So I wanted to come up with this armor that I thought would work well for a steampunk-ish feel:
Clockwork Armor
This armor is an exo-skeleton of magically infused motors and hydrolic systems.
Level: 6
Price: 1800 gp
Armor: Scale
Bonus: +2 AC
Property: If you are an Artificer, you are proficient with this armor.
Property: Gain a bonus to Athletics checks and Strength checks (but not attacks) equal to the bonus of this armor.
Property: You can attach and use two embedded components as if you are a warforged.
Power (encounter) - useable only while bloodied; Spend a healing surge, but gain no hp, and instead gain temporary hp equal to 5 + the enhancement bonus of this armor.
Im not sure if it is too powerful at this point. I mean if your an artificer it give you basically a free proficiency feat. The attaching of components is not that big of a deal if you ask me because you still have to buy/find those other items, and there is a limit. The power is supposed to be like a lesser version of the Warforged resolve power.
Im looking for some help on this one, I dont usually make up my own items - but this is for a special occasion.
Thanks guys!
The power looks... weak. 5 + enchancement is 7 points for the +2 version; the players will have a better Surge Value alone by that time (not even counting leader bonusses to a heal), they'd have to pretty desperate to use that ability.
Other then that, I do like the idea 
Im glad to hear you say that - that actually mimics my own thoughts on the subject... how about this:
Clockwork Armor
This armor is an exo-skeleton of magically infused motors and hydrolic systems.
Level: 6
Price: 1800 gp
Armor: Scale
Bonus: +2 AC
Property: If you are an Artificer, you are proficient with this armor.
Property: Gain a bonus to Athletics checks and Strength checks (but not attacks) equal to the bonus of this armor.
Property: You can attach and use two embedded components as if you are a warforged.
Power (encounter) Move - useable only while bloodied; Spend a healing surge, but gain no hp, and instead gain temporary hp equal to 10 + the enhancement bonus of this armor.
I made the ability a Move action - thus they can still attack, and I upped the amount to 10+enhancement bonus. I think this sweetens the deal quite a bit more, even though the PC will still have to spend one of their surges! Makes the power actually a fesable way to spend a move action.
Thoughts?
Basic +2 armor is level 6. Any armor that is +2 with extra bonuses should be higher level by default. Otherwise there would be no reason to get the standard +2 level 6 armor. That's power creep.
Clockwork armor is similar to dwarven armor. The daily of dwarven armor is better than the encounter of clockwork armor, but making it an encounter ability pushes them to about even in power level. Both give a bonus to a physical skill, but the clockwork armor also boosts strength checks. I'm not sure how good the warforged feature is, but it, and the artificer proficiency, combined with the other bonuses put the level to 9.
I agree with making the encounter power 10 + enhancement. This makes it better than a potion, but not as good as leader healing.
Does it float?
Sinks like a stone... otherwise, pretty nifty!
Yeah it really doesnt float so well!
Maybe in the hands of a bard who could already swim and swan dive!