Does the Battle Cleric's Scale Proficiency override Hybrid armor prof?

[Stalker0]

This is something I noticed with the character builder recently.

I made a hybrid wizard/battle cleric....which based on the core hybrid rules would have an armor prof of cloth only. However, I actually had scale proficiency.

It turns out that the battle cleric gets scale proficiency as a bonus, and the builder was saying that prof overwrote the normal hybrid armor prof.


so first question: Should this combo get Cloth only, or cloth and scale?

Second question: Assume the hybrid does only get cloth. If I take the cleric armor proficiency hybrid talent, normally I would have access to chain as my highest armor. However, since as a battle cleric I do have access to scale, would that feat then allow me access to scale?


My thought is cloth on the first one. The battle cleric is a class, which offers proficiencies. But hybrid rules take all the profs of both classes and grants the lowest one. I see nothing about battle cleric that should overwrite that.

However, I think I would get scale through the hybrid talent. Though the talent doesn't say scale normally, in all other cases it provides the full armor proficiencies of that class. and since a battle cleric gets scale, then the talent would provide scale as well.

What are your thoughts?

 

[MrBeens]

I think this is just a side effect of the way that essentials style classes give everything as individual class features instead of the standard "this class gets this stuff" then gets it's class features like the original PHB style classes.

AFAIK the Hybrid essentials are still in playtest, so I would guess this is a "bug" in the system rather than something that can be worked out RAW.
Your best bet would be to get in contact with WoTC.

 

[DracoSuave]

Nope.

Battle Clerics don't have some special 'scale proficiency go!' feature or anything, it's just the standard armor prof.

Which means that hybrid SHOULD use the standard rules. If some computer generator isn't doing it right, that's a bug in the character generator, which is why it's never a rules source.

Also, you won't get scale through the cleric hybrid talent, unless it's a specific talent for the battle cleric. The current one gives you exactly what it says on the tin: Chain and all light armor.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Battle cleric does overwrite it. But IMHO it really should not. Or it should only give scale if you would otherwise be proficient in chain.

 

[Xris Robin]

Battle Clerics don't have some special 'scale proficiency go!' feature or anything, it's just the standard armor prof.

Err, yes they do. It's called Battle Cleric's Lore, and it gives a +2 shield bonus to AC and scale proficiency. It's practically the very defininition of of exactly what you say it isn't. It's a class feature that grants proficiency. That's like trying to argue the Ritual Casting class feature doesn't give you a free feat.

 

[SpydersWebbing]

Yeah, the class feature does grant scale proficiency, but this begs the question: is Healer's Lore granted as part of the Hybrid Class structure?

 

[Dice4Hire]

Yes, healer's lore is something all hybrid clerics get.

 

[Mengu]

Remember how they fixed Armored Warlord by adding the prerequisite proficiency with chainmail? This is the exact same problem introduced in a different way. Yes, it works by RAW, but it's likely unintended. The class feature needs to say something in the lines of, "if you have proficiency with chainmail, you gain proficiency with scale..." So if you use hybrid talent to pick up cleric armor proficiency (or just pick up chainmail proficiency), that part of your feature suddenly kicks into action. At least, that's how I would rule for a home game. For strictly RAW games and LFR, pick it up, go crazy, until they "update" it like Armored Warlord, if they ever get around to it.

 

[Stalker0]

Remember how they fixed Armored Warlord by adding the prerequisite proficiency with chainmail? This is the exact same problem introduced in a different way. Yes, it works by RAW, but it's likely unintended. The class feature needs to say something in the lines of, "if you have proficiency with chainmail, you gain proficiency with scale..." So if you use hybrid talent to pick up cleric armor proficiency (or just pick up chainmail proficiency), that part of your feature suddenly kicks into action. At least, that's how I would rule for a home game. For strictly RAW games and LFR, pick it up, go crazy, until they "update" it like Armored Warlord, if they ever get around to it.

This seems like a reasonable interpretation to me. I think its too cheesy to just let a hybrid battle cleric have scale, but giving it to him with the hybrid armor talent seems reasonable.