mithral and armor bonus

[cordell]

Sorry, a bit off-topic. But, why can't you add special abilities to "specific" armor? I thought you could.

If the answer is obvious, I apologize in advance...

 

[Shadeus]

This is known as the sarcasm rule on p. xxx of the DMG.

You can enhance "special armors," there just aren't specific rules for it. What we do is find an equivalent bonus modifier and then just use the standard rules for upgrading armor. So that Rhino Hide armor...that's about a +1 enhancement ability (I'm making that up) and its +2 armor for a total of equivalent of a +3 suit of armor. So if you wanted Ghost Touch Rhino Hide, it would cost similar to a +6 suit of armor.

It's not perfect, but it was close enough for our campaign.

 

[Elvinis75]

Well, presumably, he wouldn't allow you to make Ghost Touch Rhino Hide either - adding special abilities to 'specific armor'.

The mithral shirt is specific armor, since it is not the same as just making a chain shirt out of mithral by the normal Craft rules.

-Hyp.

I guess that I would have to disagree with you on this one.
This is taken from the Special material section of the 3.5 SRD.

"Weapons or armors fashioned from mithral are always masterwork items as well; the masterwork cost is included in the prices given below.

"Mithral Shirt: This extremely light chain shirt is made of very fine mithral links. Speed while wearing a mithral shirt is 30 feet for Medium creatures, or 20 feet for Small. The armor has an arcane spell failure chance of 10%, a maximum Dexterity bonus of +6, and no armor check penalty. It is considered light armor and weighs 10 pounds."

So unless you are going to say that a mithral shirt is not made of mithral I not sure how you come to that ruling?

 

[Hypersmurf]

So unless you are going to say that a mithral shirt is not made of mithral I not sure how you come to that ruling?

If you apply the Special Materials rules to craft a chain shirt out of mithral, you get an item that weighs 12.5 lbs.

If you craft the specific armor, Mithral Shirt, you get an item that weighs 10 lbs.

If you use the Special Abilities rules, you can craft a +1 Flaming Burst longsword.

If you craft the specific weapon, Flame Tongue, you get a +1 Flaming Burst longsword that can also shoot a fiery ray once per day.

-Hyp.

 

[Elvinis75]

If you apply the Special Materials rules to craft a chain shirt out of mithral, you get an item that weighs 12.5 lbs.

If you craft the specific armor, Mithral Shirt, you get an item that weighs 10 lbs.

If you use the Special Abilities rules, you can craft a +1 Flaming Burst longsword.

If you craft the specific weapon, Flame Tongue, you get a +1 Flaming Burst longsword that can also shoot a fiery ray once per day.

-Hyp.

You still haven't proven anything. The fact that the weight is different doesn't change the direct quote that any armor made of mithral is masterwork?!?

The decription of that item says "This extremely light chain shirt ".

I have to assume that just means that they cut a few corners to make it lighter than the normal suit. The cost difference could reflect less material costs or something. I didn't say that I could explain the difference but there is nothing that you have provided the overturns the direct quote from the book.

"Weapons or armors fashioned from mithral are always masterwork items as well"

Are you still claiming that the mithral shirt is not masterwork?

 

[Lamoni]

Are you still claiming that the mithral shirt is not masterwork?

Did he ever say that it is not masterwork?

A mithral shirt is identical to a mithral chain shirt except that it has an extra ability. It weighs less.

Like Hypersmurf said, a Flame Tongue is identical to a +1 Flaming Burst longsword except that it has an extra ability. It can also shoot a fiery ray once per day.

Now, there is no rule saying that you can't upgrade a flame tongue, but there are no rules provided for doing so. Instead you just have to guess how much the shooting a fiery ray once per day is equivelent to. I would say between a +.5 and a +1 enhancement.

For the mithral shirt, I would say the less weight is probably worth a +.1 enhancement and I would therefore ignore it... but by the rules, specific armors don't apply to the armor enhancing price tables. Upgrading them is just done on your own.

However, since the mithral shirt is so close to the mithral chain shirt many people say one when they mean the other and they are used interchangeably in our group. We haven't yet had a case where the 2.5 pounds would have made a difference.