Masterwork Items

[avin]

Hi people,

at which level Masterwork items are available?My players are using CB to create their characters and it allows them to use masterwork items at level 8.

Is it ok?

 

[Oompa]

Hi people,

at which level Masterwork items are available?My players are using CB to create their characters and it allows them to use masterwork items at level 8.

Is it ok?

If they have the money they can buy whatever they want, if the dm allows it..

If a lvl 1 pally finds a lvl 30 weapon, he can use it..

Only the dm can make restrictions..

 

[avin]

So it's up to me... gonna restrict it...

 

[ForbidenMaster]

So it's up to me... gonna restrict it...

If you do, do note that you are giving an unfair advantage to the PCs in light armor. They are boosting their primary and secondary stats every chance they get and odds are those stats directly affect their AC. So while PCs in heavy armor must rely only on the enhancement bonus of the armor they are wearing, the PCs in light armor get to slowly increase their AC not just by acquiring better armor, but by improving stats they would improve anyways.

 

[fissionessence]

Masterwork armors have minimum enhancement bonuses, so they don't just get passed around for free to everybody. However, it doesn't cost any more to get masterwork armor than it does regular armor when creating/buying/finding a magic item . . . this means the game expects that you will have masterwork armor as soon as it becomes available. If you don't, you're not as powerful as the game assumes you will be, putting you at a disadvantage.

Example: Storve the Fighter buys +2 magic chainmail. Chainmail gives him +6 AC, and the +2 enhancement bonus brings it to +8. Blorve the Fighter buys +2 magic finemail, which has the same cost as +2 magic chainmail. Finemail gives a +7 bonus to AC, with the enhancement bonus bringing the total to +9. Blorve the Fighter is now strictly more powerful than Storve the Fighter, who got completely shortchanged. They both go and fight in encounters of equivalent difficulty, but Storve has 1 less AC than Blorve, and he dies Unfortunately for Storve, his DM wouldn't let him obtain the level of armor that the game and encounter design expected him to have.

If you're not going to let your players choose masterwork armors in character creation or buy it from shops, you should consider awarding it as treasure soon after. That way the masterwork quality seems more exciting . . . but you shouldn't deprive them of it for long.

Also, for reference, light armor begins having masterwork properties at +3, while heavy armor begins at +2 (most likely to compensate for the issue ForbidenMaster brough up above).

~ fissionessence

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Example: Storve the Fighter buys +2 magic chainmail. Chainmail gives him +6 AC, and the +2 enhancement bonus brings it to +8. Blorve the Fighter buys +2 magic finemail, which has the same cost as +2 magic chainmail. Finemail gives a +7 bonus to AC, with the enhancement bonus bringing the total to +9. Blorve the Fighter is now strictly more powerful than Storve the Fighter, who got completely shortchanged. They both go and fight in encounters of equivalent difficulty, but Storve has 1 less AC than Blorve, and he dies Unfortunately for Storve, his DM wouldn't let him obtain the level of armor that the game and encounter design expected him to have.
~ fissionessence

feed your chainshirt to a rust monster and make a finemail out of it whithin an hour

Actually i would just use masterwork quality armors from first to last level, and with whichever enhancement bonus i see fit...
if adventurers find a low enhancement adamantine armor, make it absolutely clear how much its worth and let it be good then

Rather than masterwork armor i would have seen either automatic scaling at paragon or epic tier for those armors or feats to increase the bonus, somehow tied to tier...