Studded Leather, is it a metal armor for game purposes?

[Creat]

Well, other than the fact that the druid restrictions say, "You can't wear metal armor."
They then provide a list of things that aren't metal armor. Everything else, thereby, is metal armor (barring special materials, discussed separately).

And how exactly are you trying to contradict me when I wrote:

[...] the only one point that references studded leather as metal armor is the druids description [...]

My point was that all other sources (or all that I know of in the PHB/DMG and so on) treat Studded leather as NON-metal armor (see posts above), so its one against many.

bye
Creat

 

[Creat]

[...]is really more what D&D is talking about.

Yes I would agree, that's what I would understand as "close-set metal rivets", unfortunately that's just never gonne work out with the given weights in th PHB, which says 15 pounds of leather and 5 pounds of metal, so it can't be this dense.
Also take another look at the studded leather picture from the PHB, it shows the rivets clearly in a much greater distance to another, and I do assume they thought about if this picture looked right and like they imagined the armor before they printed it.

bye
Creat

 

[Nail]

How about here for a picture of studded leather?

There are several sites which show what video games think are the best representations of studded leather.....FWIW.

 

[Storyteller01]

Storyteller01: You can't comparte a directed attack to an actual lightning (though, granted it's the closest thing we have in reality). If you include sweat in that calculation you're just making it more impossible to solve than it already is. The thing with the legs is based on the human body beeing a by far better conductor compared to dry (or possibly even wet) earth.

bye
Creat

Sorry, just comparing electricity in general. Lightning strikes me (no pun intended) as a relatively adequate example, given that it is a directed burst of energy (those crazy electrons balancing themselves out!!)

Another example: military personel working on vehicles (and I'm sure anyone else) are ordered to remove their dog tags, watches, and jewelery. If these bits of metal make contact with the battery, said mechanic is a dead man (again with the electrons!)! If this is the case with two pieces of metal on a chain (or something equally small), what will studded leather do with a directed burst?

Also, remember that the lightning traveled through the earth (most likely wet) before it hit said human.

I hereby end my arguement before I go overboard...

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Yes I would agree, that's what I would understand as "close-set metal rivets", unfortunately that's just never gonne work out with the given weights in th PHB, which says 15 pounds of leather and 5 pounds of metal, so it can't be this dense.

This is where I think your problem lies. Specifically, your math's wrong.

The difference between the weight of leather armor and that of studded leather armor is 5 pounds. I agree.

The difference between leather armor and studded leather armor, however, is not just the presence or abscence of metal rivets.

Rather, leather armor relies on the toughness and thickness of the leather for its protection. That leather is boiled and beaten into shape, and is applied in multiple layers. It is rigid armor; a given piece does not flex.

Studded leather armor is made of softer leather, and relies on the metal rivets for protection. In fact, the only difference between studded leather and a thick leather coat is the presence of the metal rivets. It is not rigid armor; a given piece will flex.

 

[Creat]

Another example: military personel working on vehicles (and I'm sure anyone else) are ordered to remove their dog tags, watches, and jewelery. If these bits of metal make contact with the battery, said mechanic is a dead man (again with the electrons!)! If this is the case with two pieces of metal on a chain (or something equally small), what will studded leather do with a directed burst?

OK sorry, but that's just plain wrong and against the laws oh physics! The human skin has a certain resistance, you just need at least round about 60 Volts to pass it (and all vehicles use 12 (cars) or 24 (trucks) Volts for their devices as far as I know even in military vehicles). Even if you anchor your waches under your skin (ouch!) it wouldn't work cause you still need to complete the circuit, which means you need an entry and an exit point. So IF the watch would have a metallic or otherwise conducting connection to under the skin (where the blood would easily conduct it through the body) it would still have to get back out of your body on the other side, presumeably through the hand to the frame or another part connected to the negative pole of the battery but still through the skin! So unless you're incredibly unlucky and have a screwdriver sticking through your hand that's just not gonna happen.

But my actual point why a lightnig is not such a great example is that it searches for its easiest way to discharge, if you want. The ray shot by this Psionic (I think?) is directed, which is against the laws of physics already all by itself. That's just not how electricity works...

But I don't think that's helping to solve the problem anymore

Patryn of Elvenshae: Yea actually that might be right, it would also work out with the weight of the chainshirt which is again 5 pounds heavier, so the remaining leather would've been replaced by steel (over all thinner steel I guess, the rivets seem to be more massive than the construction of a chainshirt).

bye
Creat

 

[Creat]

Oh I forgot, Storyteller01: Even if all that would happen its still not relevant because the metal of the chain or the watch doesn't attract a lightning, it would simply conduct the electricity if it came in contact with, say, the positive pole itself (again: and the voltage would be high enough to bridge all the other obstacles and thereby complete a circuit). You need 10.000 volts to bridge about 1 cm of air if I recall correctly (not 100% sure but the dimensions should be right) and you have nowhere NEAR that in a car (as I said 24 the most in trucks, assuming you have military equipment that has it's own power generator maybe 110-220, but that would be on the back of the truck an nowhere near the engine!)

ok, done with off-topic now (sorry)
Creat

 

[KarinsDad]

Whereas I think the CON side has the better arguement list.

Moreover, you could interpret the druid statement as "its got enough metal to count against the druids restrictions.....but not enough to be treated as a mostly metal armor". I don't see any subtantial problem with that distinction, especially as it is backed up by common sense.

There is a difference between interpreting the Druid statement and reading it as is.

They could have written it as:

"Druids are proficient with light and medium armor but are prohibited from wearing any armor with metal in it; thus, they may wear only padded, leather, or hide armor."

but they didn't.

Unlike the CON list (although reasonable and longer), this is an actual rule that indicates that studded leather (and all other armors with metal in them) are metal armors.


This is the only definition of metal armor (tmk) that we have, so we have to go with it. The CON rules are implications, this one is a statement.