Better Armor Choice [Archive] - Wizards Community

Better Armor Choice [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Jooky
07-18-07, 02:55 AM What is the better armor option for a frontline fighter, an adamantine breastplate, or a mithral breastplate?

The adamantine gives 2 DR, while the mithral one gives a lesser armor check penalty, and is lighter.

I am currently using a 5th level half-ogre spiked chain trip build, and I can not decide which of these two armor types would be the better overall choice. Barring the finding of any specific armor types later on, I am interested in hearing your opinions on which breastplate would be the better overall option for my character.
Kouk
07-18-07, 04:29 AM If you have any kind of STR score, I would go with Adamantine.

Do Half-Ogres have a movement speed of higher than 30ft by default? If they do, wearing medium armor will reduce your speed a bit, but with your tremendous reach you probably won't feel that too much. You can also get magic boots to enhance your speed later.

The Mithral Breastplate is lighter, and is treated as light armor, so it may be important depending on what classes you are for the retention of class abilities, and it does not impede your movement speed at all.

If your game uses the Augment Crystals from the Magic Item Compendium, you might just use the DR granting crystals (though you can only use the weaker ones with light armor) to get "enough" DR.
runestar
07-18-07, 04:48 AM Unless you plan on eventually acquiring a dex of 20 to take advantage of the higher max dex cap for mithral breastplate, I would probably go with adamantine breastplate in this case, I guess.
dknight100
07-18-07, 06:24 AM Assuming you're using a fairly standard build (i.e. fighter, not finessing that chain), i would go with adamantium. To make the most of your trip, i'd go for upping your strength. Also increases your damage nicely thanks to spiked chain being a 2 hander. Assuming that you're keeping high con too, then you probably dont have higher dex than the normal breastplate cap (unless you're utterly dumping int wis and cha, and i would advise at least keeping points in wis).

On a side note, make room for improved disarm in your build, it needs 13 int, but its worth it. Spiked chain grants a +2 bonus to disarm in its description, and if you read up on disarm, you'll notice that it 2 handed weapons get a +4 to disarm attempts too. This gives a +6 to disarm just for having a spiked chain. Add in improved disarm and that adds another +4 and removes the attack of op for attempting the disarm. Already at +10 to your disarm opposed attack roll. This gives you a pretty good chance of messing up your opponent as much as if you had tripped him, if not more - he can attack from prone, but its not likely that his Unarmed Strike is very impressive.
Jooky
07-18-07, 10:01 AM Thank you to everyone that has responded. This is the reason that I read these boards :-) Aside from a few brief games when 3.0 first came out, I havn't really played D&D since 1st edition. While I played enough then that I knew what the hell I was doing, these days I can get a bit confused over the best course of action for character building.

It looks like I will go ahead and stay with the adamantine breastplate and pick up some boots of striding and leaping at some future point. I think I will also use dknight100's suggestion of picking up improved disarm at some point in the future as well. The last feat I picked up was power attack, so that I could grab cleave and great cleave later. Would improved disarm be a better choice? Or should I finish out the current tree?

Thanks again guys.
Leilond
07-18-07, 10:11 AM The armor that grant the best "armor bonus" using your "full dex modifier"
If your dexterity is 16 or more, go for mithral
If your dexterity is 15 or less, go for adamantine
dknight100
07-18-07, 05:21 PM The last feat I picked up was power attack, so that I could grab cleave and great cleave later. Would improved disarm be a better choice? Or should I finish out the current tree?

Thats a harder choice, and largely a case of what benefit do you want first. With decent strength and a 2 hander (not to mention power attack) you stand a good chance to hit things for nice damage, which definitely makes at least cleave nice. Thanks to the amounts of feats you'll get if you stay fighter, you can at worst pick up cleave and greater cleave later.

Just regarding greater cleave though - its usefulness varies depending on the DM. If he likes using a lot of lower CR monsters, then greater cleave will be quite effective, but if he tends to send you up at a smaller amount of high CR monsters, its effectiveness rapidly decreases. Basically, you want to be able to keep on killing off the hit.

