silk shirt

Scion · Feb 12, 2004

I am pretty sure that in some book I saw the silk shirt. Effectively armor with AC 0. I am unsure where this was, can anyone help?

While we are at that though, anyone see a problem with considering clothes or robes as armor with ac 0 anyway?

Epametheus · Feb 12, 2004

Sword & Fist did that, I think.

My group can and has allowed masterwork clothing to count as +0 armor and be enchanted accordingly.

Wizards having access to +5, Heavy Fortification shirts may or may not be a problem in your game.

James McMurray · Feb 12, 2004

The Magic Vestment spell sys that clohing counts as armor with no bonus (at least for it).

Deset Gled · Feb 12, 2004

The silk shirt is from Quintessential Fighter. I believe it's text implies that it is intended to be worn under normal armor for some type of benefit (lowered penalties, I think), but it's placement on the armor chart has led to some using it as armor with AC +0.

Most things in a Mongoose book need to be checked on an individual basis to see how they affect game balance, and should probably be taken with a grain of salt. This one is no exception.

CombatWombat51 · Feb 12, 2004

I don't remember what exactly the silk shirts do, but I remember something about making arrows easier to remove? I dunno, because I don't remember rules for getting arrows stuck in you...

I'm such a kind DM that I allow a silk shirt or dress, to have the same stats as padded armor, except for weight and cost. I got the idea of silk stuff as armor when I was converting an NPC from a 2nd edition adventure, and this 15th level wizard lady had a cool "mithril" dress. I didn't want to make a mithril dress, because I find it silly, but silk seemed to fit the bill nicely. Combined with my houserule that MW armor also reduces the ASF by 5% and increases max Dex by +1, having a MW silk dress (padded armor) worked perfectly.

DarkMaster · Feb 12, 2004

Don't know what the problem is? armor bonus don't stack. So what is the difference between bracer of armor +1 and silk shirt +1. If you wear it under a chain it still doesn't have any effect.

andargor · Feb 12, 2004

DarkMaster said:
Don't know what the problem is? armor bonus don't stack. So what is the difference between bracer of armor +1 and silk shirt +1. If you wear it under a chain it still doesn't have any effect.

+4 Bracers of Armor cost 16,000 gp and requires a 12th level caster. +2 Bracers of Armor cost 4,000 gp and a +2 Silk Shirt of Deflection costs 8,000gp for a total of 12,000 gp. It stacks (armor bonus + deflection bonus), and both require a 6th level caster. A 25% discount and lower item creator level, not bad.

Same logic applies to armor, since the shirt basically gives you one extra item slot.

Andargor

DarkMaster · Feb 12, 2004

andargor said:
+4 Bracers of Armor cost 16,000 gp and requires a 12th level caster. +2 Bracers of Armor cost 4,000 gp and a +2 Silk Shirt of Deflection costs 8,000gp for a total of 12,000 gp. It stacks (armor bonus + deflection bonus), and both require a 6th level caster. A 25% discount and lower item creator level, not bad.

Same logic applies to armor, since the shirt basically gives you one extra item slot.

Andargor

Why a deflection bonus if you consider it an armor it's an armor bonus and you don't get an extra slot since you could wear a better armor instead of the shirt. If I follow your logic I could have a PlateArmor of deflection +5 and wear bracer of armor and they would add up??

andargor · Feb 12, 2004

DarkMaster said:
Why a deflection bonus if you consider it an armor it's an armor bonus and you don't get an extra slot since you could wear a better armor instead of the shirt. If I follow your logic I could have a PlateArmor of deflection +5 and wear bracer of armor and they would add up??

An armor (or silk shirt) can have an enhancement bonus that adds to natural armor, dodge, deflection, etc. Just look at the item creation table. All that changes is the cost. Of course, the DM can nix that.

In your example, the base armor bonus of the Plate would not stack with the bracers, but the bracers would add to the AC vs incorporeal attacks.

All I'm saying is that allowing a silk shirt to be enhanced essentially grants an extra item slot.

Andargor

UltimaGabe · Feb 12, 2004

andargor said:
Same logic applies to armor, since the shirt basically gives you one extra item slot.

Not unless you paid double for the shirt. If you expected a normal shirt to give you a magical bonus, it would take up the same slot as armor, unless you paid extra. There's no "extra item slot" for it to give you.

Anyway, a +1 shirt of Heavy Fortification isn't overpowered for wizards, considering they can make Bracers of Armor that do the exact same thing for the exact same price.