Why is armor less emphasized?

[Moonstone Spider]

I was playing around with concepts the other day trying to make a character based around having a sort of family artifact armor. In short order I realized that while there's a ton of classes, feats, and PrCs based around a special weapon, there aren't any (that I noticed anyway, I'm sure somebody will post something even if it's 3rd party) based around armor. There's no Soulshield counter to the Soulknife, no Kensai of armor, and no exotic armor master (Or, for that matter, exotic armors to be a master of). The legacy items are almost entirely weapons with two or three gloves and armors and such mixed in.

Mechanically this seems enforced, I'd need thousands of feats to be proficient with every weapon yet only three to be proficient with every armor, with a few more for shields. Armor and shield enchantments are cheaper than weapon enchantments and there seems to be far fewer of them and less interesting ones (subjective call from me, natch).

Is this simply because most players find magic fancy armor less cool and interesting than a magic exotic weapon, or a mechanical part of the system that makes it inherently less reasonable to base a character around his armor? Or is it simply a conceptual hole that, for some bizarre reason nobody ever bothered to fill?

 

[theredrobedwizard]

There are more heavy armor type feats in Races of Stone, as well as several variety of exotic armor. The Book of Exalted Deeds has the Ancestral Relic feat, which allows you to spend gold, time, and XP to increase any item of masterwork quality (chosen when you select the feat) into a magic item.

Hope that helps.

-TRRW

 

[Nifft]

Is this simply because most players find magic fancy armor less cool and interesting than a magic exotic weapon, or a mechanical part of the system that makes it inherently less reasonable to base a character around his armor? Or is it simply a conceptual hole that, for some bizarre reason nobody ever bothered to fill?

What armor does Luke Skywalker use? What armor does King Arthur use? What armor does James Bond use? What armor does Inuyasha use (and he actually has named armor)?

Basically, yeah. It's a conceptual hole. People who use armor are less cool than people who don't wear armor but kill them none-the-less.

Stormtroopers wear armor. Han Solo does not. Who's cool? Right.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Darkwolf445]

Stormtroopers wear armor. Han Solo does not. Who's cool? Right.

Cheers, -- N

Boba Fett, that's who.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Boba Fett, that's who.

BOBA FETT IS NOT COOL!!!!!!!!

 

[The Lost Muse]

All you base are Boba Fett

 

[Votan]

Armor is surprisingly weak in d20. The penalties for wearing it are typically high and it is remarkable how little it helps. I find it remarkable that something that is so important to melee fighters historically is so underdone in D&D.

 

[Ranger REG]

Armor is surprisingly weak in d20. The penalties for wearing it are typically high and it is remarkable how little it helps. I find it remarkable that something that is so important to melee fighters historically is so underdone in D&D.

Why is it weak in d20 and not in AD&D?

 

[Moonstone Spider]

What armor does Luke Skywalker use? What armor does King Arthur use? What armor does James Bond use? What armor does Inuyasha use (and he actually has named armor)?

Basically, yeah. It's a conceptual hole. People who use armor are less cool than people who don't wear armor but kill them none-the-less.

Stormtroopers wear armor. Han Solo does not. Who's cool? Right.

Cheers, -- N

King Arthur is a Knight in Shining Armor, not a Knight with a Shiny Sword so there's something going on with perception there. If Jedi wore armor maybe every last one of them wouldn't have a bulk discount card for Suiggle's Replacement Limb Emporium. James Bond usually has Kevlar woven into his tuxedo (depending on the version of course) and Inuyasha wears a cloak of Fire Rat's Fur. I'm of the opinion that Stormtroopers don't actually wear armor but rather sheets of shaped explosive charges facing inward that detonate on any hit, those Ewok arrows don't look like they would have killed a naked human but mowed down stormtroopers

But I do get your point. Weapon seem more romanticized.

 

[Nifft]

Why is it weak in d20 and not in AD&D?

AD&D had THAC0, which had fewer bonuses than 3.0e's attack roll.

AC only went down to -10, and Strength only went up to 25.

There were fewer modifiers.

- - -

3.5e D&D has few modifiers to defense, but quite a lot to attack. Thus, attacks are generally more powerful than defense.

(But in all editions, so far as I recall, offense has always been stronger than defense.)

Cheers, -- N