For years i have been using mostly the light or no armor classes, and once tried playing a ranger with med. armor, but i have been thinking of trying a heavy armor wearing melee character. The biggest problem i have with this, though, is dealing with the armor check penalty and the low Flat Footed AC. I'm just wondering what most of you do to compensate for this.
for skills like climb/acrobatics/etc, there just arent enough skill points to cover the gaps. magic items to enhance specific skills seem like a no brainer, but just wearing heavy armor seems like its more of a burden than a boon.
what about for Flat Footed AC? shy of deflection and other enhancements that would come up ~eventually~ i dont see a good early game solution to this. am I missing something?
worst case scenario: being near water (swim = laughable in heavy armor) what do you do?
also, what about speed? you will always be moving slower than everyone. I know the heavy armor wearers in my parties usually get first priority on movement enhancements, but is there another way to bypass this?
these are the most important downfalls to heavy armor that have always kept me from trying it out. I know fighter can negate some of these problems, but I was leaning more towards Paladin, and they are more stuck with these problems.
Am I missing something that could be used to offset these problems more? I know STR should be a high stat, but fullplate (regular) will give a penalty that wont likely be bypassed/neutralized by a high STR for a number of levels, not to mention the skill points that would be sunk into the skills (that are far and few between anyway).
part of why I want to play a heavy armor melee class is to have more personal experience and to play something different than i'm used to. I'm not married to the idea of a paladin, but I think i would have a lot of fun with it, save for the heavy armor problems i'm listing above.
anyway, thank you all for your comments and insights on this.
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The armor check penalty for heavy armor is a bear. However, if you are able to get it made of mithral and have it worn by a fighter, you reduce those values.
For example, full plate has +9 Armor bonus, +1 max Dex and -6 Armor Check penalty as a standard. Mithral would change those stats to +9 armor bonus, +3 max Dex and -3 Armor check penalty. By 11th level, a fighter would have those numbers to +9 Armor bonus, +6 max Dex and a 0 armor check penalty.
Of course, you are also looking at a higher price tag ... 10500gp for masterwork full mithral plate instead of the standard 1500gp.
Truly the best bet for heavy armor is to play a fighter if you are truly concerned with reducing the armor check penalty; you are looking at a top reduction of 4 points via the fighter class.
Also, straight up masterwork (without the mithral) gives you a 1 point reduction in that penalty for an additional 150gp to the armor price tag.
...is dealing with the armor check penalty and the low Flat Footed AC. I'm just wondering what most of you do to compensate for this.
I'm Fairly sure your flat footed AC will be better in Heavy Armor, Flat-Footed is a condition that you lose your DEX bonus to AC. You wont have a high DEX bonus in heavy armor so its loss wont be felt much. Characters in light armor that rely on DEX more suffer more from being Flat-Footed.
I'm Fairly sure your flat footed AC will be better in Heavy Armor, Flat-Footed is a condition that you lose your DEX bonus to AC. You wont have a high DEX bonus in heavy armor so its loss wont be felt much. Characters in light armor that rely on DEX more suffer more from being Flat-Footed.
The 9 AC from full plate works perfectly well when you are flat footed. More likely, you should be concerned about your touch AC. Even if you have a dex of 20, your touch AC in full plate will only be 11, since the max dex applies even when you do not get the armor bonus. Fighter levels and mithral will eventually let you use more dex, but if you want to have a good touch AC, you need to play a monk or some other lightly armored class.
More likely, you should be concerned about your touch AC.This is very true. Ranged touch attacks are the bane to every full plate wearing PC's existence.
Unless, of course, you have mithral full plate and are and 11th level fighter with a 22 Dex. ;)
Still not as good as a level 10 monk with dodge, 18 dex, and 18 wisdom on the touch AC front. Touch AC of 20.
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There are a couple additional things to consider as alternatives to heavy armor (though not for the touch attack issue).
First, adamantine. While this does nothing for skill checks, it does impart DR to the tune of DR 3/- for an extra 15000gp.
