Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Nicholas the Paladin 08-18-06, 04:53 PM	Hi Guys, When an armour is made or mithril it makes the armour one armour-category lighter for the purpose of movement and other limitations. Just checking: Does this mean that a rogue or a ranger can (for instance) use a mithril breastplate? I would guess not. They both are only proficient with light armour. A breastplate is in fact afterall, still medium armour.
DM Zoc 08-18-06, 05:14 PM	Although a strict reading of only the rules portion might lead you to believe that a mithral breastplate is a medium armor which allows it to be counted as light armor for the purpose of ranger abilities, etc. while still requiring medium armor proficiency to avoid the penalty on attack rolls, all specific mithral armors state that they are effectively the lighter category for all purposes, and WotC has officially stated that it is fine to consider a mithral armor lighter for all purposes, including proficiency.
Arvagor 08-18-06, 06:29 PM	I don't necessarily agree with the current WotC interpretation -- IMO, "Light" armor is not just weight, but also flexibility, etc. That's why in the PHB, for example, banded mail is a heavy armor, even though it weighs less than chainmail, a medium armor. But, that being said, take a look at Races of the Wild, page 168, and you'll see where specifically all the mithral armors "officially" fall in their weight categories. (Mithral breastplate is, in fact, listed as a light armor.)
mvincent 08-18-06, 06:45 PM	From the 3.5 FAQ: "Is a character proficient with light armor, such as a rogue, considered to be proficient with mithral breastplate? What about a character proficient with medium armor, such as a barbarian—is he considered proficient with mithral full plate armor? The description of mithral on page 284 of the DUNGEON MASTER’s Guide is less precise than it could be in defining how it interacts with armor proficiency rules. The simplest answer— and the one that the Sage expects most players and DMs use— is that mithral armor is treated as one category lighter for all purposes, including proficiency. This isn’t exactly what the DUNGEON MASTER’s Guide says, but it’s a reasonable interpretation of the intent of the rule (and it’s supported by a number of precedents, including the descriptions of various specific mithral armors described on page 220 of the DUNGEON MASTER’s Guide and a variety of NPC stat blocks). Thus, a ranger or rogue could wear a mithral breastplate without suffering a nonproficiency penalty (since it’s treated as light armor), and each could use any ability dependent on wearing light or no armor (such as evasion or the ranger’s combat style). A barbarian could wear mithral full plate armor without suffering a nonproficiency penalty (since it’s treated as medium armor), and he could use any ability dependent on wearing medium or lighter armor (such as fast movement). The same would be true of any other special material that uses the same or similar language as mithral (such as darkleaf, on page 120 of the EBERRON Campaign Setting)." This has been debated before the FAQ answer, and after, but the FAQ answer should still resolve the issue for most groups. But if not, your rogues and rangers could always just get Elven Chain (i.e. mithral chain that even those opposed to the ruling have to admit is light for all purposes).
Tony Vargas 08-18-06, 06:50 PM	Officially, yes. IMHO, the fact that armor is lighter doesn't change the kind of armor it /is/ (if you don't know how to put on an move in a breastplate, knowing how to put on and move in a chain shirt won't help you). So my answer (as a DM, IMC, call it a 'house rule') would still be 'yes,' but you'll need the proficiency if you want to avoid taking the ACP to a lot of your rolls when you do it. (And, seriously, the ACP of a Mithral Breastplate is only -1).