Armor vs. Wonderous Armor Items [Archive] - Wizards Community

Armor vs. Wonderous Armor Items [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Zedraikis
09-15-04, 06:21 PM Hey, everyone.

I'm making an epic level character and I decided to go a simple, basic route for him. Rogue 5/Fighter 10/Wizard 15.

What I'm posting for is what I should use as armor. Our group players have a knack for juicy flavor, so when the idea of magically enhanced mithral armor came to mind for this character, I started seeking out magical modifications that can lower spell failure chance percentages.

I've only found two: making the armor mithral reduces it by 10%, and there's another magical modification I know of that lowers it by another 10%. It comes out of one of the various Arms & Armors books.

Unfortunately, even for a breastplate, this isn't enough to completely wipe out all of the spell failure chance, and I really don't want to take a level of the Spellsword prestige class because, quite honestly, I think it sucks, nor do I like doing one to two level class dips. You lose too much out of it, even if you get something in return, in my opinion.

So, I'm wondering if anyone else knows of any particular modifications that lower spell failure chance. Otherwise, I may have to toss aside the cool ideal of a wizard using armor without any trouble and just go for the standard Bracers of Armor +10.
Zherog
09-15-04, 09:24 PM Hey, everyone.

I'm making an epic level character and I decided to go a simple, basic route for him. Rogue 5/Fighter 10/Wizard 15.

Nice XP penalties. ;)

Anyway, on the armor question - there's an armor enhancement in Book of Exalted Deeds called Twilight that will reduce your ASF by 10%.
questionc
09-15-04, 09:51 PM Bracers of Armor (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemsV.htm#bracersofArmor) Bracers of Armor

These items appear to be wrist or arm guards. They surround the wearer with an invisible but tangible field of force, granting him an armor bonus of +1 to +8, just as though he were wearing armor. Both bracers must be worn for the magic to be effective.

64,000 gp (+8 AC)

Now, let's look at a Mithral Chain Shirt...
Chain Shirt: 100gp
Mithral Light Armor: 1000gp
Now let's enchant it up from +4 to +8: 4*4*1000 = 16000
Mithral Chain Shirt +4: 17,100 gp (+8 AC)

So, it's +8 AC without any armor penalty, and presumably you've found a way to eliminate the remaining 10% arcane spell failure.

The only real downside to the armor is that your max dex bonus is now 6... so if you have a Dex higher than 23, you might be better off with bracers. :p

In high-powered games... Mithral Chain Shirt is arguably what just about everyone with decent Dex needs to wear.
magnuskn
09-16-04, 04:16 PM Bracers of Armor (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemsV.htm#bracersofArmor) Bracers of Armor

In high-powered games... Mithral Chain Shirt is arguably what just about everyone with decent Dex needs to wear.

Actually, in high-powered games you´d want to use the Celestial Chain, upgrade it a bit more and add the "Nimble" property, if your Dexterity ever goes beyond 26. :)

Magnus

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Zedraikis 09-15-04, 06:21 PM	Hey, everyone. I'm making an epic level character and I decided to go a simple, basic route for him. Rogue 5/Fighter 10/Wizard 15. What I'm posting for is what I should use as armor. Our group players have a knack for juicy flavor, so when the idea of magically enhanced mithral armor came to mind for this character, I started seeking out magical modifications that can lower spell failure chance percentages. I've only found two: making the armor mithral reduces it by 10%, and there's another magical modification I know of that lowers it by another 10%. It comes out of one of the various Arms & Armors books. Unfortunately, even for a breastplate, this isn't enough to completely wipe out all of the spell failure chance, and I really don't want to take a level of the Spellsword prestige class because, quite honestly, I think it sucks, nor do I like doing one to two level class dips. You lose too much out of it, even if you get something in return, in my opinion. So, I'm wondering if anyone else knows of any particular modifications that lower spell failure chance. Otherwise, I may have to toss aside the cool ideal of a wizard using armor without any trouble and just go for the standard Bracers of Armor +10.
Zherog 09-15-04, 09:24 PM	Hey, everyone. I'm making an epic level character and I decided to go a simple, basic route for him. Rogue 5/Fighter 10/Wizard 15. Nice XP penalties. ;) Anyway, on the armor question - there's an armor enhancement in Book of Exalted Deeds called Twilight that will reduce your ASF by 10%.
questionc 09-15-04, 09:51 PM	Bracers of Armor (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemsV.htm#bracersofArmor) Bracers of Armor These items appear to be wrist or arm guards. They surround the wearer with an invisible but tangible field of force, granting him an armor bonus of +1 to +8, just as though he were wearing armor. Both bracers must be worn for the magic to be effective. 64,000 gp (+8 AC) Now, let's look at a Mithral Chain Shirt... Chain Shirt: 100gp Mithral Light Armor: 1000gp Now let's enchant it up from +4 to +8: 441000 = 16000 Mithral Chain Shirt +4: 17,100 gp (+8 AC) So, it's +8 AC without any armor penalty, and presumably you've found a way to eliminate the remaining 10% arcane spell failure. The only real downside to the armor is that your max dex bonus is now 6... so if you have a Dex higher than 23, you might be better off with bracers. :p In high-powered games... Mithral Chain Shirt is arguably what just about everyone with decent Dex needs to wear.
magnuskn 09-16-04, 04:16 PM	Bracers of Armor (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemsV.htm#bracersofArmor) Bracers of Armor In high-powered games... Mithral Chain Shirt is arguably what just about everyone with decent Dex needs to wear. Actually, in high-powered games you´d want to use the Celestial Chain, upgrade it a bit more and add the "Nimble" property, if your Dexterity ever goes beyond 26. :) Magnus