Nimblecraft armor

[the Jester]

What would a good cost increase be for an armor quality that you could craft into masterwork armor that would increase the maximum dex bonus by 1? I'm currently calling it 'nimblecraft armor'.

What would a fair cost increase be for a nonmagical enhancement like this, kind of 'ubermasterwork'?

One thing I'd like to add is that I am currently running a low-magic experiment that I plan to use a lot of nonmagical enhancements in. I've done this kind of thing before- I had weapons with a 'razor-sharp' quality that were basically nonmagical keen weapons in an extremely low-magic setting.

Edit: my tentative feeling is to have it increase the price of the armor by 250 gp for light armor, 350 gp for medium armor and 600 gp for heavy armor.

 

[Bront]

What would a good cost increase be for an armor quality that you could craft into masterwork armor that would increase the maximum dex bonus by 1? I'm currently calling it 'nimblecraft armor'.

What would a fair cost increase be for a nonmagical enhancement like this, kind of 'ubermasterwork'?

One thing I'd like to add is that I am currently running a low-magic experiment that I plan to use a lot of nonmagical enhancements in. I've done this kind of thing before- I had weapons with a 'razor-sharp' quality that were basically nonmagical keen weapons in an extremely low-magic setting.

Edit: my tentative feeling is to have it increase the price of the armor by 250 gp for light armor, 350 gp for medium armor and 600 gp for heavy armor.

Well, look at Mithril as a guide, which grants +2 to the Max Dex and drops up to 3 points of the Armor check penalty (one of which is the masterwork component). 1k, 4k, and 9k. Plus 1 is half, and you're probably already including it as masterwork so 1 point of ACP used up (You might consider it being too), plus, you're probably talking normal weight. So...

I'd probably say 250, 1000, and 2250 for Light, medium, and heavy respectively, though that seems a bit extreme on the light end. Maybe 400, 1000, 2000 works a bit better. That's for a +1 dex bonus and removes 2 points from the armor check penalty.

That seem reasonable?

 

[ElectricDragon]

Check out the Heroes of High Favor line of books. They deal with many such non-magical enhancements as different types of masterwork. They include pricing, Craft DC's, how many times it can be applied, and what it applies to (weapons, armor, or shields).

Ciao
Dave

 

[the Jester]

Check out the Heroes of High Favor line of books. They deal with many such non-magical enhancements as different types of masterwork. They include pricing, Craft DC's, how many times it can be applied, and what it applies to (weapons, armor, or shields)

Hmm, the only HoHF book I've been able to acquire is the halflings one... the two I really wanted (dwarves and half-orcs) I haven't been able to track down. :\ Which one, specifically, has this kinda good stuff in it? (I'm guessing dwarves or gnomes.)

One more note as regards pricing: the setting in question is very resource, money and magic-poor. Thus, I want to make sure that the value isn't too high, or it defeats its own purpose.

Thanks, guys!

 

[ElectricDragon]

It is in Dwarves. Might be in Orcs too, I don't have that one.

Here is the relevant description:

Superb Balance (DC25)
Market value = 200; armor only
This armor is jointed and balanced to afford greater range of motion. The maximum Dex bonus of the armor is increased by +1. A suit of armor may include this component twice, for a maximum bonus of +2.

Hope this helps, I know that it is cheaper than what you propose as type of armor doesn't matter.

Ciao
Dave

 

[Phaedrus]

S.T. Cooley's Treasures and Objects d'Art also has some of these items (many of which I believe were from the Heroes of High Favor books).

One of Malhavoc's books (I think it was Hallowed Might 2 or Eldritch Magic 3) has "super masterwork" items also. As does the Arcanis campaign setting.

 

[Bront]

One more note as regards pricing: the setting in question is very resource, money and magic-poor. Thus, I want to make sure that the value isn't too high, or it defeats its own purpose.

Thanks, guys!

Did I set it too high in my example/suggestion?

It should scale with heavier armor, because you get more out of it with heavier armor.

 

[the Jester]

It should scale with heavier armor, because you get more out of it with heavier armor.

Absolutely agreed.

As to where the proper price lies- let's put it this way.

The party (8 pcs) has acquired somewhere around 100-125 gp in mixed coin (not counting goods) in their first couple of sessions, the second of which involved major amounts of combat. I suspect several of them will level off of it, in fact...

The 'setting definition' for the value of 1 gp is enough to feed a peasant for one year.