Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Tam 03-15-04, 04:40 PM	Warning ! This is again a whining thread... Is it me or does the barbarian, which rely on medium armor, ends up with more AC, more DR and more HP as a Fighter in heavy armor ? Has someone a fix for that ? May be at least erasing the max dex bonus ?
DragonWatcher 03-15-04, 08:38 PM	My (albeit sleep deprived) initial thoughts are that since a barbarian suffers several penalties for being in heavy armor, it kind of works itself out. You can also rule that as a class restriction (kind of like druids), barbarians cannot wear heavy armor. If they do, they lose all of their class features (including class DR) until they remove it. Or, you can do what I do and disallow barbarians altogether. I mean, for me it's a thematic decision, but whatever. There are many workarounds... don't sweat the little things. Only the min-maxing types will insist on something like this, and if you game with such people, then you know that they will ALWAYS find a way to exploit the rules (if not outright break them) in their favor. If you don't game with this type of person... then who cares if this is a possibility. Just tell the player that a barbarian in heavy armor does not fit in with the culture in your world. Many options... all ya gotta do is pick one. ;) After all... that's why this is a book of OPTIONAL rules. :D BTW... I wasn't kidding about the sleep deprivation today. Don't take this response as an attack to your question. I can't tell if this sounds nasty or not, but it's not intended that way. Cheers!
Salla 03-16-04, 08:06 AM	Yes, a barbarian in heavy armor will have a squidload of DR because the armor DR stacks with his class feature. This does fit in nicely with the barbarian archetype of being able to absorb damage by the bucketload. However, a barbarian in heavy armor loses his Fast Movement, and he needs to blow a proficiency on it (or Multiclass). I'd probably give a Fighter with well chosen feats the edge in an even-level battle, though, simply because of versatility. He can trip/disarm the barbarian to cut down on his massive damage output until his rage ends, then take advantage of his fatigue.
Tam 03-16-04, 03:25 PM	Sorry for the ambiguous phrasing. I was not referring to a barbarian with heavy armor proficiency, but to a high dex barbarian wearing a breastplate. With a +3 Dex bonus, usual AC with a breastplate becomes +6 an 2/- damage reduction. A heavy armor user might want to stick to full plate for maximising DR, but its max AC would be +5 (4+1). The highest AC reachable is still at +9 with padded leather, but reasonably, the dex requirement is too high to reach that level. With these ruling, the barbarian gets same or higher (+1) AC, higher Hp, and, counting from 10th level, equal or better DR. I was figuring that DR to armor could be an opportunity to rebalance the game in favor of heavy armored guy; something like: medium armor (0+1/2 magic enhancement)/adamantine. Heavy armor (1+magic enhancement)/adamantine. This does not stack with other sources, take the better. Of course, clerics really do not need that boost (but there are also rules to nerf them, so...); As it is, it seems to be rabalancing the game in favor of the barbarian. Is it done on purpose ?
Millennium 03-17-04, 11:47 AM	Yes, the barbarian gets higher DR in this case. This is supposed to happen; the Barbarian is designed from the ground up to be the tank of the group, using brute force where a fighter would prefer finesse.