Since cloth armor is closer to the classic archetype of the divine healer or priest or whoever is normally casting all the fluffy white magic, I've been wondering if anyoen has worked on any houserules to allow Cleric and Invokers to wear cloth without killing their effectiveness.
Obviously, this is meant to builds and characters that will largely stay in the rear, lending support while generally out of the enemy's reach.
I've considered options:
-Trading the armor proficiency for an AC bonus from an ability score or a fixed one
-Taking a feat that allows an AC bonus while in light or no armor
I haven't done the math yet. I'm actually more interested in knowing if anyone has already done this before and what results you got.
How about a feat that allows use of Wis stat (as opposed to Dex) for AC defence, only working in cloth armour or unarmoured? Monks in addition get a flat +2 for balance, but with Wis being the prime stat, not sure if required for Clerics.
Though it seems a shame to charge a "feat tax" just for a reasonable character concept. Perhaps allow cleric to trade their heavy armour proficiency for this feat . . .
I'm not sure if there are enough non-melee options in the PHB Cleric class to support this character concept and still provide meaningful choices.
Since Divine Power, there are plenty of options for the Cleric staying in the rear and the Invoker always had those options.
So, the idea is this:
-Loose all armor proficiencies except Cloth. If you want better armor, you train for it like everyone else.
-Add your WIS modifier to your AC
This presents a bit of an imbalance believe it or not. I'll explain.
The Cleric as well as most Invokers have little use for INT or DEX. For these classes, their AC will be about the same if they were wearing chainmail. The problem stems from Preserving Invokers who also keep INT high. This class will have way too much AC. This leads to the dilema of what to do since the possible +1 bonus the others would get from INT or DEX is just what they would need to get the bare minimum AC.
So, there is a +6 to AC that needs to be had without leaving room to completely break things. To do that, it might work best like this:
-Loose all armor proficiencies except Cloth.
-Add you WIS modifier to your AC instead of INT or DEX.
-Gain a flat +2 bonus to AC when not in heavy armor.
I think this would work. Anyone care to review this?
Why not just use Fluff and say that whatever they are wearing, looks like cloth?
Why not just use Fluff and say that whatever they are wearing, looks like cloth?
As easy as that may seem, I actually find many of the magic cloth armors much more appealing than the chain armors, at least for spellcasters. Given that an invoker is in essence a caster, and a cleric going for this option would be as well, the cloth armors are a bit more appropriate for them.
Hm, well... for a homebrew game I don't think that a feat like 'you gain a +2 to AC while not wearing armor' is terribly overpowered for a Cleric. Arguably; it's better then leather proficiency, but only slightly so (as in you're not wearing it, so it saves you a few gold and some weight that's not on you) so you might just pick that.
Using Wis for AC on the other hand is really good. That's just handing out a high AC for free, because it's the prime attribute for Clerics.
Also keep in mind that there's a reason that Cloth is good for spellcasters. They're supposed to be wearing it 
What it lacks in AC, it makes up for in good abilities for spellcasters.
wouldn't it be simpler to mix and match?
ie - refluff the chain as bulky robes etc, and give them magical properties of cloth of the same level?
The game separates the powers from the item itself so you can pick and choose which powers may not be "consistent" (ie. overbalanced) for the "robes". You can also use level tweaks on the combinations when needed. Though to be honest, a quick scan of the enchantments, I don't see any real issues.