Casting Armour [Archive] - Wizards Community

Casting Armour [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Movanic
11-07-07, 01:51 PM I always hesitate when it comes to pricing things - and so I submit to the higher wisdom of these boards. I have a player that wants the following:

Ironweave Battlesuits (Medium Armour)
+5 armor bonus | +3 max Dexterity bonus | -4 armor check penalty
20% chance to negate crit. or sneak | Non magical | 0% spell failure chance
Price: 20,000 GP; Weight 25 lbs.

Ironweave Battleshirts (Light Armour)
+4 armor bonus | +4 max Dex bonus | -2 armour check penalty
10% chance of negating critical hits | Non magical | 0% spell failure
Price: 20,000 GP; Weight 5 lbs.

The lack of spell failure chance and the "Fortification" effect comes from the material (hence the non-magical aspect.) Should this be allowed? Are the prices appropriate?

From a game-balance perspective, would this grant casters to high of an AC to cheaply? To expensive?

Thanks for your opinions.
RobbyPants
11-07-07, 02:19 PM Well, just to point you in the direction of already existing enchantments, I think you can make what you're looking for with a combination of mithril, Twilight, and Fortification.

Making armor out of mithril (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialMaterials.htm#mithral) lowers it's categor by one (to a minimum of light), lowers the Armor Check Penalty, raises the Max Dex, and lowers the arcane spell failure by 10%.

The Twilight enchantment (Player's Handbook 2 and Book of Exalted Deeds) is a +1 enchantment that lowers the Arcane Spell Failuer by 10%.

Fortification (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicArmor.htm#fortification), lesser gives a 25% chance to ignore a crit. This is also a +1 enchantment.

Of course, you also need to have the armor made magical in the first place to add the other two enchantments.

So, you could take a chain shirt and modify it as follows:

AC ACP ASF Special
Bonus
________________________________________ _________________________________
Chain Shirt +4 -2 20% -
+1 enchantment +1 +0 +0 needed for further enchantments
Mithril +0 +3 -10% -
Twilight +0 +0 -10% -
Fortification,
Light +0 +0 +0 25% ignore crits
________________________________________ _________________________________
End Result +5 -0 0% 25% ignore crits

The cost of this armor would be:

Chain Shirt 100gp
Mithril 1,000gp
+3 enchantment* 9,000gp
___________________________________
total 10,100gp

*This is derived from adding both Twilight (+1) and Light Fortification (also +1) to an existing +1 enchantment.

EDIT:
I left out the Max Dex, which should be +6 (+4 for the chain shirt, +2 for mithirl).

All in all, what you've posted you could do cheaper with mithirl and those two enchantments. So the final result is:

AC +5, ACP -0, ASF 0%, Max Dex +6, Ignore critical hits 25%

10,100 gp

Hope that helps ;)
Movanic
11-07-07, 02:27 PM Thanks - did not have acces to twilight enhancement.

And so I guess that making those properties non-magical would not warrant a +100% price increase...

Thanks a bunch!
Killydd
11-07-07, 05:29 PM Thanks - did not have acces to twilight enhancement.

And so I guess that making those properties non-magical would not warrant a +100% price increase...

Thanks a bunch!

Don't be quite so quick to say that. What you need to consider is what happens if you do start adding on magical enhancements to the suit. Let's add in an extra +3 worth of enhancements(either straight or special abilities).

With your non-magical version, you add in a straight 9k to the price.
For the magical version, the +3 becomes a +6 price modifier, putting the cost around 37k, considerably more expensive than what you have statted out.

Pricing an item isn't just about what its like now, its also about what it will look like when someone starts to try to abuse it.
RobbyPants
11-07-07, 11:05 PM That's why I'd suggest just using what I pointed out, rather than creating something new. I agree that if you try to take what I posted and make it non-magical, it would drastically increase in price.

My advice is just save 10k and make a magical suit. For that matter, you can drop the price to 5,100gp if you drop the Fortification ability.
war_thog
11-08-07, 06:20 AM I second Robby's idea.