My personal pick would be the disarm, partially because it fits the whole chainfighter idea like a glove, partially because I'm a little biased against greater cleave, it sounds cool, but it won't be frequently that you get to use it, whereas theres nothing BBEG shafting like removing his weapon.

Beware though, everything might start having locked gauntlets for no apparent reason...
runestar
07-18-07, 09:28 PM The armor that grant the best "armor bonus" using your "full dex modifier"
If your dexterity is 18 or more, go for mithral
If your dexterity is 17 or less, or you don't plan on pumping it any further, go for adamantine

Fixed.:)
DinwathSereglin
07-18-07, 10:35 PM Glass Steel is the best.
Eikre
07-18-07, 11:22 PM Glassteel is campaign specific, overwritten in Champions of Valor as a mithral ripoff, and, I think, 3.0 in the form you're thinking of.

But yes. It is indeed better than Mithral or Adamantium.
DM_Death
07-19-07, 01:34 AM It looks like I will go ahead and stay with the adamantine breastplate and pick up some boots of striding and leaping at some future point...

If I may, you should nerf the idea for boots of striding and springing, and take steadfast boots instead. (Magic Item Compendium.) You can then use the rules in the MIC for adding "common" enhancements to current items to increase your speed.

In case you are unfamiliar with steadfast boots, they allow you to treat ANY 2-handed weapon you carry as being readied for a charge, dealing double damage with a successful hit, even if the weapon CAN'T NORMALLY BE SET AGAINST A CHARGE. I use this item with my favorite character of all time (for this month); a spiked chain wielding fighter 2/ swordsage 2/ rogue 11...it's absolutely brutal...with adaptable flanker, and the island of blades stance...

Anyway, just wanted to point out those boots! ;)
jaelis
07-19-07, 01:36 AM Personally, I think speed tends to be underrated and DR overrated. I'd go with the mithral.
Jooky
07-19-07, 03:08 AM If I may, you should nerf the idea for boots of striding and springing, and take steadfast boots instead. (Magic Item Compendium.) You can then use the rules in the MIC for adding "common" enhancements to current items to increase your speed.

(snip)

Anyway, just wanted to point out those boots! ;)