Second, the mithral/invulnerable combo. Increase Dex bonus, decrease skill check penalties and impart a DR 10/magic. A mithral breastplate enchanted to +1 invulnerable would give you +7 AC, +5 max Dex, -1 armor check penalty and DR 10/magic for the low low price of 20350gp. ;)
Seriously though, if you are really wanting to run with heavy armor and price is a hurdle, go with straight out masterwork.
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Still not as good as a level 10 monk with dodge, 18 dex, and 18 wisdom on the touch AC front. Touch AC of 20.More likely, you should be concerned about your touch AC.This is very true. Ranged touch attacks are the bane to every full plate wearing PC's existence.
Unless, of course, you have mithral full plate and are and 11th level fighter with a 22 Dex. ;)
Never said it was. But if heavy armor is a requirement, and we are talking about heavy armor here, the monk class is right out.
thank you, i did indeed mean touch ac, not flat footed (danged inability to edit older posts when you wake up and realize you said something stupid like that =P)
anyway, all this is excellent info and i'm appreciating it a lot.
i dont think $ will be a factor/concern; mostly just worried about the mechanics of it as that is what has always kept me from giving it a go.
i was a little bothered by adamantine because it is still "heavy", whereas with the mythril i can sleep in it using endurance (feat) without problem. i also didnt care for how adamantine weighs more and has a higher ACP than the mythril counterpart, so i'm looking at the mythral one for now.
all in all, i think i'm just going to have to "eat it" as far as the penalties go and just try it to try it i guess. best way to get experience imo ^_^
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thank you, i did indeed mean touch ac, not flat footed (danged inability to edit older posts when you wake up and realize you said something stupid like that =P)
anyway, all this is excellent info and i'm appreciating it a lot.
i dont think $ will be a factor/concern; mostly just worried about the mechanics of it as that is what has always kept me from giving it a go.
i was a little bothered by adamantine because it is still "heavy", whereas with the mythril i can sleep in it using endurance (feat) without problem. i also didnt care for how adamantine weighs more and has a higher ACP than the mythril counterpart, so i'm looking at the mythral one for now.
all in all, i think i'm just going to have to "eat it" as far as the penalties go and just try it to try it i guess. best way to get experience imo ^_^
If cost is not an obstacle, then look into the mithral/invulnerable combo. You get the best of both worlds; light weight/reduced penalties/higher Dex mod from mithral and DR.
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Heavy armor can be wicked fun.
Playing mostly cloth-wearers (wizard/sorcerer, psion, etc) I did a similar thing; I'm playing a paladin in 1 game & a fighter in another.
Tips I've learned:
Swimming = death. Get some way to have a swim speed, or the means to breath underwater.
Acrobatics and climb can be achieved, keep those skills maxed if you want to do them.
Stealth can be achieved, but at great expense (elixir of hiding, [I]invisibility [\i], etc. Plan accordingly.
Finally, touch AC can be achieved, but you're gonna need to be a fighter (armor training ) and pump Dex. Pallys can use smite for temporary deflection AC, but only 1 at a time.
-t
Swimming = death. Get some way to have a swim speed, or the means to breath underwater.
Acrobatics and climb can be achieved, keep those skills maxed if you want to do them.
I don't see Swim as particularly different than those other physical skills.
If anything, it's easier because the DCs don't really go that high as Climb or Tumble can.As long as you have at least 1 rank of Swim, you can always Take 10 in non-threatening, non-Rapids situations, which means that with Class Skill and good STR you should be fine in most situations, and actually putting Ranks in lets you deal with aquatic combat and fast water as well. Certainly not much different than Climbing hazardous Cliffs or Tumbling past tough enemies.
But the advice on best approach still stands: Fighter levels and Mithril are your friend (though Adamantine Full-Plate can still be swimmed in by mid-level characters).