Using the precedents is better than making up rules to do the same thing.
A lot simpler too.
Stick with that whenever you can. *such as now*

On a side note the idea is cool. But is easily done in core rules with less abuse potential :)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Movanic 11-07-07, 01:51 PM	I always hesitate when it comes to pricing things - and so I submit to the higher wisdom of these boards. I have a player that wants the following: Ironweave Battlesuits (Medium Armour) +5 armor bonus \| +3 max Dexterity bonus \| -4 armor check penalty 20% chance to negate crit. or sneak \| Non magical \| 0% spell failure chance Price: 20,000 GP; Weight 25 lbs. Ironweave Battleshirts (Light Armour) +4 armor bonus \| +4 max Dex bonus \| -2 armour check penalty 10% chance of negating critical hits \| Non magical \| 0% spell failure Price: 20,000 GP; Weight 5 lbs. The lack of spell failure chance and the "Fortification" effect comes from the material (hence the non-magical aspect.) Should this be allowed? Are the prices appropriate? From a game-balance perspective, would this grant casters to high of an AC to cheaply? To expensive? Thanks for your opinions.
RobbyPants 11-07-07, 02:19 PM	Well, just to point you in the direction of already existing enchantments, I think you can make what you're looking for with a combination of mithril, Twilight, and Fortification. Making armor out of mithril (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialMaterials.htm#mithral) lowers it's categor by one (to a minimum of light), lowers the Armor Check Penalty, raises the Max Dex, and lowers the arcane spell failure by 10%. The Twilight enchantment (Player's Handbook 2 and Book of Exalted Deeds) is a +1 enchantment that lowers the Arcane Spell Failuer by 10%. Fortification (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicArmor.htm#fortification), lesser gives a 25% chance to ignore a crit. This is also a +1 enchantment. Of course, you also need to have the armor made magical in the first place to add the other two enchantments. So, you could take a chain shirt and modify it as follows: AC ACP ASF Special Bonus ________________________________________ _________________________________ Chain Shirt +4 -2 20% - +1 enchantment +1 +0 +0 needed for further enchantments Mithril +0 +3 -10% - Twilight +0 +0 -10% - Fortification, Light +0 +0 +0 25% ignore crits ________________________________________ _________________________________ End Result +5 -0 0% 25% ignore crits The cost of this armor would be: Chain Shirt 100gp Mithril 1,000gp +3 enchantment* 9,000gp ___________________________________ total 10,100gp *This is derived from adding both Twilight (+1) and Light Fortification (also +1) to an existing +1 enchantment. EDIT: I left out the Max Dex, which should be +6 (+4 for the chain shirt, +2 for mithirl). All in all, what you've posted you could do cheaper with mithirl and those two enchantments. So the final result is: AC +5, ACP -0, ASF 0%, Max Dex +6, Ignore critical hits 25% 10,100 gp Hope that helps ;)
Movanic 11-07-07, 02:27 PM	Thanks - did not have acces to twilight enhancement. And so I guess that making those properties non-magical would not warrant a +100% price increase... Thanks a bunch!
Killydd 11-07-07, 05:29 PM	Thanks - did not have acces to twilight enhancement. And so I guess that making those properties non-magical would not warrant a +100% price increase... Thanks a bunch! Don't be quite so quick to say that. What you need to consider is what happens if you do start adding on magical enhancements to the suit. Let's add in an extra +3 worth of enhancements(either straight or special abilities). With your non-magical version, you add in a straight 9k to the price. For the magical version, the +3 becomes a +6 price modifier, putting the cost around 37k, considerably more expensive than what you have statted out. Pricing an item isn't just about what its like now, its also about what it will look like when someone starts to try to abuse it.
RobbyPants 11-07-07, 11:05 PM	That's why I'd suggest just using what I pointed out, rather than creating something new. I agree that if you try to take what I posted and make it non-magical, it would drastically increase in price. My advice is just save 10k and make a magical suit. For that matter, you can drop the price to 5,100gp if you drop the Fortification ability.
war_thog 11-08-07, 06:20 AM	I second Robby's idea. Using the precedents is better than making up rules to do the same thing. A lot simpler too. Stick with that whenever you can. such as now On a side note the idea is cool. But is easily done in core rules with less abuse potential :)