I want to run a game where th players are in a variety of scenarios where armour is not acceptable (Gala’s, city, etc.) I also want characters who are academics and live lightly (indy jones).
Is there an alternate set of rules where players can encounter the standard fare of monsters and encounters but don’t need armour?
Unearthed Arcana page 110 that is the section on a rule set where characters get a Defense bonus and armor grants DR. That may be something you would want to look into.
Of course a party of monks and arcane casters can easily avoid using armor of anykind.
Keep this in mind as player’s may point it out a mithril chain shirt is easily concealed under normal clothing.
Wearing armor can’t be socially unacceptable when not detectable.
They may also voice using the enchantment Glamered to disguise the armor.
Just pointing out a few road blocks you might encounter.
A defense bonus is the way to go, I think. With the additional availability of magic I don’t see any problem, really.
Seriously, what kind of character types have ‘armor problems’?
Hm… admittedly, at the early levels this might be a problem as the characters pretty much have to rely on armor to help them out (except monks et al obviously). Everyone gets much less dependant after a few levels though.
I have run a gala ball where the characters didn’t have armor. The party didn’t have access to glamer or mithril shirts, so that wasn’t an issue, although one character was a monk, one was a wizard, and another was a rogue, leaving only one character, the cleric, at a real disadvantage armor-wise. Or weapons, for that matter. It was the tactical problems, like the fact that the bad guys had good armor, that caused a near-TPK, not to mention the two 5-headed skeletal hydras.
I was thinking of side stepping armor all together and giving everyone a bonus equal to their BAB and letting characters trade in their bonus armor prof. feats for a one time bonus…
I saw the armour = DR stuff but it wasn’t right.
I don’t think i will have any straight up fighters or barbarians so the party wouldn’t be too heart broken. If the balance is too off (they will have to change their style of combat) I’ll slip in defending weapons and such. I would also allow the action point exchange for the +4 dodge bonus for a turn.
I want characters who aren’t afraid of balance checks and crazy terrain for unique encounters. I was planning running battles through the rafters of a ballroom and across the decks of several ships in port. The latest dungeon pdf had a cool pillars fight after a rooftop chase/fight. With a standard party one or two people can’t get in on it because they have big penalties and won’t even try. They will stay on the ground and use missile weapons poorly or try to burn the place down.
You wouldn’t be able to see a mithral chain shirt worn under an outer garment, but I wouldn’t call it unnoticable. A character wearing such a contrivance is going to seem stiff and over bulked due to the added thickness and they’re going to be making tinkling sounds all the time. People are bound to get suspicious and if they realize that you’re wearing armor and that you’re trying to hide that fact then they are bound to assume that you are up to no good.
But Froto wore it under his clothing without others noticing until after he used it. lol
The defense bonus variant is where I jumped first in thought. Other key magic items could help as well (Monk’s Belt, Bracers of Armor, etc.). Also, with armor not being part of character wealth, consider that they will use that money to buy other items; potentially with higher bonuses than they would have. ie. Ring of Protection +3 instead of +2, etc.
As for the Cleric, he has Magic Vestment and it can be used on his clothing, as well as other similar spells. Those will help at least a little...but might require some pearls of power and a strand of prayer beads to be effective enough.
But Froto wore it under his clothing without others noticing until after he used it. lol
Exactly, a chain shirt made out of mithril is like cloth,
Black Plauge - 16 May 2008 06:57 AM
You wouldn’t be able to see a mithral chain shirt worn under an outer garment, but I wouldn’t call it unnoticable. A character wearing such a contrivance is going to seem stiff and over bulked due to the added thickness and they’re going to be making tinkling sounds all the time. People are bound to get suspicious and if they realize that you’re wearing armor and that you’re trying to hide that fact then they are bound to assume that you are up to no good.
Most people in that age dress in layers anyway.
AS PROOF it can’t be heard there is no armor check penalty on a mithril chain shirt. Thus no penalty to move silently. If the armor made noise when you moved it give a penalty to move silently.
Open the DMG and look at how thin a suit of mithril chain mail is. Thats a full suit of mithril armor and it looks fairly concealable.
Seriously, I still think that at mid to high levels the lack of armor isn’t that bad.
If you just want to do away with armor for flavor reasons and without giving them any disadvantages then yes, go with the defense system from unearthed arcana.
Start at level 3 and it is a flavour thing as well as the simple fact that armour hinders cool chase fights. I have players with 40`move and no chance of climbing or balance. I want to run moving fun fights.
Well if its more for flavor, then mithril chain shirts (when they can afford it) and masterwork leather armor in the form of a jacket or vest should do fine.
Leather can be fashionable clothing so why can’t it double as armor. You could say Indiana’s leather jacket and hat would count as leather armor in D&D terms, probably studded (with the studs concealed) as studded leather is made of more flexible material then normal leather armor.
okay as i see it you always just modify the padded armour stats a little to make a set of inconspicuous but somewhat ineffective “armour” i use quotation marks for obvious reasons, it really isn’t much of a stretch to assume there might be cloth armour in your campaign world, you could even give the clothes an enhancement bonus of roughly what you would get if you were in a normal campaign, this is all inspired by 4e dnd, wizards with armour sweet!!!