(plz correct me if i'm wrong) mithral breastplate has 0 armor check penalty. that means you don't even really need to be proficient with it.
basic breastplate has armor check penalty of -4, masterwork (all mithral armor is masterwork) decreases the penalty by 1, and mithral knocks of the other -3. right? or does the -3 reduction from mithral include the Masterwork reduction?
i know this is off topic, but i bring it up as an alternative to heavy armor.
mithril includes masterwork.
-0 ACP means no penalties except movement penalties and Arcane Spell Failure.
(if you have movement penalties, you cannot Tumble)
(plz correct me if i'm wrong) mithral breastplate has 0 armor check penalty. that means you don't even really need to be proficient with it.
basic breastplate has armor check penalty of -4, masterwork (all mithral armor is masterwork) decreases the penalty by 1, and mithral knocks of the other -3. right? or does the -3 reduction from mithral include the Masterwork reduction?
i know this is off topic, but i bring it up as an alternative to heavy armor.
Mithral automatically includes the masterwork cost and advantages so the -3 includes everything.
edit:ninja'd
ah, thanks for the correction. my version of mithral Bplate was too good to be true.
Swimming = death. Get some way to have a swim speed, or the means to breath underwater.
Acrobatics and climb can be achieved, keep those skills maxed if you want to do them.
I don't see Swim as particularly different than those other physical skills.
If anything, it's easier because the DCs don't really go that high as Climb or Tumble can.
As long as you have at least 1 rank of Swim, you can always Take 10 in non-threatening, non-Rapids situations, which means that with Class Skill and good STR you should be fine in most situations, and actually putting Ranks in lets you deal with aquatic combat and fast water as well. Certainly not much different than Climbing hazardous Cliffs or Tumbling past tough enemies.But the advice on best approach still stands: Fighter levels and Mithril are your friend (though Adamantine Full-Plate can still be swimmed in by mid-level characters).
It's not the ACP penalty on the swim that's the issue.
It's the -1 per 5 pounds of weight that is the killer on swim. So that lovely adamantine full plate that weighs 50lbs is a whopping -10 to your swim check. And that's not including the weight for your weapons and other gear.
If you plan on wearing heavy armor around deep water, buy a ring of water breathing or platemail of the deep (if it still exists in PF).
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If cost is not an obstacle, then look into the mithral/invulnerable combo. You get the best of both worlds; light weight/reduced penalties/higher Dex mod from mithral and DR.thank you, i did indeed mean touch ac, not flat footed (danged inability to edit older posts when you wake up and realize you said something stupid like that =P)
anyway, all this is excellent info and i'm appreciating it a lot.
i dont think $ will be a factor/concern; mostly just worried about the mechanics of it as that is what has always kept me from giving it a go.
i was a little bothered by adamantine because it is still "heavy", whereas with the mythril i can sleep in it using endurance (feat) without problem. i also didnt care for how adamantine weighs more and has a higher ACP than the mythril counterpart, so i'm looking at the mythral one for now.
all in all, i think i'm just going to have to "eat it" as far as the penalties go and just try it to try it i guess. best way to get experience imo ^_^
Invulnerable tends to become rapidly useless from the moment you can afford to buy it onwards. Unless your adventures are usually made up of hordes of under-appropiate-CR hordelings, in which case it is epic.
Touch AC is a catch 22 for a fighter. yes it sucks for him, but they have to touch him... which means u get to swing ur wep. the goal of a fighter is to deal big enough melee dmg to keep aggro, not be a walking tank. if u do sword and board, make sure u ride the two weapon fighting fast track. if u do 2h (my fav) get imp crit and crit focus. if u want to stay at a distance and avoid some messy touch ac fighter makes a great archer.
big thing in my opinion is that u aren't the healer, so accept that u will take dmg and move on
also, wearing plate means u are the skill bank, so accept it and move on.
also, if u meet a wraith, remember ur fort save is nice and move on.
PPS, as for a deep water, any bag of holding has in theory 10 min of air. hop in and let someone else do the work
A few corrections:
Invulnerability is DR 5/magic, and IMHO not worth a +3 bonus at all.
