Druids and heavy armor

[Matt_Rourke]

Chitin would be available as heavy armor, medium armor (sort of as a breastplate idea), and light armor (as a sort of studding for leather). Essentially, chitin carapace of giant insects (and other nonmetalics, such as crystal or types of stone) would replace metal. So, there would be other options.

It does open druids up to a wider range of armors, but the more I think about it the less I think it will be a problem.

 

[starwed]

Darksun was not only a metal-poor world, but wearing metal armor even if you could afford it was often a bad idea. Maybe athas.org would have some interesting ideas for you?

 

[werk]

On a related note, I was toying around with the idea of crystalline heavy armor - and the best I could come up with for denying druids access would be to house-rule it so that druids couldn't just not wear metal, but couldn't wear inorganic armor. Still, this doesn't rule out the use of organic insect chitin.

I would allow the chitin armor, no problem, but it probably wouldn't afford the same armor bonus as comparable armors made from tempered metal.

WRT crystalline armor...isn't that what metal armors are?

"Crystalline structures occur in all classes of materials, with all types of chemical bonds. Almost all metal exists in a polycrystalline state; "

 

[pawsplay]

Alchemical crystal is already forbidden to druids, per the XPH.

 

[Storyteller01]

I would allow the chitin armor, no problem, but it probably wouldn't afford the same armor bonus as comparable armors made from tempered metal.

Maybe not. No one here has seen howe effect chitin on a man-sized bug is. Rhino hide (granted, a bit bigger than a man) can stop bullets and weapons that full plate can't.

 

[werk]

Maybe not. No one here has seen howe effect chitin on a man-sized bug is. Rhino hide (granted, a bit bigger than a man) can stop bullets and weapons that full plate can't.

Then I'l rephrase to, after you work out the hardness and hitpoints for the chitin, you can decide if the armor should be more or less effective than the PHB standard versions of the armor, as well if it should hinder movement more or less, and how it affects ASF and ACP.

Keep in mind, in a world where metals are very rare, if chitin is a better alternative, and more readily available...why would anyone bother with metal.
My original statement assumes that metal is still the superior material.

 

[kenobi65]

When wearing heavy armor (with the feat), the arcane spell failure percentage doesn't apply to druid spells, does it? So, a druid in heavy chitin armor would still be able to cast at 100%, right?

Correct. Druids are divine casters; arcane spell failure doesn't apply to the casting of druidic spells.

 

[kenobi65]

Alchemical crystal is already forbidden to druids, per the XPH.

Beat me to that one.

Crystal, Mundane: Mundane crystal can be used in place of metal in weapons or armor, using a special forging process. The fortified crystal possesses the properties of a similar masterwork steel weapon or armor, except for visual appearance.
Weapons and armor made of mundane crystal cost the same amount to make as their masterwork counterparts. Any item could potentially be made with mundane crystal. Because mundane crystal armor is considered to be made out of metal, druids cannot wear it.
Mundane crystal properly forged has 25 hit points per inch of thickness and a hardness of 8.

There's also a "deep crystal", which is another example of broken psionics , but it has the same druidic restriction.

 

[Storyteller01]

malhavoc press' Chaositech has bio-crystal, which can be grown into weapons and armor. Since it's still living (armor and weapons can heal over time), druids could wear it.

 

[Matt_Rourke]

I never knew Druids weren't allowed to wear crystal armor. Learn something new every day. But why is that? Because it's inorganic? Does that mean they can't wear stone armor, or is it just crystal and metal they can't wear?

As for metal in this environment, it's so rare that it has become precious - moreso as spell components, though, such as silver, gold, and iron dust. Wearing a silver helm would get you whacked by a cleric hoping to grind it down for spell components.