Armor and magic item body slots [Archive] - Wizards Community

Armor and magic item body slots [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
nerdsen
06-23-07, 06:19 AM how do you handle the body slots of armor and magic items?
i.e. when you wear an full plate, can you exchange the gauntlets for magic gauntlets, or are those slots blocked? if you wear a breast plate and wear additionally a magic helmet and gauntlets, does your armor become a full plate armor? i haven't found anything about that in the rulebooks. IMO one of the few aspects that aren't self-explicable.
Merestil Haye
06-23-07, 06:42 AM how do you handle the body slots of armor and magic items?
i.e. when you wear an full plate, can you exchange the gauntlets for magic gauntlets, or are those slots blocked? if you wear a breast plate and wear additionally a magic helmet and gauntlets, does your armor become a full plate armor? i haven't found anything about that in the rulebooks. IMO one of the few aspects that aren't self-explicable.Gauntlets and Helms by themselves are not armour, and do not add to the AC of the character when worn alone, or in addition to an armour that does not normally use them. For example, a Monk can wear gauntlets without losing the class abilities dependant on not wearing armour. Neither are they integral to the sets of armour they come with; the items can be freely exchanged without harming the armour's protection.
nerdsen
06-23-07, 06:44 AM so item slots and the components listed in the armor description have nothing to do with each other?
zeratulcraft
06-23-07, 07:07 AM I'd say the Breastplate of a piece of armour has all the magic. Gloves and helmets can be switched out or enchanted in their own right.
Salla
06-23-07, 07:26 AM so item slots and the components listed in the armor description have nothing to do with each other?

Correct. If you choose to not wear a helmet or gauntlets that the descriptive text of a suit of armor includes, you are not penalized (on the other hand, you don't get any money back either).
bondious
06-23-07, 02:27 PM Now if you have a special suit of armor where the helmet and/or gauntlets do something significant, then I'd say you either have to keep the suit whole OR if you switch out one of the pieces then you lose that benefit.

Take this for example:

Demon Armor: This plate armor is fashioned to make the wearer appear to be a demon. The helmet is shaped to look like a horned demon head, and its wearer looks out of the open, tooth-filled mouth. This +4 full plate allows the wearer to make claw attacks that deal 1d10 points of damage, strike as +1 weapons, and afflict the target as if she had been struck by a contagion spell (Fortitude DC 14 negates). Use of contagion requires a normal melee attack with the claws. The “claws” are built into the armor’s vambraces and gauntlets.

For something like that, where the gauntlets have a specific function, I'd probably rule that you could switch them out for something different, say Gauntlets of Ogre Power or something, but then you'd lose the claw attack feature of the Demon Armor.
dungeoneerphil
06-24-07, 08:18 AM Hate to post a 'me too' reply, but I concur. In most cases -- such as your +1 light fortification and whatever other power you can think of breastplate, it's permissible to swap out boots, gauntlets and helms. It should only really make a difference with specific suits of magic armour -- the demon armour you cited.

I'm not sure I agree with zeratulcraft's point that all the enchantment is stored in the suit's breastplate (or whatever equivalent the armour might have) since in most instances a suit of armour is just that -- a suit, covering most of the body. Sleeves, leggings, pauldrons, or what have you. If we're going to go down that route (although it can lead to pointless nit-picking) perhaps it's more accurate to say the enchantment resides in, say, 80% of the suit's mass.

That's probably a level of detail too far, though.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
nerdsen 06-23-07, 06:19 AM	how do you handle the body slots of armor and magic items? i.e. when you wear an full plate, can you exchange the gauntlets for magic gauntlets, or are those slots blocked? if you wear a breast plate and wear additionally a magic helmet and gauntlets, does your armor become a full plate armor? i haven't found anything about that in the rulebooks. IMO one of the few aspects that aren't self-explicable.
Merestil Haye 06-23-07, 06:42 AM	how do you handle the body slots of armor and magic items? i.e. when you wear an full plate, can you exchange the gauntlets for magic gauntlets, or are those slots blocked? if you wear a breast plate and wear additionally a magic helmet and gauntlets, does your armor become a full plate armor? i haven't found anything about that in the rulebooks. IMO one of the few aspects that aren't self-explicable.Gauntlets and Helms by themselves are not armour, and do not add to the AC of the character when worn alone, or in addition to an armour that does not normally use them. For example, a Monk can wear gauntlets without losing the class abilities dependant on not wearing armour. Neither are they integral to the sets of armour they come with; the items can be freely exchanged without harming the armour's protection.
nerdsen 06-23-07, 06:44 AM	so item slots and the components listed in the armor description have nothing to do with each other?
zeratulcraft 06-23-07, 07:07 AM	I'd say the Breastplate of a piece of armour has all the magic. Gloves and helmets can be switched out or enchanted in their own right.
Salla 06-23-07, 07:26 AM	so item slots and the components listed in the armor description have nothing to do with each other? Correct. If you choose to not wear a helmet or gauntlets that the descriptive text of a suit of armor includes, you are not penalized (on the other hand, you don't get any money back either).
bondious 06-23-07, 02:27 PM	Now if you have a special suit of armor where the helmet and/or gauntlets do something significant, then I'd say you either have to keep the suit whole OR if you switch out one of the pieces then you lose that benefit. Take this for example: Demon Armor: This plate armor is fashioned to make the wearer appear to be a demon. The helmet is shaped to look like a horned demon head, and its wearer looks out of the open, tooth-filled mouth. This +4 full plate allows the wearer to make claw attacks that deal 1d10 points of damage, strike as +1 weapons, and afflict the target as if she had been struck by a contagion spell (Fortitude DC 14 negates). Use of contagion requires a normal melee attack with the claws. The “claws” are built into the armor’s vambraces and gauntlets. For something like that, where the gauntlets have a specific function, I'd probably rule that you could switch them out for something different, say Gauntlets of Ogre Power or something, but then you'd lose the claw attack feature of the Demon Armor.
dungeoneerphil 06-24-07, 08:18 AM	Hate to post a 'me too' reply, but I concur. In most cases -- such as your +1 light fortification and whatever other power you can think of breastplate, it's permissible to swap out boots, gauntlets and helms. It should only really make a difference with specific suits of magic armour -- the demon armour you cited. I'm not sure I agree with zeratulcraft's point that all the enchantment is stored in the suit's breastplate (or whatever equivalent the armour might have) since in most instances a suit of armour is just that -- a suit, covering most of the body. Sleeves, leggings, pauldrons, or what have you. If we're going to go down that route (although it can lead to pointless nit-picking) perhaps it's more accurate to say the enchantment resides in, say, 80% of the suit's mass. That's probably a level of detail too far, though.