Is heavy armor overblown?

[Felon]

Just read the "Scouts with Class" web article. Skip keeps pointing out what a liability its "low armor class" is. But if I'm a scout with a high Dex wearing a mithral chain shirt, I don't see where I come out all that far behind a guy in mithral plate mail. Wearing the shirt, I have an AC 20. Wearing the plate, I'd have a 21. Big deal. My skirmish AC bonus will compensate most of the time.

Mind you, it's not just this one article. Light armor is constantly treated like a big liability. I don't see where it is. In fact, I'd say heavy armor sucks.

 

[Thanee]

Yeah, full plate is about the only really decent armor beyond chain shirt, especially since you do not need a high Dex then, but if you play an agile character, anyways, and a Scout certainly fits into that role, then having "only" light armor is really no liability at all.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Caeleddin]

Not if you get assigned stat numbers and ran out of numbers to assign before you hit Dex....


For example:
14
13
13
14
18
14

Make a Fighter-type or a spell-caster type.

 

[arwink]

Because being flat-footed sucks.

Not a huge problem when you're a rogue who has uncanny dodge, but even then there are spells and creature abilities that can catch you unawares.

That being said, I've created all of one PC that wore plate armor ever. The rest of them have been lightly armored Dexterity types, because that's the archetype I prefer.

 

[Troll Wizard]

Just read the "Scouts with Class" web article. Skip keeps pointing out what a liability its "low armor class" is. But if I'm a scout with a high Dex wearing a mithral chain shirt, I don't see where I come out all that far behind a guy in mithral plate mail. Wearing the shirt, I have an AC 20. Wearing the plate, I'd have a 21. Big deal. My skirmish AC bonus will compensate most of the time.

Mind you, it's not just this one article. Light armor is constantly treated like a big liability. I don't see where it is. In fact, I'd say heavy armor sucks.

Because you are probably thinking in the context of higher than baseline stats. The designers have to think within the framework of the core rules 25 point buy. The whole game is built from around that - skills, saves, spell DCs, armor class, etc. How much fun would it be to play a character with ~min/max dex focused stats like: 12, 18, 10, 10, 10,10?

What do the stats for your scout look like under 25 point buy?

I prefer a little more spread in the pluses were I to play a scout - 13, 14, 14, 12, 10,, 10

Under 25 point buy, the average PC dex is much lower and thus the value of heavy armor is much higher.

 

[Romnipotent]

Mithrill Heavy War Plate!
Scouts with class? Surely WotC must jest! A true scout is unseen and should shy from combat to let the cavalry and betallions march on in with great intel! If they are caught then they should be using the lay of the land they know and escaping to get the intel back... thats class

 

[Thanee]

The designers have to think within the framework of the core rules 25 point buy.

Hmm... no, they have to think in various frameworks, 25 PB, 28 PB, 32 PB, etc.

Or the average of 4d6 drop lowest (the standard method, 25 PB is not standard!), which is about 29 PB.

Most campaigns surely use higher stats than 25 PB, so balancing the rules for 25 PB is rather pointless.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Particle_Man]

I find that heavy armor will work best if you go the "all AC" route and have a low dex. So I have a dex 12 character going for full plate, tower shield, and combat expertise to see me through. At 4th level I will increase dex to 13 to get dodge.

If I had a super high dex, then mithral chain shirt looks like a great option (and the option to tumble is nice). That said, I got hosed one time when I was climbing a wall and got attacked...

 

[MerricB]

Or the average of 4d6 drop lowest (the standard method, 25 PB is not standard!), which is about 29 PB.

Actually, 4d6 drop lowest, roll six times gives a point buy average of very close to 25.

(I've just created a little computer program to simulate it, and after 10,000 stat arrays, 25 was very closest to the average).

Alternatively, the average for 4d6 drop lowest is 12.25 (approximately). Call that 4 points; so the total is 24 points, plus an additional one for the .25 => 25 point buy.

Cheers!

 

[Crothian]

Just read the "Scouts with Class" web article. Skip keeps pointing out what a liability its "low armor class" is. But if I'm a scout with a high Dex wearing a mithral chain shirt, I don't see where I come out all that far behind a guy in mithral plate mail. Wearing the shirt, I have an AC 20. Wearing the plate, I'd have a 21. Big deal. My skirmish AC bonus will compensate most of the time.

Mind you, it's not just this one article. Light armor is constantly treated like a big liability. I don't see where it is. In fact, I'd say heavy armor sucks.

It depends on your dexterity. If you hav ea 10 dex character, heavy armor is much better. But in the days of highly inflated attributes no one has a 10 anything, except charisma.