The -1 swim per 5 pounds no longer exists in pathfinder as far as I know.
The effects of mithral already include masterwork, including the price.
Mithral breast plate has an ACP of -1 and no movement penalties.
As for my advice with heavy armor if you are concerned about the ACP either be a fighter or buy skill enhancing magic items, they are cheep.
If you don't like the movement reduction, again be a fighter or be a dwarf and/or get boots that enhance movement. Have a mage friend willing to cast fly or haste on you helps greatly.
Don't like that you can't do a lot of damage and move in the same round, then invest in either cleave, vital strike, spring attack, or ranged fighting. In the proper builds each is great to have.
Don't like that you can't do a lot of damage and move in the same round, then invest in either cleave, whirlwind, vital strike, spring attack, or ranged fighting. In the proper builds each is great to have.
For the most part, you cant move and whirlwind. Unless your an oracle or have some special class feature.
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For the sleeping in armor part, get a lighter set of armor you can sleep in w/o penalty. In Shackled City I had a paladin I rolled very well on for stats, his 16 dex was usually not fully used. When we got attacked by owlbears in the night though, I was only down a point or two of AC with a chain shirt.
Don't like that you can't do a lot of damage and move in the same round, then invest in either cleave, whirlwind, vital strike, spring attack, or ranged fighting. In the proper builds each is great to have.For the most part, you cant move and whirlwind. Unless your an oracle or have some special class feature.
oops, got a bit ahead of myself on that one, thanks for catching it!
It's not the ACP penalty on the swim that's the issue.It's the -1 per 5 pounds of weight that is the killer on swim. So that lovely adamantine full plate that weighs 50lbs is a whopping -10 to your swim check. And that's not including the weight for your weapons and other gear.
If you plan on wearing heavy armor around deep water, buy a ring of water breathing or platemail of the deep (if it still exists in PF).
Does this exist anymore? I could swear that was gone a long time ago. I dont see any mention of it in the swim description, it just mentions the armor check penalty. I thought I remember them removing the -1 per 5 pounds in 3.5 let alone pathfinder.
It hasn't gone away it's covered in the general topic of encumbrance as described below.Encumbrance by Weight: If you want to determine whether your character's gear is heavy enough to slow him down more than his armor already does, total the weight of all the character's items, including armor, weapons, and gear. Compare this total to the character's Strength on Table: Carrying Capacity. Depending on the character's carrying capacity, he or she may be carrying a light, medium, or heavy load. Like armor, a character's load affects his maximum Dexterity bonus to AC, carries a check penalty (which works like an armor check penalty), reduces the character's speed, and affects how fast the character can run, as shown on Table: Encumbrance Effects. A medium or heavy load counts as medium or heavy armor for the purpose of abilities or skills that are restricted by armor. Carrying a light load does not encumber a character.
A heavy load i.e. heavy armor imposes a -6 penalty on the relevant checks.
If your character is wearing armor, use the worse figure (from armor or from load) for each category. Do not stack the penalties.
Thats not the same as a -1 per 5lbs, you only get the penalty if you go over your load capacity. In 3.0 you would get a -1 per 5lbs total of gear.
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Or you could do what the dwarven full plate wearing fighter does in my group (we are playing RotRL so it is along a coast and in a port town) and rely on your high str barbarian friend with maxed out swim to save you from drowning when you go in. So far he has gone into the water in full plate three times and gotten saved as many.
I could have sworn I saw it in the book recently, but can't find it. The encumbrance section says see the skill for how armor and weight affect the skill roll, but there's nothing under the skill for weight.
It appears, by no logic I can understand, that if you have a 20 strength you can swim in full plate mail (and carry 350lbs of lead in your pockets) and still only have a -6 to your swim check. Boggles the mind (in my book). In my experience, people that carry 400lbs of metal on them when they go swimming have usually ticked off the mob and are said to be sleeping with the fishes.
