Author Topic: Enchanted Armor or Enchanted Shield  (Read 1856 times)

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Offline HawksNut

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Enchanted Armor or Enchanted Shield
« on: May 09, 2017, 09:40:35 AM »
A question for the GM's.

What additional benefit do each of you allow with enchanted armor that might be different than just an increase to DB as with High Steel (+10) armor? I do not want to over power an item but I am certain an enchanted suit of armor should impart more benefit than just a plus to DB.

Offline Fingolfin80

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Re: Enchanted Armor or Enchanted Shield
« Reply #1 on: May 09, 2017, 10:17:10 AM »
Well, that depends entirelly by your setting. I usually do not give DB bonus for materials, so the only way to have that +10 is through magic. But there are other benefit you could give, for example the armor could lower critical level. If you feel this too powerful you could restrain the benefit to certain types of critic (only slash, for example).
Or you could say that the armor is plate but encumbers like leather, so it'st usable with that ability.
It could protect against magic (+x to RR) or be so good you can be hitten by crits but you don't get ordinary concussion damage (this one is very powerful, i think). 

Offline RandalThor

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Re: Enchanted Armor or Enchanted Shield
« Reply #2 on: May 09, 2017, 12:45:47 PM »
I think that one of the bennies is that it can add to the character maneuvering in armor skill. So, for example, that +10 for high steel being used would increase their armor skill by 10 which lowers the maneuvering penalties and such by the same amount (to the minimum, of course). I don't think that is RAW, but if you want the material mods to mean something other than defense adjustments, that is something you can do that I don't think would be overpowering. (The critical modifying, imo, would be overpowering - except for some of the more exotic/uber-rare materials, maybe.)
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Offline Voriig Kye

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Re: Enchanted Armor or Enchanted Shield
« Reply #3 on: May 09, 2017, 04:48:07 PM »
We read somewhere that a magical item grants its bonus to any applicable situation.
We interpreted that as meaning that a magical armor will apply its bonus to DB, Minimum Penalty, Maximum Penalty, Missile Penalty, Quickness Penalty, Perception Penalty, etc. So a magical armor is really much better than just "high quality" armor, where each benefit must be considered separately when computing crafting difficulty and cost.

Offline Sable Wyvern

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Re: Enchanted Armor or Enchanted Shield
« Reply #4 on: May 09, 2017, 10:09:31 PM »
Treasure companion assumes that all magical armour is also superior and lightweight.

This means all armour penalties (Min and max MMP, Qu Pen, Missile Pen) are reduced by 15%, and both min and max MMP are improved by +10 to maximum of 0.

Beyond that, you could add bonuses to particular attack forms (+20 DB and RR vs Fire), critical reductions (reduce or negate specific crit types), or embed any sort of spell you want.

Offline Ecthelion

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Re: Enchanted Armor or Enchanted Shield
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2017, 05:48:31 AM »
Treasure companion assumes that all magical armour is also superior and lightweight.

This means all armour penalties (Min and max MMP, Qu Pen, Missile Pen) are reduced by 15%, and both min and max MMP are improved by +10 to maximum of 0.
We're also using these official rules from Treasure Companion. Indeed, in addition the DB-Bonus, an enchanted +10 armor also has all the penalties reduced by 10 and then again reduced by multiplying them by 0.85. So e.g. the max. MM penalty of -70 for AT 10 becomes (-70 +10) * 0.85 = -51.

But IMO it is worth noting that the same effects can also be achieved for non-magical armor via better craftmanship. While a non-magical +10 armor typically cost 50 times the price of a +0 armor, the non-magical variant having the best maneuverability (the same as magical armor) cost 58 times the price of a +0 armor. This may seem expensive, but compared to a magical armor this is nothing. I don't have the books at hand, but I'd assume that magical armor typically costs 10 times as a much as non-magical armor with the same properties.

So in the end magical armor is IMO still missing an advantage over non-magical armor in the official rules. At least in our group PCs therefore strive to get hold of a magical weapon (for the better criticals against large creatures) and buy non-magical armor because of the lower price. But for us this is a minor issue.

