Incorporeal Undead wearing Armour?

[Zaruthustran]

From the RotG:
"An incorporeal creature wearingghost toucharmor isn't actually carrying the armor around -- it just floats along with the creature. The armor is effectively weightless when an incorporeal creature wears it. The armor does not encumber the incorporeal creature, and the armor's Dexterity cap does not apply. The spectre wearing +2 ghost touch half-plate from our previous example has an Armor Class of 17 (+3 Dex, +2 deflection, +2 armor).

If you're uncomfortable with the foregoing text and you would like the ghost touch armor to work pretty much the same way no matter who wears it, you need to figure out how a creature with no physical body and no Strength score wears armor and you also need to figure out its encumbrance. A fairly easy way to handle this is to use the incorporeal creature's Charisma score as its Strength score for purposes of determining the creature's load. The rules say that a creature cannot fly when carrying more than a light load, but you may want to waive that rule for incorporeal creatures (which often have only a flying speed). You also may want to give an incorporeal wearer the full benefit of the base armor's armor bonus and apply the appropriate speed reductions and Dexterity cap for the base armor."

Hmm... slippery slope/silly logic game alert. if you're willing to let a being with no Str score move a physical object (the ghost touch armor), then you've got to let it move anything attached to the armor. So the ghost can pick up the armor worn by the 300lb Sir Meatloaf, while Sir Meatloaf is still in it. Or he can pick up the ghost touch barding worn by the paladin knight's mount, Jumbo the celestial elephant.

If a being with no str score can move X, it can move X-5 or X+300 or 99*X. If the argument is "no, it can only move the Ghost Touch armor, not anything physical that is attached to it or contained within it" then you can prevent this by tieing a single strand of hair to the ghost touch item. With a Str score of 0, the ghost can't handle the added weight of the hair.

Alert over. Sure, go ahead and let incorporeals enjoy the benefits of ghost touch armor.

 

[mvincent]

With a Str score of 0, the ghost can't handle the added weight of the hair.

Note that ghosts actually have a Str score.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

Hmm... slippery slope/silly logic game alert.

Nah. That can easily be solved by saying it can move anything it was formed with (i.e., the armour it was wearing at the time of it's death).

 

[geosapient]

Nah. That can easily be solved by saying it can move anything it was formed with (i.e., the armour it was wearing at the time of it's death).

That would take away a ghosts ability to pick up and use Ghost Touch weapons that the PC's were carrying.

 

[glass]

Note that ghosts actually have a Str score.

Also note that that is because ghosts are not incorporeal, they are solid physical creature on the ethereal plane.

Except when they are manifesting, at which point they are sorta incorporeal. Their presence on the material plane is incorporeal, but even then they are solid physical creature on the ethereal plane as well, IIRC.

With respect to actual incorporeal creatures (shadows, say), the lack of a Strength score to lift ghost touch items is a very good point, though. Maybe treat their Str as equal to Cha (or maybe Wis) for the purposes of ghost touch items?


glass.

 

[Nail]

The template states that "The equipment works normally on the Ethereal Plane but passes harmlessly through material objects or creatures".

Effectively there is nothing to it while on the Material plane, hence visual appearance only.

That's not what you said. To wit:

Although a being might die and become a ghost, and may visually manifest to appear to be wearing armor, but this is just appearance. There is not really any armor to speak of; it is just part of the ghosts visage. The ghost does not get special ghost armor just because it died with plate on.

To clarify:

• The ghost might have armor, as per the SRD text we've both been quoting.
• The armor "works normally on the ethereal plane".
• The armor "passes harmlessly through material objects or creatures."

So, in point of fact, the armor is "really any armor to speak of", even on the Material Plane. If we stick to what's in the MM (as opposed to accepting the rule changes proposed by RotG), we see that the armor retains whatever properties it has that have nothing to do with restricting the passage of material objects. One of those properties would be "limiting the wearers movement", especially if the weaer is not a material object (or creature), i.e. the maximum movement rate.

 

[smootrk]

I think you are putting much more into this than is necessary...

Why would a weightless, insubstantial set of armor restrict anything? I refer to another unrelated effect... Mage Armor which does not hinder anything. I may be taking a bit of a bump (as opposed to a great leap) in logic as to the total effect, but it makes more sense than weightless insubstantial beings being restricted by more weightless and insubstantial materials.

 

[ThirdWizard]

Why would a weightless, insubstantial set of armor restrict anything?

It isn't weightless, insubstantial armor to the ghost. It is weightless and insubstantial to creatures in the Material who interact with the ghost when the ghost is manifesting. If the ghost is encountered in the Ethereal (where he actually exists), he is actually quite corporal, as is his armor.

 

[Dracorat]

Guys, I think you missed something important.

The Ethereal Plane is a No Gravity plane and movement is by force of will. (You decide which way to go and you end up just going that way).

Armor speed restriction is based on land speed.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Armor speed restriction is based on land speed.

Notice that wearing armor also restricts the speed you move when using a Fly spell, for example...

-Hyp.