Swim penalties:
3.0: -1 per 5 lbs of equipment
3.5: double normal armor check penalty.
PFRPG: normal armor check penalty.
And Invulnerability on armor (DR 5/magic) does work well at higher levels against many threats, such as most Demons, Devils, and several brute-type monsters (but not dragons).
I could have sworn I saw it in the book recently, but can't find it. The encumbrance section says see the skill for how armor and weight affect the skill roll, but there's nothing under the skill for weight.
It appears, by no logic I can understand, that if you have a 20 strength you can swim in full plate mail (and carry 350lbs of lead in your pockets) and still only have a -6 to your swim check. Boggles the mind (in my book). In my experience, people that carry 400lbs of metal on them when they go swimming have usually ticked off the mob and are said to be sleeping with the fishes.
I think most mobsters see concrete as a better option, but yea I agree it lacks in realism, I think it just was too much of a hastle. Adventurers HAVE to carry gear on them, usually alot of gear, making a greater then neck deep body of water a whole big production to cross. Though it is almost silly (a barbarian swimming while holding half a ton of lead) i think its a good change from a gameplay perspective.
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Amazingly, there seems to be relatively few penalties for wearing heavy armor and swimming. Encumberance penalties for carrying a lot of gear or weight do NOT stack with armor penalties, so basically you could carry 10,000 gp, wear full plate, with a full load of adventuring gear and only take the worst penalty(in this case armor, which isnt even doubled anymore, just a straight armor penalty). While I agree that taking 10 minutes to figure out what your swimming penalty should be is a tad ridiculous, a wee bit more realism than this is in order I think. I feel a houserule coming on I think...
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Amazingly, there seems to be relatively few penalties for wearing heavy armor and swimming. Encumberance penalties for carrying a lot of gear or weight do NOT stack with armor penalties, so basically you could carry 10,000 gp, wear full plate, with a full load of adventuring gear and only take the worst penalty(in this case armor, which isnt even doubled anymore, just a straight armor penalty). While I agree that taking 10 minutes to figure out what your swimming penalty should be is a tad ridiculous, a wee bit more realism than this is in order I think. I feel a houserule coming on I think...
heh, wonder how many players or dm's remember that every 50 coins is a pound...
Amazingly, there seems to be relatively few penalties for wearing heavy armor and swimming. Encumberance penalties for carrying a lot of gear or weight do NOT stack with armor penalties, so basically you could carry 10,000 gp, wear full plate, with a full load of adventuring gear and only take the worst penalty(in this case armor, which isnt even doubled anymore, just a straight armor penalty). While I agree that taking 10 minutes to figure out what your swimming penalty should be is a tad ridiculous, a wee bit more realism than this is in order I think. I feel a houserule coming on I think...heh, wonder how many players or dm's remember that every 50 coins is a pound...
I have always remembered and willfully ignored it. All my players start the game with a magic coin bag that holds an infinite amount of gp. Because i dont feel the need to create a banking system with promisary notes in order to accomodate mid level play.
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I have always remembered and willfully ignored it. All my players start the game with a magic coin bag that holds an infinite amount of gp. Because i dont feel the need to create a banking system with promisary notes in order to accomodate mid level play.
Lol yeah most of the groups I've ran with handwave rations, loot weight and the like. Ignoring it is one of the those common houserules that ppl dont sweat following.
I could have sworn I saw it in the book recently, but can't find it. The encumbrance section says see the skill for how armor and weight affect the skill roll, but there's nothing under the skill for weight.
It appears, by no logic I can understand, that if you have a 20 strength you can swim in full plate mail (and carry 350lbs of lead in your pockets) and still only have a -6 to your swim check. Boggles the mind (in my book). In my experience, people that carry 400lbs of metal on them when they go swimming have usually ticked off the mob and are said to be sleeping with the fishes.
