Mithral Armour

[Wolf72]

I'm not sure whether I'd allow a ranger to wear a mithril breastplate and keep his two-weapon fighting ability. Should a monk be able to wear a mithril chain shirt and keep his monk abilities? Of course not.

I think one of the purposes was to allow special abilities ... barbarians movement and ranger's two-weapon fighting.

I think it said "most" because ... well a mithral shirt is still light armor.

feat requirement ... I agree/like the idea of a the app feat still being required

mithral full plate may allow you to do all sorts of medium armor stuff ... but you should be know how to use it (ie heavy armor feat)

 

[melkoriii]

Henrix is right.

You still need the feat to use the origal armor class.

BUt for things like can a Barbarian use his fast movement in Mithral Fullplate. You treat it as one class less.

 

[chilibean]

So how exactly does "and other limitations" not apply to the limitation of armor proficiency, ranger TWF, etc... ?

Mithril full plate is treated as meduim armor for "movement and other limitations". So what is the rational that mithril full plate is still treated as heavy armor?

 

[melkoriii]

So how exactly does "and other limitations" not apply to the limitation of armor proficiency, ranger TWF, etc... ?

Mithril full plate is treated as meduim armor for "movement and other limitations". So what is the rational that mithril full plate is still treated as heavy armor?

It still is Heavy armor. It just acts like medium armor.

If a Dog acts like a cat, is it a cat? No though it may do everything a cat does it still is a dog.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

So how exactly does "and other limitations" not apply to the limitation of armor proficiency, ranger TWF, etc... ?

Mithril full plate is treated as meduim armor for "movement and other limitations". So what is the rational that mithril full plate is still treated as heavy armor?

Well, the question is whether being being classified as heavy armor is intrisically a limitation. Anyone can wear heavy armor after all, even a Monk or Barbarian; just some characters suffer much greater penalties for doing so. Are penalties the same thing as limitations? Not necessarily.

I would say for armor proficiency purposes mithril heavy armor is heavy armor, and mithril medium is medium. But for Ranger TWF and Barbarian movement purposes use the modified classification. Those effects are limitations.

 

[SableWyvern]

Well, the vast majority of answers now side with my original view, and I am thus returning to it. Mithral will not change the proficiency required for armour IMC.

I will say that I don't think Souljammers theory on an "in-game interpretation" is of much use - you can use such a style of interpretation to rationalise both viewpoints.

Either way, it's certainly a rule that could have been more clearly defined.

I will also iterate what wolf72 said regards Savage Wombat's combat on monks: a mithral chain shirt is still light armour - that much is made quite clear.

Thanks for all responses.

 

[chilibean]

I don't mean to sound offensive, but neither of those arguments makes much sense. And, I'm not really sure what point the dogs and cats analogy was supposed to add to this discussion.

It seems to me that perhaps you guys a too tied up on the subtle difference in meaning in the second sentence of the word "treated" in the quoted rule.

Perhaps if you pay more attention to the first sentence that says "Most mithral armors ARE one category lighter than normal for purposes of movement and other limitations." (emphasis mine), rather than the second sentence which is just spelling out the exception alluded to by the word "most" in the first sentence.

Note it does not say "are like", it says "are".

So mithril full plate IS medium for purposes of movement and other limitations. No other caveats or exceptions are mentioned. If you want to add more restrictions to mithril, that's cool. But you're adding something that isn't there to begin with.