D&D Armor System Revision

[Van Owen]

Ever notice how, by higher level armor becomes less and less effective, until around 12th Lv+ it becomes about as effective as wet cardboard? (Actually, the wet cardboard would be more effective as it would have a lower Armor Check Penalty) I decided to do something about this in my last D&D campaign. I've overhauled the Armor System, allowing armor to offer its full AC bonus, as well as offer Damage Reduction based on the the specific category of armor. I've also created a new category of armor, Suit Armor, which has two types, Field Plate and Full Plate; in addition, I have given masterwork armor additional bonuses, which now gives you a decent reason to buy it. My changes:

Light Armor offers its full AC Bonus and 1 pt of DR.

Medium Armor offers its full AC Bonus, and 2pts of DR

Heavy Armor offers its full AC Bonus, and 3 pts of DR

Suit Armor is special; more on that in a bit.

Masterwork Armor, besides its normal Armor check bonuses, adds +1 pt of Maximum Dextarity Bonus, and +1 pt of DR the additional cost is as follows:

Light Armor adds +150 gp to the cost

Medium Armor adds +300 gp to the cost

Heavy Armor adds +600 gp to the cost

So, under these rules, a suit of masterwork half plate would cost 1200gp, offer 7pts of AC, 1pt of max Dex bonus, and 4 points of DR. Not bad!

Suit Armor is already considered masterwork; the masterwork cost is calculated into the total armor cost. I'm going back to the hallowed days of 2nd Ed here. Suit armor is the pinnacle of the armorsmith's craft;only the best could achieve it, and only the wealthy could afford it. The stuff that they call Full Plate here was Field Plate in Second Ed. Wearing any form of suit armor should be a mark of prestige, but the 3.0/3.5 rules made it just another type of armor, and depending on your dex, not the best type, either. The new rules change this. Wearing Suit Armor requires the Heavy Armor proficiency.

Field Plate Armor costs 3000 gp, offers 8 points of AC, 2 points of Max Dex bonus, and 5 points of DR with an armor check penalty of -5, and an arcane spell failure chance of 35%. Weight is 50 lbs, movement rate for a human is slowed to 20.

Full Plate Armor costs 7000 gp, offers 9 points of AC, 1 point of Max Dex bonus, and 6 points of DR with an armor check penalty of -6, and an arcane spell failure chance of 40%. Weight is 55 lbs, movement rate for a human is slowed to 20.

All of the above information Assumes the armor is made of Steel. Exotic materials or racial construction may add either bonuses to Max Dex Bonus, or extra points of DR, but keep in mind the extra cost. I've playtested this system at lower levels, and it has worked very well.

[ScS of the Fraternity]

Not too shabby.

'Course, I always liked the idea of damage reduction better than armour class.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

I have thought about using DR instead of AC bonus in my games when armour is concerned, but never had a chance to put it into effect in a game. The way I worked it for my games is that the AC bonus is replaced with DR of the same amount.

Van Owen, I like your ideas, particularly that a different substance used to make the armour could have different effects on it. Take Mithril, a suit of full plate from that would be far to expensive to make (probably costing 80,000+ gp for a full suit), possibly having the following stats in game rules:

AC +9, +3 Max Dex, 7 points DR, Armour check -3, Arcane spell failure 20%, Weight 25lbs, Moveement solwed by 10 (as it would still be quite bulking and restricting in movement).

Very interesting stuff and would be worth playing about with.

[Van Owen]

It certainly gives high level and epic characters something to spend money on. A caveat of the armor system is certain attacks, like ones that deliver disease, and poison, like a werewolf's bite and a giant scorpian sting; if the attack hits, but the initial damage fails to get past the DR of the armor, then the disease or poison does not take effect. The same goes for sneak attacks. If the intitial damage cannot penertate the armor DR, the additional sneak attack dice are not rolled. For the most part, only the heaviest armors will have enough DR to cause this effect.

Regards exotic armors, I wouldn't place the value of the Mithral Full plate at 80,000gp; it would be more like 17,000gp. I understand that there are rules out there for racial armor, I do not have them, so I'm saying that Elven made armor decreases weight and adds max dex, while Dwarven made armor increases DR. Charge as you think appropriate. I do not think that mithral mithral will automatically add DR. I see the choice with mithral armor as adding max dex and lightness, with reduced weight, or, making the armor thicker, and adding DR. In the last case, the mithral armor weighs the same as normal Full plate, but offers additional DR.
Adamantine armor, the AC bonus of the armor is increased by by one for light, 2 for medium, and 3 for heavy, and 4 for Suit Armor, and 1 extra point of DR. Price is 10,000gp for light, and goes up another 5000gp per category. A suit of Adamantine full plate therefore costs an additional 25,000 gp, and would offer 13pts of AC, +1 max Dex bonus, and 7pts of DR. The final cost of the armor is 32,000gp.

[Snake]

I really like this. I always agreed that at a certain level, AC means nothing. Plus I always found PCs taking the chainshirt over any other armor. I think I may be using some of these changes. Very nice Van Owen.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

After the amount of times I have seen Adamantium or Mithril coming up n games I have participated in (as both DM and player) I would judge that armour made form them would be extremely rare, hence the extremely high price tag

However, Mithril is lighter and stronger than steel, so I reduced its weight and gave it a higher DR.

[Snake]

Do they mention in the Ravenloft DMG or the Players guide how much Mithral and Adamantium would cost in Ravenloft? I'd assume they'd be pretty expensive. I mean, it isn't everyday you can find Mithral in Ravenloft. But I guess it depends upon the DM.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

I don't remember anyhting about them in the RLDMG, but I would say that they would be available, though in small quanities at a time as a metal far more precious than platinum (which would seem fairly mundane and common in comparison).

[Van Owen]

For the most part, I was presenting a set of generic rules to be used for any setting, based on the current rules in the DMG. As with anything, however, scarcity determines value, however. I imagine a lot of Mithral would come out of Sithicus.

[Wiccy of the Fraternity]

I was thinking in more generic terms in the beginning, but it would be interesting to see how these conditions would apply to different settings and areas within settings. Sithicus may have a larger source of Mithril available, but outside the domain it would probably remain just as rare with the exceptionally high price tag attached.

[cpt_machine]

I found an easier method that worked well in low magic worlds like Ravenloft.
The armour bonus (this also applies to natural armour) give a DR equal to their value.
AC is derived from 10 + shield + size + reflex save
That way a fighter in full plate is easier to hit than a rouge but he can take way more of a beating.

As for magic its a matter of common sense, as mage armour can me ether DR or AC, I use it as AC as I see it as an invisible force field.

[Charney]

It's all great ideas but there's another problem that arises. Characters depending on agility for defense still have a poor AC. They only have their Dex to avoid hits and magic objects and it's hard to justifie how every rogue, ranger, wizards has found ring of protections and bracers of AC.