Thanks for the idea. I will have to check them out.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jooky 07-18-07, 02:55 AM	What is the better armor option for a frontline fighter, an adamantine breastplate, or a mithral breastplate? The adamantine gives 2 DR, while the mithral one gives a lesser armor check penalty, and is lighter. I am currently using a 5th level half-ogre spiked chain trip build, and I can not decide which of these two armor types would be the better overall choice. Barring the finding of any specific armor types later on, I am interested in hearing your opinions on which breastplate would be the better overall option for my character.
Kouk 07-18-07, 04:29 AM	If you have any kind of STR score, I would go with Adamantine. Do Half-Ogres have a movement speed of higher than 30ft by default? If they do, wearing medium armor will reduce your speed a bit, but with your tremendous reach you probably won't feel that too much. You can also get magic boots to enhance your speed later. The Mithral Breastplate is lighter, and is treated as light armor, so it may be important depending on what classes you are for the retention of class abilities, and it does not impede your movement speed at all. If your game uses the Augment Crystals from the Magic Item Compendium, you might just use the DR granting crystals (though you can only use the weaker ones with light armor) to get "enough" DR.
runestar 07-18-07, 04:48 AM	Unless you plan on eventually acquiring a dex of 20 to take advantage of the higher max dex cap for mithral breastplate, I would probably go with adamantine breastplate in this case, I guess.
dknight100 07-18-07, 06:24 AM	Assuming you're using a fairly standard build (i.e. fighter, not finessing that chain), i would go with adamantium. To make the most of your trip, i'd go for upping your strength. Also increases your damage nicely thanks to spiked chain being a 2 hander. Assuming that you're keeping high con too, then you probably dont have higher dex than the normal breastplate cap (unless you're utterly dumping int wis and cha, and i would advise at least keeping points in wis). On a side note, make room for improved disarm in your build, it needs 13 int, but its worth it. Spiked chain grants a +2 bonus to disarm in its description, and if you read up on disarm, you'll notice that it 2 handed weapons get a +4 to disarm attempts too. This gives a +6 to disarm just for having a spiked chain. Add in improved disarm and that adds another +4 and removes the attack of op for attempting the disarm. Already at +10 to your disarm opposed attack roll. This gives you a pretty good chance of messing up your opponent as much as if you had tripped him, if not more - he can attack from prone, but its not likely that his Unarmed Strike is very impressive.
Jooky 07-18-07, 10:01 AM	Thank you to everyone that has responded. This is the reason that I read these boards :-) Aside from a few brief games when 3.0 first came out, I havn't really played D&D since 1st edition. While I played enough then that I knew what the hell I was doing, these days I can get a bit confused over the best course of action for character building. It looks like I will go ahead and stay with the adamantine breastplate and pick up some boots of striding and leaping at some future point. I think I will also use dknight100's suggestion of picking up improved disarm at some point in the future as well. The last feat I picked up was power attack, so that I could grab cleave and great cleave later. Would improved disarm be a better choice? Or should I finish out the current tree? Thanks again guys.
Leilond 07-18-07, 10:11 AM	The armor that grant the best "armor bonus" using your "full dex modifier" If your dexterity is 16 or more, go for mithral If your dexterity is 15 or less, go for adamantine
dknight100 07-18-07, 05:21 PM	The last feat I picked up was power attack, so that I could grab cleave and great cleave later. Would improved disarm be a better choice? Or should I finish out the current tree? Thats a harder choice, and largely a case of what benefit do you want first. With decent strength and a 2 hander (not to mention power attack) you stand a good chance to hit things for nice damage, which definitely makes at least cleave nice. Thanks to the amounts of feats you'll get if you stay fighter, you can at worst pick up cleave and greater cleave later. Just regarding greater cleave though - its usefulness varies depending on the DM. If he likes using a lot of lower CR monsters, then greater cleave will be quite effective, but if he tends to send you up at a smaller amount of high CR monsters, its effectiveness rapidly decreases. Basically, you want to be able to keep on killing off the hit. My personal pick would be the disarm, partially because it fits the whole chainfighter idea like a glove, partially because I'm a little biased against greater cleave, it sounds cool, but it won't be frequently that you get to use it, whereas theres nothing BBEG shafting like removing his weapon. Beware though, everything might start having locked gauntlets for no apparent reason...
runestar 07-18-07, 09:28 PM	The armor that grant the best "armor bonus" using your "full dex modifier" If your dexterity is 18 or more, go for mithral If your dexterity is 17 or less, or you don't plan on pumping it any further, go for adamantine Fixed.:)
DinwathSereglin 07-18-07, 10:35 PM	Glass Steel is the best.
Eikre 07-18-07, 11:22 PM	Glassteel is campaign specific, overwritten in Champions of Valor as a mithral ripoff, and, I think, 3.0 in the form you're thinking of. But yes. It is indeed better than Mithral or Adamantium.
DM_Death 07-19-07, 01:34 AM	It looks like I will go ahead and stay with the adamantine breastplate and pick up some boots of striding and leaping at some future point... If I may, you should nerf the idea for boots of striding and springing, and take steadfast boots instead. (Magic Item Compendium.) You can then use the rules in the MIC for adding "common" enhancements to current items to increase your speed. In case you are unfamiliar with steadfast boots, they allow you to treat ANY 2-handed weapon you carry as being readied for a charge, dealing double damage with a successful hit, even if the weapon CAN'T NORMALLY BE SET AGAINST A CHARGE. I use this item with my favorite character of all time (for this month); a spiked chain wielding fighter 2/ swordsage 2/ rogue 11...it's absolutely brutal...with adaptable flanker, and the island of blades stance... Anyway, just wanted to point out those boots! ;)
jaelis 07-19-07, 01:36 AM	Personally, I think speed tends to be underrated and DR overrated. I'd go with the mithral.
Jooky 07-19-07, 03:08 AM	If I may, you should nerf the idea for boots of striding and springing, and take steadfast boots instead. (Magic Item Compendium.) You can then use the rules in the MIC for adding "common" enhancements to current items to increase your speed. (snip) Anyway, just wanted to point out those boots! ;) Thanks for the idea. I will have to check them out.