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<blockquote data-quote="Felon" data-source="post: 4793750" data-attributes="member: 8158">In the PHB, there are masterwork versions of armor that become available at 16th level (or, in other words, for armors with at least a +4 enhancment bonus). It took a couple of readings to get what the designers ought to have come right out and said: &quot;at higher levels, we're trying to ramp up players' armor classes, so this stuff is not really optional&quot;. So, every +4 chainmail should be made of forgemail and every +4 suit of leather should be feyleather. For all practical intents and purposes, the upgrade is a given.I could live with characters getting an AC boost at the mid-paragon levels. But then Adventurer's Vault came out, and now we get light masterwork armors granting non-AC bonuses at 11th level, and heavy masterwork armor granting extra AC bonuses all the way down at 6th level. I let AV's Superior Weapons slide, even though they exacerbated the damage gap between weapon and implement attacks. Now, I've gotta contemplate whether these masterwork armors are patching something that's defective, or they're just power creep. My chief concern is giving out AC boosts at those levels, because my 11th level PC's all have AC's between 25-27, and monsters of equivalent level already seem to have a sufficiently difficult time hitting them. So, it seems completely unnecessary and, unlike Superior Weapons, devoid of even a token cost. Thus, I'm inclined to just giving the AV masterwork armors a thumbs-down. Thoughts?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Felon, post: 4793750, member: 8158"] In the PHB, there are masterwork versions of armor that become available at 16th level (or, in other words, for armors with at least a +4 enhancment bonus). It took a couple of readings to get what the designers ought to have come right out and said: "at higher levels, we're trying to ramp up players' armor classes, so this stuff is not really optional". So, every +4 chainmail should be made of forgemail and every +4 suit of leather should be feyleather. For all practical intents and purposes, the upgrade is a given. I could live with characters getting an AC boost at the mid-paragon levels. But then Adventurer's Vault came out, and now we get light masterwork armors granting non-AC bonuses at 11th level, and heavy masterwork armor granting extra AC bonuses all the way down at 6th level. I let AV's Superior Weapons slide, even though they exacerbated the damage gap between weapon and implement attacks. Now, I've gotta contemplate whether these masterwork armors are patching something that's defective, or they're just power creep. My chief concern is giving out AC boosts at those levels, because my 11th level PC's all have AC's between 25-27, and monsters of equivalent level already seem to have a sufficiently difficult time hitting them. So, it seems completely unnecessary and, unlike Superior Weapons, devoid of even a token cost. Thus, I'm inclined to just giving the AV masterwork armors a thumbs-down. Thoughts? [/QUOTE]

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