On Helms, AC and spell failure

[Trollitc]

Okay, here's the situation. My parents went away . . . wait, no. Wrong situation.

I have a magical item I've created and I'm going to give it to my party. It's a Helm. It does some magical stuff and there's a possibility that it may be worn by a caster.

So what's the best way to handle any additional bonuses to AC or spell failure.

Say you have a fighter who's wearing Plate. It's assumed that several of those plates have been forged together into a serviceable helm. Comes with the package and they get a bonus to their AC while wearing their plate armor. Now say they take off every scrap of armor but the helm.

What's the bonus now? They should still get something, right? I mean if you whack them in the head with a frozen cod while wearing a helm, they'll be better protected then while not wearing a helm.

So what should a caster get if they put on say a barbute. And what should the spell failure rate be? 5%?

Thanks,
Ben

 

[Ryujin]

In the case of such a helm I wouldn't give an armour bonus, nor would I give a casting penalty. I would simply consider it to be a magic item slot that's occupied. That it's a helm would only be a flavour issue, not a functional one.

The only way that I would give an armour bonus, would be if it was enchanted to provide one; say an enhancement bonus or deflection bonus.

 

[Trollitc]

I see where you're coming from. Quick question though - if you're caster were to take the helm off of your fighter's head, and put it on their own, would the same apply?

 

[Ryujin]

Yup, it wouldn't matter to me if the helm was on the head of a Fighter, Rogue, Bard, or Wizard. I don't give armour bonuses for pieces of armour, only full armour or shield. By extension I don't give penalties for pieces of armour, unless a class states something specific. For example if the rules for psionics stated that a character had to have a head bare of armour, then I would apply the stated penalties.

If a player wants to be a mysterious Wizard with a voice that echoes out of a full helm, then so be it. In my campaign he would derive no material benefit from having 10% of his body encased in steel, while the rest was under a robe.

 

[Kingreaper]

What's the bonus now? They should still get something, right? I mean if you whack them in the head with a frozen cod while wearing a helm, they'll be better protected then while not wearing a helm.

Yeah. But you just won't whack 'em in the head. You'll whack 'em somewhere unarmoured, like the arms or torso.

If the vast majority of your body is unarmoured, you'll get a 0.2 (round down) bonus to AC, because they just won't aim for that part.

On a called shot for the head, give a reasonable AC bonus from the helm. But how many monsters make called shots to the head?

 

[Trollitc]

The only monster I know of that does that is the Reticulated Codslinger. But I see your point.

I don't buy into the partial armor = no bonus/restrictions thing though. I mean, where do you draw the line?

If a fighter wearing plate removes their helm, are they suddenly under no armor penalties with an AC of 10? What if they remove their helm and gauntlets. Or helm, gauntlets and grieves. At what point should they be considered out of armor with no bonus?

It's entirely possible to be dressed in only a certain percentage of your armor. With the heavy stuff it often takes considerable time and possibly the assistance of an underpaid personal assistant to put the damned stuff on.

-Ben

 

[Ryujin]

Ah, but you see you're workingt it backwards. REMOVING bits of your armour would most certainly result in an armour penalty, as a certain minimum amount of protection is assumed.

The one ruling doesn't imply the other.

I prefer to keep things as simple as is practical and possible, so that I don't get bogged down in ephemera.

 

[Trollitc]

Ah, but you see you're workingt it backwards. REMOVING bits of your armour would most certainly result in an armour penalty, as a certain minimum amount of protection is assumed.

The one ruling doesn't imply the other.

I prefer to keep things as simple as is practical and possible, so that I don't get bogged down in ephemera.

Still doesn't work for me though. So at what point have you added enough armor that you gain some measure of protection a an AC bonus and some measure of either casting penalty or dex/movement penalty?

If I was dressing as a wizard in plate, it wouldn't effect me until I put the last piece, the helm on?

I know this may seem overly complicated but I'm trying to work out where and when AC bonuses and the negatives that come with armor actually get applied. Only when the whole thing is on? Do you get half of everything if you're wearing say, only the left side? Or the top? Or the bottom?



-Ben

 

[Kingreaper]

If you've got under 10% armour coverage, you're hiding 10% of your body.

So they don't aim for that bit.

10% armour coverage doesn't change your AC much.


If you've got 10% missing armour, you're revealing 10% of your body.

So they do aim for that bit.

10% missing armour can change your AC significantly (it limits you to a max of a +4 armour bonus; you have a diminuitive (1/8th your size) portion of your body revealed. A diminuitive creature has +4 size ac)



If your body is only half-covered (ie. only your left side, only your right side, only your top half, or only your bottom half) you can have a maximum of +1 ac (the bonus to AC for a small [1/2 your size] creature)


Hence, if your body is only 10% covered, your armour bonus << +1 (calculating logarithmicly, it's +0.15) so your armour bonus is irrelevant.

 

[Trollitc]

Now that's an answer I can get behind. Okay, I understand now. Thanks!
-Ben