What the hey, let's revise armour

[Archimago]

I don't like how many of the armours beyond the light classification seem useless. Why wear scalemail or splintmail or half-plate, or even chainmail, with breastplate and full plate around? What about shields, small shields seem quite useless. Also, why is it that characters min/mazed to padded are in a better ship than those min/maxed to full plate (ie. same ac 1+8 or 8+1 for AC and Dex respectively, but without the movement penalties, which can make one easier to hit when one needs the movement) So I thought I'd try my hand at a revision that aims to cut the fat and generally even things out. Tell me how I did...

Light AC Max. Dex AC Penalty Casting Failure

Padded +1 +7 0 5%
Leather +2 +6 0 10%
Studded Leather +3 +5 -1 15%

Medium AC Max Dex AC Penalty Casting Failure

Hide +4 +3 -2 20%
Breastplate +4 +4 -2 20%
Chain Mail +5 +3 -3 25%

Heavy ACMax DexAC Penalty Casting Failure

Scale Mail +6 +1 -4 30%
Banded Mail +6 +2 -5 35%
Plate Mail +7 +1 -6 40%

Shields AC AC Penalty Casting Failure

Buckler +1 -1 5%
Full* +2 -2 15%
Tower ** -10 50%

* Either wooden or steel, as PHB Large shield for description and bash damage
** Tower provides cover as PHB
Armour encumbrances apply as per PHB
Medium armour provides damage reduction 1/-
Heavy armour provides damage reduction 2/-

PS. The armour names don't matter too much, so don't attack me on that please.

 

[MythandLore]

Maybe it's my dyslexia, but I don't see Full Plate any wear?

 

[Crothian]

He's also missing Chain Shirt.

I don't see much of a change here. I think a few feats that only apply to the heavier armors will do the trick.

 

[MythandLore]

Yeah, it only looks like minor changes have been made.
I formated it so it's easier for me to see what's happening now.
And I added the missing armors, so do you think you can add what you think they would be according to your formula?
Or did you just take them out beacuse you couldn't get them to work with your rules?

Light.........../AC./Max Dex./AC Penalty./Casting Failure./Weight./Cost
Padded........../+1./+7....../0........../1in20.........../10lbs../5gp
Leather........./+2./+6....../0........../2in20.........../15lbs../10gp
Studded Leather./+3./+5....../-1........./3in20.........../20lbs../25gp
Chain Shirt...../

Medium....../AC./Max Dex./AC Penalty./Casting Failure./Weight./Cost
Hide......../+4./+3....../-2........./4in20.........../30lbs../15gp
Scale Mail../
Breastplate./+4./+4....../-2........./4in20.........../25lbs../200gp
Chain Mail../+5./+3....../-3........./5in20.........../30lbs../150gp

Heavy......./AC./Max Dex./AC Penalty./Casting Failure./Weight./Cost
Splint Mail./+6./+1....../-4........./6in20.........../40lbs../200gp
Banded Mail./+6./+2....../-5........./7in20.........../35lbs../250gp
Plate Mail../+7./+1....../-6........./8in20.........../45lbs../500gp
Half Plate../
Full Plate../

Shields../AC./Max Dex./AC Penalty./Casting Failure./Weight./Cost
Buckler../+1./......../-1........./1in20.........../5lbs.../15gp
Full*..../+2./......../-2........./3in20.........../**...../5gp
Tower***./.../......../-10......../10in20........../45lbs../30lbs

* Either wooden or steel, as PHB Large shield for description and bash damage
** Wooden shield weighs 10lbs, steel 15lbs
*** Tower provides cover as PHB
Armour encumbrances apply as per PHB
Medium armour provides damage reduction 1/-
Heavy armour provides damage reduction 2/-

 

[Archimago]

I don't see Full Plate any wear?

He's also missing Chain Shirt.

Like I said before, the names don't really matter, call breastplate, dinnerplate for all I care. The point of my mechanics based revision was to introduce a new mechanic.
The formula is simple: optimal armours have a total AC bonus of +8 split between actual AC from the armour and the maximum Dex bonus. I went from +1/+7 (AC/Max Dex, Padded) to +7/+1 (Platemail). [Aside] +8/0 could also be added to round this out maybe I'll make that change. [/Aside] Anyway, and AC Bonus x 5 equals casting failure (except for banded and plate mail, where I added an extra +5%).
Hide stayed for the sake of Druids, but otherwise is clearly obsolete because because its possible AC is only 7 (+4AC, +3 Dex).
Don't worry too much about splint, but essentially it is also an obsolete armour, but kept because its casting failure is proportionally lower than the other two heavy armours.
Yes, I changed a few names.... GET OVER IT! D&D also leaves out Ringmail, which is a legitimate armour, but not too many people complained heavily. If you must know, I dropped Full Plate because its too technologically advanced, its a much later armour than chainmail or studded leather, so I dropped it, but that's specific to my world. So half-plate became plate-mail, ie. some plate, some mail, because it was no-longer half of anything.
Bottom line, I'm looking for feedback of whether my mechanic is okay. Specifically, is the grant of 1/- and 2/-, for medium and heavy armour respectively, a fair trade off for the movement penalties they get (I always felt these armour were essentially inferior to light armour in D&D because of this penalty without recoompense. BTW, I'm aware they have higher base ACs but their optimal AC (ie. AC plus Max Dex) is still the same as light armour).
Let me reiterate, is my mechanic sound?

 

[MythandLore]

I guess it's okay for the most part, like I said before you didn't change too much other then adding DR, nothing rocking the boat, you know what I mean?
Anyway, if your looking to use it for your game it looks balanced enuff.
It's really doesn't make armor very much better to use though then before.
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Maybe you could change the scale a bit to +10 or something.
i.e.
Leather........./+2./+8....../0........../2in20.........../15lbs../10gp

Chain Mail../+5./+5....../-3........./5in20.........../30lbs../150gp

Plate Mail../+7./+3....../-6........./8in20.........../45lbs../500gp

Heavy Plate whatever../+9./+1....../-9........./10in20......./60lbs../Xgp
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Or make diffrent value scale DRs or something.
Light Armour provides No damage reduction.
Light Medium Armour provides damage reduction 1/-.
Medium Armour provides damage reduction 2/-.
Medium Heavy Armour provides damage reduction 3/-.
Super Heavy Armour provides damage reduction 4/-.
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Or make a new movement range.
So it doesn't just go 30 then 20.
Instead it could go 30, 25, 20 or something.