Offline Sable Wyvern

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Re: Enchanted Armor or Enchanted Shield
« Reply #6 on: May 10, 2017, 08:16:12 AM »
But IMO it is worth noting that the same effects can also be achieved for non-magical armor via better craftmanship.

...

So in the end magical armor is IMO still missing an advantage over non-magical armor in the official rules. At least in our group PCs therefore strive to get hold of a magical weapon (for the better criticals against large creatures) and buy non-magical armor because of the lower price.

This is true, and I think it is worth trying to make magic armour something worth having.

Personally, I think the simplest "fix" is simply to ensure that magic armour always comes with some little benefit not available to normal armours, even something as small as +5 vs a particular realm or element, or a Daily I ability, just to make sure it feels magical.

Offline JakeM.

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Re: Enchanted Armor or Enchanted Shield
« Reply #7 on: May 10, 2017, 03:32:25 PM »
We had this rule that magical armor could not be fixed.

I mean af some point you armor is going to look, feel and be like sh*t. Armor that was modified just by good craftmanshif could be mended with a quality smith.
But magical armor would lose its magic at some point.
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Offline Ecthelion

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Re: Enchanted Armor or Enchanted Shield
« Reply #8 on: May 11, 2017, 08:36:26 AM »
We had this rule that magical armor could not be fixed.
It might indeed be argued that magical armor might lose its magic when getting mended in a non-magical way. OTOH this would yet be another downside for magical armor, which already is much more costly than non-magical armor without offering any meaningful advantage (at least according to RAW).

Offline Majyk

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Re: Enchanted Armor or Enchanted Shield
« Reply #9 on: May 12, 2017, 02:41:24 AM »
RM2 GM here and yeah, we reduced the MM and all other penalties an AT had on a one for one % point basis if an item had a Magic bonus.

For repairs, I ended up loving the Betrayal at Krondor rules where % reductions accrued with each battle/crit(A=.1%, B=.2% or sub whatever you want in).
Since PCs kept track of Crits dealt for XP, it was an easy side track to tally for the GM - after game sessions/combats.
I loved gritty and crunchy combat background details. 
The players didn't need to track this, I did.

Depending on the difference between 100% STR for a brand new purchase and whenever one eventually repaired their armour/weapon, etc. due to item wear and tear, the new maximum item STR value would be:

Current item STR% value + [(Current Max item STR%-Current STR% value)/2].

So someone successfully repairing their armour/weapon when it was at 50% wouldn't get a full 100% for a new item ever again as max STR for the item, but would end up with a new max Item STR of 75%=50+(100-50)/2=50+25.
Always round down for any decimal result.

After the first repair, the formula changes subbing the new current value after repairs, as the ceiling instead of the 100n.

So, waiting until the 50% mark is reached before the PC opts to repair the item once again, later in the campaign, shows:

Current 50% value + [(Previously repaired max of 75%-Current 50% value)/2] = 50% + (25%/2) = 50% + 12% = 62%.
Diminishing returns after that ensured an actual economy generated from PC treasure replacement. :)

To get back on topic with this system, actual Magical items were hardier for my campaigns where both the maximum STR of repairing magic items stayed at 100%(brand new) and crits calling for auto-breaks were reduced to 2d10%(or insert % reduction of item STR you wish) instead of 10d10% for "mundane" non-magic materials.

Adopt a no mundane repair policy for Magic items with this, if you choose, too.

Offline DeadBob

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Re: Enchanted Armor or Enchanted Shield
« Reply #10 on: May 12, 2017, 11:24:36 PM »
Well, armor bonuses provide DB even if the wearer is unaware or unable to respond. I also allow Magical armor to provide a DB vs elemental attacks.

Magical weapons have their strength (in case of a breakage roll) increased.

I have a house rule that the breaking of a magical weapon results in a small radius magical attack, Like a tiny fireball that affects the target and possibly the wielder.