Post/Author/DateTime	Post
bluetooth 05-31-07, 05:38 PM	I was wondering if anyone could help me determine the balance of using the Leadership feat to get a Living Breastplate with class levels. At higher levels, it would have an absurdly high ego score and it would never get a share of the treasure (nor could it benefit from nearly any magic either). It would be forced to take levels of something like psion to be useful though, and there would have to be some adjudication on what abilities were shared. For instance, if the breastplate took levels in Sangehirn and got Fast Healing, would it pass that along to the wearer? I'm thinking probably not, but I'm not really sure. If anyone can help me (or point me to the correct board if this isn't it) I'd appreciate it.
Araes 05-31-07, 08:42 PM	Its debatable whether this would be the correct forum or not, but I'll see what I can do as far as assessing balance concerns. In terms of the armor itself, I think that you'll definitely have to treat this much differently when determining how it responds to the player, and particularly Ego. Personally, my response would be to completely cross the line with the item into NPC territory. Treat it basically like how you would treat an NPC who had been Polymorphed into some other form. Hit points and abilities will count just like they would if it were a normal NPC. In terms of the share of treasure, you could rule that the share that a normal cohort would gain will instead go towards buffing up the physical parameters of the armor. Since the idea of cohorts taken to an extreme is basically a living item for the player who takes it anyhow, this would make sense. In addition, the XP they normally receive would basically just go towards them gaining levels in whatever class you gave them. In general, I agree that whatever class it is would need to be one which doesn't require props to perform its duties. Some options beyond psionics might also be clerics, bards, druids, or sorcs that have eschewed material components. There are quite a few spells you can cast in those disciplines that don't require materials or cheap materials that can be ignored with the proper feats. My view on the passing of abilities is that it shouldn't be able to pass any ability to its user that isn't an aura type ability to begin with. However, it would be much easier to cast spells that require touch contact, which might make a case for a cleric breastplate, as it would be a nice healer.