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<blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 8185659" data-attributes="member: 16814">That's the same as wearing one suit of armor and another on top, though -- it's not a functional difference within the armor bonus class of AC modifiers and not unique or special to natural armor.&nbsp; Natural armor is often a dissociated mechanic that allows the monster designer to set an AC, slap the &quot;natural armor&quot; label on it, and not have to do much to justify it in the fiction.&nbsp; As [USER=42582]@pemerton[/USER] notes, why is a massive creature like an ancient dragon encased in armor that is better than even gods can craft?&nbsp; The answer is just, &quot;because it's natural armor.&quot;&nbsp; This is dissociated from the fiction to a degree, as is having leathery hide but gaining no benefit from it if you wear a breastplate.3.x is full of mechanical tags that don't engage the fiction very much and exist mostly because of game balance issues (which, imo, is largely failed in 3.x anyway).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ovinomancer, post: 8185659, member: 16814"] That's the same as wearing one suit of armor and another on top, though -- it's not a functional difference within the armor bonus class of AC modifiers and not unique or special to natural armor. Natural armor is often a dissociated mechanic that allows the monster designer to set an AC, slap the "natural armor" label on it, and not have to do much to justify it in the fiction. As [USER=42582]@pemerton[/USER] notes, why is a massive creature like an ancient dragon encased in armor that is better than even gods can craft? The answer is just, "because it's natural armor." This is dissociated from the fiction to a degree, as is having leathery hide but gaining no benefit from it if you wear a breastplate. 3.x is full of mechanical tags that don't engage the fiction very much and exist mostly because of game balance issues (which, imo, is largely failed in 3.x anyway). [/QUOTE]

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