants a -5 to your survivability in Athas.

What reason is there to wear metal armor or use a metal weapon when the "lesser quality" materials help you out more or hinder you less?

 

[P1NBACK]

Alright. Here's my dilemma. I'm starting play in a Dark Sun game rather soon and I've come across a conundrum. Metal is inherently worse than the other materials you can make weapons/armor out of as far as I can tell.

Metal weapons function as normal.
Bone/obsidian/other materials function as metal but also have the weapon breakage rule.

Chitin/horn/bone armor functions as Metal armor.
Metal armor grants a -5 to your survivability in Athas.

What reason is there to wear metal armor or use a metal weapon when the "lesser quality" materials help you out more or hinder you less?

Well, for weapons, metal is more durable as far as reckless breakage goes. Metal weapons only break on a re-roll if you roll under 5 on the re-roll. This means, metal weapons are actually VERY good because you can re-roll on every 1 with only a 25% chance of breaking them. Re-rolling is pretty powerful. (non-metal weapons break no matter what you roll on the re-roll)

I agree with you on armor though. What I'm planning to do is make all metal armor "magic" and give it an enhancement bonus of +1 to +5 or whatever.

 

[Stumblewyk]

Metal armor on Athas = bad idea.

Metal weapons on Athas = awesome.

You're looking at the Weapon Breakage rule the wrong way - yes, you get to re-roll your attack if you roll a 1, but if you do, you're going to lose that weapon. Not so if it's a metal weapon. You likely won't lose your weapon. That's a Good Thing.

(Also, just noticed you're from Bryn Mawr. Rock on. I grew up in MontCo, PA, and my son was born at the Bryn Mawr hospital.)

 

[keterys]

If you have a source of rerolls or are an avenger, metal weapons are very nice since you can just take the reroll and then use a different reroll if it comes up that it would actually break. Makes it very unlikely, anyways.

And hey, when you hit that 1 in 64 chance, they all get to laugh at you

Metal armor was never a good idea in Athas. That said, by the time you have metal armor you're probably paragon anyways, so the survival checks may be a lot less of an issue.

 

[twilsemail]

You can use reckless breakage with a metal weapon.

How'd I miss that? Thanks everyone. I think the "Fumbling Breakage" above threw me off.

Metal armor was never a good idea in Athas. That said, by the time you have metal armor you're probably paragon anyways, so the survival checks may be a lot less of an issue.

I can see why Metal armor is a bad idea. I've been in the desert and have seen the results of overheating far too many times. That said, the bone/horn/whatever armor is supposed to be sub-optimal materials. As it stands there purely better than metal and there's no reason that anyone would ever wear the metal gear and take that penalty.

OK, no reason outside of mind-control.

Metal armor is supposed to be precious/impressive (or at least so I've been led to believe). Why wouldn't everyone just laugh at someone for wearing metal armor?

 

[keterys]

They probably should laugh at them. Then kill them. Then smelt the metal into a dozen weapons.

 

[Stumblewyk]

They wouldn't laugh, because they'd be too busy trying to wipe the dollar signs out of their field of vision. Think of metal armor as a luxury piece - something you'd display (if you're wealthy and powerful enough to do so) to show others - "Look what I have. Yeah." You'd never wear it, but to own it shows status - mostly because that armor (and likely a metal weapon) pre-dates the current age and would be considered a great treasure. To wear it would be a nightmare, and foolish. Because you'd be mugged, beaten, robbed of your armor, and left for dead before you walked 50 feet out your front door.

 

[Scribble]

Why wouldn't everyone just laugh at someone for wearing metal armor?

It looks better then skinny jeans?

 

[Alaxk Knight of Galt]

That said, the bone/horn/whatever armor is supposed to be sub-optimal materials. As it stands there purely better than metal and there's no reason that anyone would ever wear the metal gear and take that penalty.

I'm considering using an armor breakage rule. If you get hit with a crit, you lose a point of AC from the armor (the bone is chipped away, the chiten is crushed, etc) until it can be repaired. I'm having trouble rationalizing it with armor that isn't traditionally metal though (such as hide or leather). Perhaps I'll put a cap on the amount of AC that a give piece of armor can lose.

If you aren't in the heat of Athas, I wouldn't apply the -5 penalty. So if you are adventuring at night, underground, or anywhere outside of the heat, you can wear that metal armor.

 

[P1NBACK]

I'm considering using an armor breakage rule. If you get hit with a crit, you lose a point of AC from the armor (the bone is chipped away, the chiten is crushed, etc) until it can be repaired. I'm having trouble rationalizing it with armor that isn't traditionally metal though (such as hide or leather). Perhaps I'll put a cap on the amount of AC that a give piece of armor can lose.

If you aren't in the heat of Athas, I wouldn't apply the -5 penalty. So if you are adventuring at night, underground, or anywhere outside of the heat, you can wear that metal armor.

This is an interesting idea. Make sure to give the players options to repair I'd think.

I'd say leather and hide gets shredded, ripped, gashed, etc...