Why is armor less emphasized?

[Nyeshet]

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.

You are forgetting that magic does not exist historically, while in D&D it does exist - and can often grant more protection than full plate.

Animated Shields, Bracers of Armor +#, Rings of Protection +#, Heavily Fortified (light) armor - or perhaps even cotton or wool shirts, and so forth - not even taking into account a variety of spells - tend to overshadow mere armor, especially as the benefits are the same or superior to what normal (encumbering, armor penalty inducing) armor provides.

A little magic goes a long way towards re-writing what is or is not an acceptable penalty, especially in life / death situations. Why wear armor that slows you down, encumbers your movements, casting, and carrying capacity, etc, when a set of bracers, an enhanced and animated shield, and a ring can grant the same benefit without all the penalties - or even better benefit (such as by using all three, or even any two of the three)?

 

[Squire James]

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

I can answer that one: AD&D didn't slap any Dex bonus limitations on armor. In fact, armor in AD&D had only movement-based penalties. Thus, there was no game-mechanic reason why a fighter would wear anything but Full Plate if they had a choice.

 

[Nifft]

King Arthur is a Knight in Shining Armor, not a Knight with a Shiny Sword so there's something going on with perception there.

Are you insulting Excalibur?!? Just because it came from some watery tart...

Inuyasha wears a cloak of Fire Rat's Fur.

Nailed that one. But notice how he never yells "Fire Rat Cloak!" -- but he does yell "Tetsuiga!" (or transliteration to that effect).

Ewok arrows

Was there a word there before "arrows"? My eyes hurt but I can't read anything.

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

Of course. The weapon is the ... male organ of choice.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Hussar]

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

And that's pretty much it right there.

Really though, it's mostly because armor doesn't actually DO anything. It just sits there. Sure, you have that ancestral suit of Whoosit crafted by the Grand High Mufti Whossname, but, at the end of the day, in D&D, armor is purely passive.

Armor doesn't affect any of a PC's rolls. Actually, it doesn't really affect any rolls at all, other than setting a given DC. But, for the person wearing it, it adds pretty much nothing to the experience of playing that character. It just makes him harder to hit.

Magic weapons come into play with every attack. That makes them much more visible.

 

[Storm Raven]

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

It was weak in AD&D. At higher levels, it didn't really matter how good your AC was, you were going to get whacked on a regular basis anyway.

 

[Felon]

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?

Apparently, the hole is in your D&D library. Get Races of Stone. Sounds like it's what you're looking for.

 

[Felon]

I find it remarkable that something that is so important to melee fighters historically is so underdone in D&D.

In D&D, the emphasis is on the heroic, not the historical. Most heroes get along just find without bulky plate.

Having said that, a suit of full pate givess you an AC 19 with Dex mod +1, while chain tops out at 18 for the guy with a +4 Dex mod. You can convert both to mithral, and the AC edge still goes to the full plate. It's only one higher, but IMO it'd be pretty lame for a guy to sink his 18 into Dex and not get a decent AC out of it, at least compared to the guy who just went out and spent some gold on full plate.

 

[Luthien Greyspear]

I created a 10-level PrC that is based around the concept of the "armor specialist". He gains proficiency in all Exotic Armors that have an armor bonus equal or less than his class level, as well as additional bonuses with "favored armors" gained at 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th level. He also gets extra feats based on defense or shield use, and he adds his class level to the hardness of all his gear. At the ultimate level, he can actually use something like the Improved Sunder feat when being attacked, as he turtles up so completely that weapons shatter upon him.

Basically, I saw the same problem you did, and that was my idea to combat it. If you want more details, I'll try to dig up my file from my other system.

 

[Ranger REG]

It was weak in AD&D. At higher levels, it didn't really matter how good your AC was, you were going to get whacked on a regular basis anyway.

In 2e, if you can roll natural 20's consecutively.

In 1e, you may need more than just a natural 20, if I interpret the attack matrices correctly.

 

[Ranger REG]

I can answer that one: AD&D didn't slap any Dex bonus limitations on armor. In fact, armor in AD&D had only movement-based penalties. Thus, there was no game-mechanic reason why a fighter would wear anything but Full Plate if they had a choice.

Yeah, and that's why AD&D is better than all other RPGs when it comes to medieval fantasy. You can have absurdly high Dex bonus, and armor can only improves your AC more.

And who knows better about absurdity than Diaglo.