Improving Heavy Armor

[Khaalis]

Originally posted by haiiro.
These sound neat -- where can they be found?

Armor Contingency: Level 1 / Book of Hallowed Might - Malhavok

Summon Armor: Level 1 / Quintessential Paladin - Mongoose

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Re: Go 2e

There are very few things in 2nd edition AD&D that is better than 3e. The lack of max dec AC bonus rules and movement constraints for armor is one of them.

I couldn't agree less.

Choosing armor in 1e/2e was a very mindless exercise. In 3e, there are significant trade offs involved and they vary by character, as they should.

My only complaint is that chain shirt is too attractive relative to the medium armors. I do see characters in medium armor but only if they have Spring Attack (which doesn't work in heavy armor).

 

[Thresher]

Youre a real mongrel Wolf72.

I ran it past my group over our email list and already Im getting 'teh hate' about messing with the system. Some say its not broken, but I KNOW THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN when wearing more armour makes your armour class worse

And its all your fault really for pointing it out and the email list now lives in fear.
Because, the last game system I attacked like this ended up starting from a few GM's saying, "these guys armour sucks, it dont stop any bullets at all and theyre supposed to have the best in the galaxy"

So, 9 months later they ended up with a 220,000 word sourcebook on Thresher Inc for the SLA industries setting...

And I made them play it...

They still hate me for that Im sure.

 

[Hygric]

Because, the last game system I attacked like this ended up starting from a few GM's saying, "these guys armour sucks, it dont stop any bullets at all and theyre supposed to have the best in the galaxy"

So, 9 months later they ended up with a 220,000 word sourcebook on Thresher Inc for the SLA industries setting...

He's right. He did make a 220,000 word document, then he printed it... then we played it. It was actually kinda fun!

 

[Stalker0]

One other idea would be to give heavy armors extra bonuses against certain weapons.

I believe I saw some examples in either quint elf or quint dwarf. Basically for instance, the AC is standard, but against ranged weapons its a +2 or so let's say.

From a historical point of view it makes a lot of sense. A lot of heavier armors were designed with the main intention of stopping arrow attacks, as in the middle of combat, there's little a knight can do against arrows, but his skill can save him in melee.

This is one of my favorite ideas from the quint books, and it would be nice to see more of that in 3.5. I always love having penalty/drawback stuff, it makes customizing a character more fun.

 

[Wolf72]

Youre a real mongrel Wolf72.

I ran it past my group over our email list and already Im getting 'teh hate' about messing with the system. Some say its not broken, but I KNOW THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN when wearing more armour makes your armour class worse

...

um, okay?

I hate messing with the system as well, which is why I tried to make the impact as minimal as possible ...

buena suerte!

 

[ewert]

The problem seems twofold: AC and mobility.

AC:

Heavier armor doesn't equal higher AC, especially the higher the player level is. This is due to the max dex bonus. I don't know but I'm bored of armors +x, and nothing much else usually. So, make +1 equivalent armor magical effect that makes the bigger armor more lucrative even with higher dex.

Mobility:

Medium vs. heavy, medium vs. light, medium feels almost the loser in both accounts, even though it really is worse only to the light armor. So, again, magic can help it.

I feel feats wouldn't be quite as logical, the armor is still the same and it is the armor stopping fast movement, not the lack of skill of the user.

"of Mobility" armor magic mod, +1 equivalent, available only to medium and heavy armor, bonuses:
- +2 max dex bonus to AC
- Makes medium armor equivalent to light armor when considering movement
- Makes heavy armor equivalent to medium armor when considering movement

How it would benefit medium armor:
Okay this is the category that is "the worst" currently, IMHO. Chuck that modifier on any medium armor, and barring 26 dexterity (18 base, 2 racial or level up, 6 item) you will get one more point of AC with same mobility, but with higher AF and ACP. The possibility of higher AC, with less dex is weighed with the need of feat, higher AF ACP and weight. Sounds okay.

Heavy armor:
Only full plate is a good choice after few levels, so comparing full plate and breastplate: 1 higher max AC, and possible with 10 base dex! (+6 item). Higher AF and ACP of course, and worse movement, but the str/con junkie can get the highest AC with the help of a dex boost item even if he has only 10 base dex, compared to the breastplate person who needs 20 dex, meaning 14 base if we use the +6 item as the norm. End result, full plate is the king of AC, and you don't even need great dex for it. You pay for it with feat, movement, AF ACP and weight. Sounds okay.

Your opinions?

 

[Azure Trance]

Curiously, if armor provided DR, would it stack with any character DR? Say, barbarian DR or prestige classes thereof. I'm inclined to say no off the top of my head, but, then, why not? :/

 

[Wolf72]

for my mod I say yes ...

so a barbarian wearing a suit of fullplate would have his DR increased by 2 ... (1 for all other heavy armors).

I think of it as an equimpment bonus (if that's even a real bonus)

 

[haiiro]

Armor Contingency: Level 1 / Book of Hallowed Might - Malhavok

Summon Armor: Level 1 / Quintessential Paladin - Mongoose

Thanks. BoHM will be making its way onto my shelf when the print version comes out, so I'll definitely get a chance to check that one out.