Monsters and Armour...

[Three_Haligonians]

I'm trying to wrap my head around equipping monsters with different armour and I need some double-checking here..

Ex.

Drow Warrior [MM p. 94]
- AC 24 [wearing chainmail].

Following the rules for adding equipment [DMG p. 174]:
- Its effective AC is 14 [24-10] (because chainmail is heavy, Dex/Int mod not used here).
- So now I subtract its effective AC from its actual AC and get 10 [24-14]
- That means that if I give it forgemail instead, its AC doesn't change since the +9 of forgemail is less than the +10. If I gave it Spiritmail, its AC would become 26 (since the spirit mail is +12 - 2 higher than the original 10).

Is this right?

If it is, then couldn't I also just give this Drow say, Starleather and add its Dex bonus of +9 to its AC; making it 35? [the +4 of the leather is below the 10 as well.. but it is light armour).

Thanks for the help

J from Three Haligonians

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

That's the problem with "monster's don't follow the rules": it's difficult to reverse engineer them to make changes.

Don't forget, though, that forgemail should be minimum AC +13, between armor bonus of +9 and minimum enchantment of +4 (at least as I understand it).

The drow Blademaster is even worse: AC 30 with scale armor. 30 - 10 =20 (no Dex as it's heavy). You need +6 Godplate, or equivalent with shield, to improve that AC! Were you to build them like a PC, you'd get 10 + 6 (1/2 level) + 7 (scale) +1 (TWD, I'm assuming) = 24 ...

I'd suggest a work-around of simply subtracting the existing armor (-6 from chain) and add the new armor (+13 from forge mail, since it has a minimum enhancement of +4) minus dex adjustments (0) and mahic threshold (2) for a net new AC of 29. Is it right? Dunno.

 

[Archmage]

If you like (kinda smart-alecky, I know). Take a moment to clear your head of 3rd edition. Monsters/NPCs don't have to be reverse engineered to every last point of AC, attack bonus, skills, etc. You give the creature any kind of armor you like (whether it's in the PH or not), and adjust its armor value by whatever amount you deem necessary. If you want to keep it to the differences in actual armor types for ease, go for it (just keep appropriate values for your party's level range in mind (using the table on p184 of the DMG as a guideline).

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

If you like (kinda smart-alecky, I know). Take a moment to clear your head of 3rd edition. Monsters/NPCs don't have to be reverse engineered to every last point of AC, attack bonus, skills, etc. You give the creature any kind of armor you like (whether it's in the PH or not), and adjust its armor value by whatever amount you deem necessary.

If that were the strategy, I'd be fine with it ... but they went and gave a procedure in the DMG (subtract these things, compare, add back up ...). So I'd expect the procedure to actually work.

A rule-of-thumb approach is perfectly acceptable. But IMO it's poor design to provide a specific procedure when the intent is to use a rule-of-thumb.

 

[Palladion]

While I cannot exactly justify the drow warrior AC, let me try.

General AC calculation, AC = 10 + 1/2 level (5 in this case) + chainmail (6) + magic threshold (2) (DMG 174) = 23
By Customizing Monsters (DMG 174), drow warrior AC (heavy armor) = 24 - chainmail (6) - magic threshold (2) = 16

The numbers are not perfect (you require a floating +1), but if you wanted to add +2 chainmail, the AC would be the same, if you wanted to add something higher, subtract 8 (chainmail and +2 magic threshold) and then add the armor back on.

(Edit: Exactly what Olgar said, heh. It took me a while between starting the post and hitting submit.)

Just remember the second last paragraph on DMG 174 about increasing AC (and other scores). Hope that helps?

 

[Grazzt]

I'd suggest a work-around of simply subtracting the existing armor (-6 from chain) and add the new armor (+13 from forge mail, since it has a minimum enhancement of +4) minus dex adjustments (0) and mahic threshold (2) for a net new AC of 29. Is it right? Dunno.

Yep. This is probably along the lines of what I would do honestly. Or just bump its AC up a couple of points and change the equipment line.

 

[MeMeMeMe]

The drow warrior has AC 24.
This is:
10: base
+6= chainmail
+5= Level/2
+3= Monster Magic Threshold (see DMG page 174).

So, the armour adds up perfectly.
The Monster Magic Threshold is a general bonus that monsters (and NPCs) get to let them keep up with PCs. If you give them magic items of less than this value, there stats don't change. If you give them items better than that, their ratings increase only by the difference.
A drow warrior with a +4 sword would get +1 to its attack ratings, for example.

If it gained +4 armour, it might get +1 armour, or you might include the forgemail benefit, gaining an extra +3 as well.

The drow blademaster stats addup correctly if they have generously beeing given +4 Wyrmscale armour, which is higher than they should have.

But they don't need to add up perfectly anyway. All you need to know is the Monster Magic Threshold: if you give the drow +4-+6 equipment, they get 3 points less bonus, because their MMT is +3.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Except that per the table on DMG 174, the MMT threshold for an 11th level monster like the drow warrior is +2, not +3. So it's still off by one.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

dodge....

 

[Zurai]

... doesn't exist in 4E.