New FAQ 23/11/06 [Merged]

[Felix]

Medium armor should have _something_ going for it.

It has barbarians.

 

[Nail]

Medium Armor is good for only one thing: slapping the Mithral quality on it.

 

[KarinsDad]

Medium Armor is good for only one thing: slapping the Mithral quality on it.

And then only on a Breastplate.


This has annoyed me for a long time. It got to the point that I house ruled the armors in order to make them more equitable (course, I dropped this house rule years later).

One thing I remember is that I bumped the Speed of Medium armor up by 5:

Light: 20 / 30
Medium: 20 / 25
Heavy: 15 / 20

I also did something like dropping it to 3 Armors per category (armor bonus 1,2,3 for Light, 4,5,6 for Medium, and 7,8,9 for Heavy). There are so many wasted armors that virtually no PCs in the game ever wear.

 

[buzz]

This one is bad:

Can a monk get her unarmed strike enhanced as a magic weapon?
No. Even a magic gauntlet or spiked gauntlet isn't the ideal answer, since those aren't listed as special monk weapons (and therefore aren't as versatile as unarmed strikes)...

Looks like the FAQ author didn't read the description of a gaunlet:

Gauntlet: This metal glove lets you deal lethal damage rather than nonlethal damage with unarmed strikes. A strike with a gauntlet is otherwise considered an unarmed attack.

I think the gauntlet description's intent is simply to make it clear that wearing a gauntlet doesn't give you Improved Unarmed Strike for free (i.e., you don't avoid the AoO for attacking unarmed); the ability to do lethal damage is the sole benefit.

Also, the FAQ just says a gauntlet is "not an ideal answer" and "not as versatile." This seems reasonable to me. You can't Flurry with it, monks already get IUS and thus can do lethal damage, and Ki Strike makes certain aspects of using one moot. And since the monk's unarmed strike includes feet, elbows, and knees as well, it would seem sort of silly (to me) for their strikes to benefit from a magic gauntlet in general.

 

[Jhulae]

Not me; I'm just quoting you. Inconvienient, is it?

I don't argue that the belt stacks with armor; there is a difference between saying it doesn't stack with armor and saying that it doesn't stack with the armor type.

The monk's belt does stack with every armor type. The limitation is that it cannot be used with armor or a shield, but that does not in any way affect the belt's ability to stack with AC types.

Sorry, I'm having trouble understanding this; perhaps you could emphasize your point? :\

Except the Armor Type includes more than just Bracers of Armor and the Mage Armor spell. It includes actual physical armors, which provide an Armor Type bonus. Which the the Belt doesn't stack with. Which means the belt doesn't stack with all Armor Type bonuses. (Same with Shield Bonuses.) I honestly can't see where your misinterpretation is coming from, unless it's deliberate, but I doubt that.

I guess maybe I should start writing my posts like the Star Fleet Battles rulebook covering every bit of minutia, because I just assume (obviously incorrectly) people can infer the meaning of what I write.

And, @Infinity2000: I don't think Bracers of Armor are overpriced. And, I don't think, for what it provides with the limitations, a monk's belt is overpriced. So asking me to price something else is also irrelevant to this conversation, because I think the Monk's Belt is fine and I'd price something else (with the same limitations) almost exactly the same.

 

[IanB]

That's is such a cheap dodge!

As should be obvious, we played with that druid pre-wild shape errata. With a wilding clasp, we could do it post errata. Duh!

Actually, I'm not sure the wilding clasp has ever made a 3.5e appearance, just 3.0. Depending on how much of a stickler you are for that sort of thing, you could argue that it *isn't* possible to do post-errata.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Actually, I'm not sure the wilding clasp has ever made a 3.5e appearance, just 3.0. Depending on how much of a stickler you are for that sort of thing, you could argue that it *isn't* possible to do post-errata.

Take off the belt, wildshape, put the belt back on... problem solved!

-Hyp.

 

[Nail]

...or that.


....assuming the wildshape form can wear a belt, of course. That bit hasn't changed, right?


Darn wildshape rules.

 

[Felix]

Except the Armor Type includes more than just Bracers of Armor and the Mage Armor spell. It includes actual physical armors, which provide an Armor Type bonus. Which the the Belt doesn't stack with. Which means the belt doesn't stack with all Armor Type bonuses. (Same with Shield Bonuses.) I honestly can't see where your misinterpretation is coming from, unless it's deliberate, but I doubt that.

No deliberate misinterpretation on my part. None indeliberate for that matter either.

Is it possible for the Monk's belt to stack with Armor Bonuses? Yes.

Is it possible for the Monk's belt to stack with Shield Bonuses? Yes.

Does the Monk's belt de-activation upon wearing armor or bearing a shield stop the belt from being able to stack with Armor or Shield Bonuses? No.

Does the Monk's belt de-activation upon wearing armor or bearing a shield stop the belt from stacking with all Armor or Shield Bonuses? Yes. Is this a different question than we've been asking? Yes.

(obviously incorrectly)

I don't think that my disagrement has anything to do with you not being able to express yourself clearly.

 

[Jhulae]

No deliberate misinterpretation on my part. None indeliberate for that matter either.

Is it possible for the Monk's belt to stack with Armor Bonuses? Yes.

Is it possible for the Monk's belt to stack with Shield Bonuses? Yes.

Does the Monk's belt de-activation upon wearing armor or bearing a shield stop the belt from being able to stack with Armor or Shield Bonuses? No.

Does the Monk's belt de-activation upon wearing armor or bearing a shield stop the belt from stacking with all Armor or Shield Bonuses? Yes. Is this a different question than we've been asking? Yes.


I don't think that my disagrement has anything to do with you not being able to express yourself clearly.

Obviously it must, because your fourth statement was my point. Since it doesn't stack with all armor and shield bonuses, it doesn't stack with *all* bonuses. Obviously, my mistake of including the word 'type' seems to have lead to way too many posts of people missing my point, so again, obviously I'm not expressing myself as well as I can, as people are focusing on one specific word instead of my side of the issue.