Why no plate for fighters?

[Leatherhead]

As far as I can tell, fighters trade plate armor for military ranged weapon proficiency.

I do not think this trade works out in the fighters favor. Bows are excellent weapons with a huge range and nice damage. However javelins should work better for fighters in most cases where they need a ranged attack, barring the obvious "Your target is more than 20 squares away" encounter that is. Not that scale isn't a nice armor to use, and there are reasons to use scale instead of plate, such as check penalties and different enchantments. But I just don't see bow proficiency to be nearly as important to a defender as the option of using plate.

 

[MrMyth]

Fighters are also a bit stronger offensively than paladins (+1 to hit, for example), so I think the trade-off is reasonable.

 

[Staffan]

I think it's just meant to give paladins a better AC than fighters. Nothing stranger than that.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Fighter proficiency stops at Scale armor because Scale is the best armor in the game. +7 AC, no armor check, and only a -1 to speed. With the Armor Specialization (Scale) feat, that goes to a +8 AC and no penalties at all. Plate is merely there to trick the stupid paladins into drowning themselves in bodies of water.

Survival of the fittest. And apparently fighters are the fittest.

 

[Gort]

Agreed. If I was making a paladin, I'd put him in scale armour, plate proficiency be damned.

 

[qstor]

I'm just starting to look through my shiny new 4th ed players handbook and I noticed that Fighters are not proficient with plate armor.

Why is this , it's a break in theme from previous editions?

Is there a mechanics reason to justify it?

I never noticed this. I think this is plain. Dumb. I can't for the life of me think why the designers did this. Fighter and paladins have always had proficiency with plate.

Mike

 

[HP Dreadnought]

Even though I'm a big fighter player, I think this is fine.

Reinforces paladins as the knight in shining armor type, while fighters are the more gritty, in your face type. IMO it serves to add a little bit of flavor distinction to classes that before were a fighter, and a fighter that casts spells.

 

[Cadfan]

The fighter is more athletic. He gets the armor with no ability score penalty to emphasize this. Its really not a big deal, its only +1.

 

[brehobit]

Fighter proficiency stops at Scale armor because Scale is the best armor in the game. +7 AC, no armor check, and only a -1 to speed. With the Armor Specialization (Scale) feat, that goes to a +8 AC and no penalties at all. Plate is merely there to trick the stupid paladins into drowning themselves in bodies of water.

Survival of the fittest. And apparently fighters are the fittest.

For a dwarf, plate is a fine option the whole way.

 

[komi]

No, but you can pay for Search for $7.50 for 3 months.

In google search for:
site:enworld.org fighter "plate armor"