Plate armor for 1st level Fighters

[ExploderWizard]

My question:

What previous edition allowed Fighter to buy Plate at level 1?

At least now it is meet the prereqs, spend a feat, get your armour versus, adventure for a level or 3, get your prequalified plate...

Happened all the time in basic D&D. Plate was 60gp. Starting cash was 30-180 gp.

 

[Sanzuo]

Giving everyone 100g to start with was a good change, and I don't know why they didn't do it way earlier.

 

[HerntheHunted]

Giving everyone 100g to start with was a good change, and I don't know why they didn't do it way earlier.

Because 3E was very, ahem, fond of random tables?

Anyway, I think Scale has some major boons, as does Plate. And a feat in 4E isnt´t that expensive.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Happened all the time in basic D&D. Plate was 60gp. Starting cash was 30-180 gp.

How many times did I roll up a fighter with <40gp?

The answer - a lot.

I like the fact that my paladin can start as a true knight in shining armour. A fighter is just a different beast and, imo, should have to spend a feat to get access to plate. Given that you end up with 18 odd feats buy 30th it isn't nearly the expense it was in 3E.

 

[Sanzuo]

At early levels I'd argue that plate is pretty useful even with the check penalty and cost. Since at that level every point of AC you can eke out is invaluable. Maybe that extra point of AC isn't as important at much higher levels, though.

 

[bardolph]

At early levels I'd argue that plate is pretty useful even with the check penalty and cost. Since at that level every point of AC you can eke out is invaluable. Maybe that extra point of AC isn't as important at much higher levels, though.

The way 4e scales, it should have about equal value at all levels. However, the -2 on Athletics checks (-4 with heavy shield) can really hurt in some situations. Ever fall into a pit?

 

[HerntheHunted]

At early levels I'd argue that plate is pretty useful even with the check penalty and cost. Since at that level every point of AC you can eke out is invaluable. Maybe that extra point of AC isn't as important at much higher levels, though.

Aye, but the check penalty isn´t going to improve your mobility, jump- and climb-wise, especially at lower levels. Enounters where these to skills are of importance might not be the standard, but they tend to happen once in a while.
And on higher levels it´s all about magic armor. I´m not to thrilled about the plate armor options in the PhB, but that´s just my personal opinion.
And who knows what Adventurer´s Vault will bring....

 

[Sanzuo]

The way 4e scales, it should have about equal value at all levels. However, the -2 on Athletics checks (-4 with heavy shield) can really hurt in some situations. Ever fall into a pit?

Of water/acid? Oh yea. Loose more good paladins that way.

 

[erik_the_guy]

The paladin needs the armor proficiency as a class feature. Fighters almost certainly meet the prereq 15 strength for plate armor, and often meet the prereq 15 con (especially axe or hammer wielders). Paladins need to put high scores into CHA WIS and STR, so they probably do not meet the required CON score of 15. For this reason, paladins get plate proficiency automatically, since if they didn't they couldn't buy it either.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Plate is very cool, so is scale, but you realy need to look at all of the benfits, and not just jump into plate.

I am in a game that just hit epic...(and looks like it will end soon) I am a Warlord...who is multi into paliden and I took at 6th and 8th levels scale anf]d plate prof... by the time I hit 11th I was already back in scale and ready to swap out plate prof as my first feat.
I just this last game upgraded from Dwarven +4 Wyrmscale armor to Exulted +6 Spiritmail and swaped scale prof for Armor Specialization (Chainmail). I think that I will have to rember next game that heavy armors are not always the best.