Masterwork Armour ?

[bramadan]

Can you guys perhaps explain to me what the deal with Masterwork Armour is ?
The way it is written up in the PHB/AV it seems fairly optional and some of the benefits it give are worth at least a few item-levels. I have so far not given any to my players and they seem quite fine defence wise on the brink of Paragon Tier, but I do not want to be deliberately short changing them if the armour they *should* be getting has all these extra perks.

So tell me, is it expected that the armour of the minimum allowed enhancement level should be masterwork, should I save that only for exceptional rare rewards or should I keep on ignoring it completely ?

Thanks a lot.

 

[Elric]

Using MW armor is necessary for the game's math to scale correctly, and you'll want to use the AV heavy armors with minimum +2, +4, and +5 bonuses to ensure it adjusts appropriately along the way.

Over 29 levels, from a starting level 1 character (with no magic items) to level 30:
To-hit, AC, and Fort/Reflex/Will gain +21 from levels/enhancement bonuses.

Assume you split your stat boosts to two stats that add to different FRW defenses. One of these stats is your primary attack stat. If you wear light armor, one of these stats boosts AC.

AC gains +6 more: either +6 from Masterwork Heavy Armor, or +2 from MW Light Armor and +4 from increases to an ability score which adds to AC.
To-hit and your two strong FRWs gain +4 more from Primary/Secondary Attribute advancement
Your one weak FRW gains +1 from the ability score boosts at levels 11/21.

So AC gains +27, to-hit and your two strong FRWs gain +25, and your weak FRW gains +22.

Over these 29 levels, monsters gain +29 to their to-hit and to all defenses. Compared to the monsters, players lose 2 on AC, players lose 4 on to-hit and their two strong FRWs, and lose 7 on their weak FRW.

These numbers don't take into account powers, Paragon paths, Epic destinies, or feats. This is just the raw effect of levels, stat increases, and enhancement bonuses of magic items.

 

[KarinsDad]

All armor should be masterwork if you are not using houserules to shore up AC. The masterwork types in AV that give bonuses to other defenses or give resistance or whatever are, IMO, an unneccessary inclusion.

I use the PHB masterwork for light armors, and just the PHB II equivalents without the extra bennies (PHB II pg 197, no benefits for Weavemail or Nagascale) for heavy armors.

 

[kaomera]

So tell me, is it expected that the armour of the minimum allowed enhancement level should be masterwork, should I save that only for exceptional rare rewards or should I keep on ignoring it completely ?

By RAW any suit of armor that falls within the given range of Enhancement bonuses is automatically Masterwork. The additional types of Masterwork armor from Adventurer's Vault can optionally replace the Masterwork type from the PHB, but it's assumed that any +4 or better armor is Masterwork. Having said that: if things are working out for you as-is, why mess with it? If it becomes an issue you can always fix it later, IMO.

 

[Mahali]

By RAW any suit of armor that falls within the given range of Enhancement bonuses is automatically Masterwork.

RAW doesn't say that. It should be the case to keep AC progression consistent but it is technically possible to have +6 non masterwork armor, which should only show up if your DM is a @1$&.

 

[wayne62682]

RAW doesn't say that. It should be the case to keep AC progression consistent but it is technically possible to have +6 non masterwork armor, which should only show up if your DM is a @1$&.

Or if the DM isn't aware that's how it should work. My DM I think has no idea since I have +3 Black Iron Scale but it's regular scale armor, not Wyvernscale so my AC is a couple of points behind what it should be.

 

[Siberys]

Along with the expertise feats, I've worked the masterwork bonuses into the level progression. If they'd done it that way, there'd be a lot fewer "Help me figure out masterwork" threads.

 

[KarinsDad]

Or if the DM isn't aware that's how it should work. My DM I think has no idea since I have +3 Black Iron Scale but it's regular scale armor, not Wyvernscale so my AC is a couple of points behind what it should be.

I accidentally did that to my wife. Opps.

Fortunately, she only had the armor for one encounter before I noticed it, so the next time I printed out her sheet, she had it updated.

Whew. Dodged that one.

 

[Felon]

I started a similar thread here about six months ago, and I was pretty on-the-fence about using it. I don't know that it's all that necessary, but I allow it in my campaign because I like to throw rough encounters. I do play in a campaign where the DM hasn't allowed it, and it doesn't seem manifestly bad either.

Basically, before masterwork armor, many light-armor wearers could have AC's comparable to heavy-armor characters. A 2-handed-weapon fighter and a rogue could easily be equally hard to hit until upper-paragon levels (where the rogue would gain an irrevocable lead). After masterwork armor, the armor class clearly tilts in favor of heavy armor, old-school-style.

Now when I build my bard, it's not a debate whether to wear chain or hide, even if I have a high INT. Chain is the way to go.

 

[eamon]

Basically, before masterwork armor, many light-armor wearers could have AC's comparable to heavy-armor characters. A 2-handed-weapon fighter and a rogue could easily be equally hard to hit until upper-paragon levels (where the rogue would gain an irrevocable lead). After masterwork armor, the armor class clearly tilts in favor of heavy armor, old-school-style.

Even with masterwork armors, light armor wearer's have no trouble keeping up with heavy armor wearers in terms of AC. Typically any difference that arises is due to the light-armor AC stat being a secondary stat that wasn't always raised, or, more usually, due to shields and/or dual wielding.

When masterwork benefits are included, light+heavy armor rise comparably.

All armor should get the appropriate masterwork benefits for it's enhancement bonus at all times, except if you're using the armor's distinct nature as some kind of plot-device or flavor focus (such as by permitting the usage of an abnormally high-level enchantment without unbalancing defenses).