Platemail sold here for CHEAP!!

[HP Dreadnought]

The purpose of the pen and paper roleplaying game is primarily serve the purpose of resolving and facilitating the story. That's what characterizes that classification of games. If a rule hinders or restricts storytelling, it's a bad rule. Making suspension of belief significantly harder and restricting creative freedom is a negative aspect.

Actually. . . the purpose of a pen and paper roleplaying game is to have fun. Any rule that restricts or hinders having fun is a bad rule.

WotC has finally embraced this idea fully and has tried to move the game away from '20 minutes of fun packed into four hours.'

Sure 50gp plate may not reflect a realistic market-driven price, but its a simple solution to a lot of problems that otherwise might be more complex.

The D&D economy has NEVER worked. . . and WotC has now (finally) stopped trying to fit the D&D economic square peg into the round hole of reality.

 

[Umbran]

Because the designers aren't trying to make a role-playing game.

This is a 4e rules discussion forum. That means discussion of rules. It does not mean bashing on the designers.

If you want to talk about the rules, and help people figure out how they work and why, you're welcome to do so here. But this is not the place not come in and say, "this game is not an RPG!" or anything similar.

We've got a number of folks doing this sort of thing in the 4e Rules forum. We are about out of patience with this tactic, and may not give further warning.

 

[Wormwood]

Actually. . . the purpose of a pen and paper roleplaying game is to have fun. Any rule that restricts or hinders having fun is a bad rule.

WotC has finally embraced this idea fully and has tried to move the game away from '20 minutes of fun packed into four hours.'

Sure 50gp plate may not reflect a realistic market-driven price, but its a simple solution to a lot of problems that otherwise might be more complex.

The D&D economy has NEVER worked. . . and WotC has now (finally) stopped trying to fit the D&D economic square peg into the round hole of reality.

This really can't be repeated enough.

 

[hamishspence]

abstract categories

I go with the view that the armour types are narrowed versions of the old types, so you can describe them using old types without needing different rules.

Plate Mail could be a Greek soldier in bronze, a crusader in field plate, a Gothic plate Renaissance man, a conquistador in Breastplate.

Describe it how you like.

 

[RigaMortus2]

It's silly and unrealistic to have Plate cost 50 gold, but what are you going to do?

Tell ya what. Hand me 50 pieces of gold (about 1/3rd of an ounce each, per the PHB description of a coin) and I will be more than glad to give you a full suit of plate armor. Lets see who makes out better in this deal...

Since we are talking about being "realistic" here...

Gold is worth about $900 US dollars per ounce (a little more actually)...
So 50 gold pieces would be worth roughly $15,000 US dollars
A suit of full plate mail is around $3,000 US dollars.

You in?

 

[Gort]

For the guys who were saying, "Just give paladins a set of full plate for free, then have it cost a huge amount" - the reason this doesn't work is that you then get paladins who sell their starting plate mail and buy scale, because scale is better, and end up making a bunch of beer money on the deal.

Paladins don't have to be aligned anymore

 

[DonAdam]

Ornate, interlocking, custom-fitted plate may cost alot. As someone said above, its probably also A) enchanted and B) an art object. Piecemeal, used "Dungeonpunk" plate, which seems to be what D&D adventurers would wear, would probably be cheap.

If you want the fancy plate in your campaign, there are several easy options:
1) As said above, art objects. Just increase the price.

2) Assume anything that fancy would be enchanted, and make it one of the 16 level+ version of plate armor--reflavor and/or duplicate the special materials rules.

3) Call the fancy plate "Full Plate." It has a 1 higher AC bonus than regular plate. It always has at least a +3 enhancement bonus (so Level 11+ item). And it requires an armor proficiency feat (Str 15+, Con 15+). In other words, reflavor Armor Specialization: Plate.

 

[Surgoshan]

For the guys who were saying, "Just give paladins a set of full plate for free, then have it cost a huge amount" - the reason this doesn't work is that you then get paladins who sell their starting plate mail and buy scale, because scale is better, and end up making a bunch of beer money on the deal.

Paladins don't have to be aligned anymore

It wasn't their alignment that kept them poor; at least not in 2nd edition.

 

[Regicide]

The reasons plate armor were prohibitively expensive in the real world do not exist in WoTC's D&D fantasy universe.

You're right, they don't, but it's because the orcs ate them. You better hope your little point of light has a mine or making plate armor would be worse than expensive, it would be utterly impossible.

The reason it's 50 GP is because WotC says it is.

 

[Gimby]

The cyclic empires conceit of the PoL does actually provide a reason for cheap, easily available arms. If there's lots of fighting going on, there are lots of battlefields to scavenge. Your 50gp plate bought at a point of light is probably not new, rather a scavenged suit from some old battle. The armour in the village in the Seven Samurai would be a good example of this in film.

-edit and old battlefields can keep giving up their salvage many years down the line - the Iron Harvest in France/Belgium is a good example of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_harvest