Updated: Better Armor Ideas

[Wolf72]

one very last bump

so, drowdude ... I'm going with your idea, plus another upgrade for heavy armor

Light Armor: more mobility (ACP, ASF, MaxDex usually) (add in RingMail +3 AC, +3 MaxDex, -3 ACP, 10% ASF, 20lbs, 50gp ... why is it good? because of the ASF, and a mithril suit has 0% ASF)

Medium Armor: +2 AC, +50gp ... less mobility, More AC

Heavy Armor: +2 AC, DR1 (stacks with my dragon armor extra/equpment bonus), +200gp ... much less mobility, More AC, and some DR

hmm I like those, not to over the top ... and nothing that says "wow this is the best!" ... someone might actually want to wear a suit of splint mail now ...

ej

 

[drowdude]

DR is kewl for heavy armor I think.

Although I think I might bump Full-Plate up to DR 2.

 

[Wolf72]

DR is kewl for heavy armor I think.

Although I think I might bump Full-Plate up to DR 2.

if you do that I'd consider bumping the price up to an even 2,000gp ... or 1,850gp ... then a MW suit'd cost 2,000gp.

heck you could even use that to reintroduce Field Plate ... that being the DR1 version (1,700gp).

not really necessary, but I think it looks/sounds cool

good thoughts drowdude. (time to make another armor table, one normal (done already), and now one modified ... )

 

[Wolf72]

not even a real bump ...

I'm going to try to attach a txt file ... this is my big list of armor.

p1 -- basic armor list from PHb, OA, and DragonLords of Melnibone
p2 -- shields and add-ons
p3 -- modified armor list (medium and heavy ...+ to AC, + in gp, and DR for heavy armor)

[edit: add in text. High Plate/Melnibonean Plate is pretty top notch already without enhancements ... I would make this armor a hybrid Adamantium/mithral which would account for it's relatively high mobility (MxDx, ACP, ASF, weight) and much better AC +10 (normal), +12 (modified) ... that way players can't ask for a suit made of mithral (giving insane bonuses ...) or adamantium (giving an insane AC) ... and this way it would always be Heavy armor -- ej]

[edit2: updated table .... bah! tried but it kept the same old stoopid table ... new post and bump coming up I guess]

 

[trentonjoe]

If you start throwing in DR for armor make sure you balance it with actual damage for the armor. In 1E Field Plate and Full plate could only "absorb" x amount of damage before they needed to be repaired. I always liked this idea.

I would suggest that Medium armors do DR -/1 but only up to 25 points after that they would need to be repaired.

Heavy armor would have DR-/2 but only up to 50 points and then they would have to be repaired.

another idea is that "damaged armor" no longer can absorb the hit points and it takes a -1 to the AC bonus.

Just a thought.

 

[trentonjoe]

Great table.

 

[Wolf72]

hmmm

dunno, keeping track of dmg for armor might be a little more work than I want. It's not really that bad ... but I'm sure someone will come along and start asking what about this type of dmg, or how am I suppossed to repair that ...

I guess you/I/anyone could just come up with flat rate for armor repair.

DR for medium armors? at first I did what you had posted, but then thought ... naaaaah, I wanted there to be something a little different about each group.

Light: Low AC, high mobility
Medium: Good protection, good mobility
Heavy: High protection, low mobility

 

[trentonjoe]

The one time I tried to keep track of Armor damage (oh, about 15 years ago) the players whined but did it. Basically it is just keeping a tally of how many times you get hit. When you get to 25 you need to repair.

THey really complained when they realized getting hit 25 times was about 4-5 combats. It did get a litle tedious.

I think we used something like 10gp* the amount of hp the armor needed repaired.

Just a thought!

 

[drowdude]

Hey Wolf72, I decided to reply to your email here


The variant chart looks really good. The DR really does seem to fit nicely. For Melnibonean Plate I would go ahead and give it the 2 points of DR and up the cost of it to around 5000 gp.


Armor types that I would add (or change from your chart)...

Light Armor

Ring Mail cost: 200 gp; Armor Bonus: +5; Max Dex: +3; ACP: -3; ASF: 25%; Weight: 30 pnds.

Heavy Armor

Improved Mail cost: 500 gp; Armor Bonus: +8; Max Dex: +2; ACP: -6; ASF: 35%; Weight: 50 pnds.; DR 1

Shields*

Small Shields grant a +2 bonus to AC
Large Shields grant a +3 bonus to AC

* It is also worth noting that IMC shields grant a *Shield* bonus to AC rather than a "special armor bonus".

 

[Wolf72]

hey there!

NJ-Joe: 25 times, 10gp per hit (easy enough). What happens when you go over on it though (don't get it repaired ... does it come become worse/useless ... still redeemable-oh that'd be nast ... how much money did they forget to spend and do they have any back up armor?) *evil DM thoughts* (check the table, I put in some fast rules on that ... basically if you neglect to repair your armor it costs an add't 100gp (350gp total) and the DR ability is suspended, and the wearer suffers a -2 circumstance/equipment penalty to AC)

yup, I remember you had a different take on ringmail.

shields: nah, I'm not gonna mess with 'em (imc). Do agree on making a seperate 'shield' bonus though

half-plate: I think the copy I sent you said 1,000gp ... it should be 800gp

High Plate (generic uber-armor): I'll up it to 5k, but I think I'll keep it at DR 1. I like full plate having that "new and improved tech" feel to it. If I ever get around to writing flavor text (not my strong point in the least) ... I'm gonna keep it as some sort of hybrid Adamantium/mithral armor ... (so crazy players won't say ... oh oh can I make a mithral suit of this ... "no! (says I), it's got some mithral already ... and the only people who could custom make suit for you would probably eat you!)

improved mail: hmmm hmmm I'm thinking about it ... (price 500 for normal +6 AC, modified 700 for +8) ... yup that's it!