These are the weapons I have encountered on the pdf files:
- Bone Carrikal 1d8 - Versatile: If you use this weapon two-handed, gain +1 damage when you roll damage.
- Bone Wrist Razors; 1d4, Property: You can wear your wristrazors and still hold and wield other objects in your hands. - nice!
- Stone Trikal; Reach 2; 1d10
- Bone Alhulak; 1d8 - no properties so far
- Bone Gauntlet Axe; 1d8 - no properties so far
The armor are the same but it would be great if there were some new ones albeit more appropiate to the setting, bring back the chitin shirt +4 AC, -1 penalty skills, I know its the variation of the chain shirt in 3.5 but it was a cool armor otherwise your going to be all bulky in your Braxat plate mail... just an idea.
I think the Bone Gauntlet axe leaves your hand open as well, its attached to your wrist, thus the "gauntlet"
So what do you guys make out of the armors in Athas. You in favor of wearing a braxat plate mail, or a kank scale armor ??
Personally I prefer to go with the masterwork light armor, like the darkhide or leather, to keep up with the flavor. I hope the new book covers the section of armor and heat. It could be armor vs weather.
i think that the normal penalties should apply when wearing certain kinds of armor, but no more than usual. think about it, the braxats would of adapted to lighter scales if they hampered their chance of survival. Thus it wouldn't be signing a death warrant to wear heavy armor in the desert.
I concur, but what about the heat and it´s hazards... athas.org handled that pretty well... want to see what do WoTC come up with.
i think that the normal penalties should apply when wearing certain kinds of armor, but no more than usual. think about it, the braxats would of adapted to lighter scales if they hampered their chance of survival. Thus it wouldn't be signing a death warrant to wear heavy armor in the desert.
I concur, but what about the heat and it´s hazards... athas.org handled that pretty well... want to see what do WoTC come up with.
Referring specifically to additional armor penalties in Athas: it's a pointless addition to the game.
If it arbitrarily punishes classes that are expected to wear heavy armor, or in any way discourages players from playing those types of characters, then it's not a good design decision.
If the only point of adding the rule is "only an idiot would wear X armor on Athas" then it is much better to simply assume that all armor is NOT X armor, from both a design and a playability standpoint.
Just to be perfectly clear, as there seems to be a rash of misunderstandings in this forum lately, I am not advocating against survival mechanics and environmental penalties -- after all, this is Athas.
Referring specifically to additional armor penalties in Athas: it's a pointless addition to the game.
If it arbitrarily punishes classes that are expected to wear heavy armor, or in any way discourages players from playing those types of characters, then it's not a good design decision.
If the only point of adding the rule is "only an idiot would wear X armor on Athas" then it is much better to simply assume that all armor is NOT X armor, from both a design and a playability standpoint.
Totally agree with FBJon.
Athasian societies would rarely wear armors that would cause them to bake in their own juices (read up on the Battle of Hattin, and why Middle Eastern cultures never wore heavy metal armors depite their availability). It's called intelligence and adaption.
From a gaming perspective: don't remove heavy armor builds, adapt them. There exists an "armor check" penalty for wearing heavier armors - but don't go beyond that. Athasian heavier armors would be relatively heavier than light armors - but not enough to cause players to kill themselves.
Exception: Dwarves and their iron plate - they should get a Darwin award, stupid Dwarves and their focus.
Middle Eastern cultures never wore heavy metal armors depite their availability
"Never"? Umm... you mean aside from cataphracts and clibanarii, right? Or do you not count Iran as being part of the Middle East?
(I actually agree with everything else you said, but this claim jumped out at me.)