Hah, no kidding, when I was in teh Navy, I was an avid weight lifter, 5'8" 220lbs, about 9% body fat...I was out on the line carrying 150 lbs of tie-down chains to strap the birds in for the night...I can't imagine even attempting to stay afloat with that much weight...
[bench 315 for sets, 50lb delt extensions, etc]
I could have sworn I saw it in the book recently, but can't find it. The encumbrance section says see the skill for how armor and weight affect the skill roll, but there's nothing under the skill for weight.
It appears, by no logic I can understand, that if you have a 20 strength you can swim in full plate mail (and carry 350lbs of lead in your pockets) and still only have a -6 to your swim check. Boggles the mind (in my book). In my experience, people that carry 400lbs of metal on them when they go swimming have usually ticked off the mob and are said to be sleeping with the fishes.
Hah, no kidding, when I was in teh Navy, I was an avid weight lifter, 5'8" 220lbs, about 9% body fat...I was out on the line carrying 150 lbs of tie-down chains to strap the birds in for the night...I can't imagine even attempting to stay afloat with that much weight...
[bench 315 for sets, 50lb delt extensions, etc]
Its all about density not weight. For instance, fat people generally float much better then someone with a low % body fat. Because fat floats. So you could weight considerably more, and though your swimming speed may be slower, your ability to stay afloat would be less. Likewise if i am carrying 500lbs of styrofoam it wont be difficult to stay afloat. 500lbs of lead on the other hand...
Its all about density not weight. For instance, fat people generally float much better then someone with a low % body fat. Because fat floats. So you could weight considerably more, and though your swimming speed may be slower, your ability to stay afloat would be less. Likewise if i am carrying 500lbs of styrofoam it wont be difficult to stay afloat. 500lbs of lead on the other hand...I could have sworn I saw it in the book recently, but can't find it. The encumbrance section says see the skill for how armor and weight affect the skill roll, but there's nothing under the skill for weight.
It appears, by no logic I can understand, that if you have a 20 strength you can swim in full plate mail (and carry 350lbs of lead in your pockets) and still only have a -6 to your swim check. Boggles the mind (in my book). In my experience, people that carry 400lbs of metal on them when they go swimming have usually ticked off the mob and are said to be sleeping with the fishes.
Hah, no kidding, when I was in teh Navy, I was an avid weight lifter, 5'8" 220lbs, about 9% body fat...I was out on the line carrying 150 lbs of tie-down chains to strap the birds in for the night...I can't imagine even attempting to stay afloat with that much weight...
[bench 315 for sets, 50lb delt extensions, etc]
Yeah, but, carrying tie-down chains equates to wearing heavy armor shield and weapons...not carrying 500# of feathers...
Its all about density not weight. For instance, fat people generally float much better then someone with a low % body fat. Because fat floats. So you could weight considerably more, and though your swimming speed may be slower, your ability to stay afloat would be less. Likewise if i am carrying 500lbs of styrofoam it wont be difficult to stay afloat. 500lbs of lead on the other hand...
Go buy a suit of metal plate mail and try to go swimming with it on. Let us know how that goes...and oh have some lifeguards nearby. =D
BTW, 500lbs of anything is still 500lbs. You can't lift 500lbs of feathers over your head any easier than lifting 500lbs of bricks over your head. Of course some things will float better than others, that's a given, but we're talking about a person wearing heavy armor, which was not made out of feathers nor designed to float. Now if he had metal boat strapped to his back, maybe that's a different story....
BTW, no sarcasm intended, just enjoying the debate here.
I have always remembered and willfully ignored it. All my players start the game with a magic coin bag that holds an infinite amount of gp. Because i dont feel the need to create a banking system with promisary notes in order to accomodate mid level play.Lol yeah most of the groups I've ran with handwave rations, loot weight and the like. Ignoring it is one of the those common houserules that ppl dont sweat following.
True, encumbrance can be a bit of a downer and can bog the game down (no pun intended). The game should be more about having fun than calculating encumberance.
However, on the flip side one of the things about the game that ppl like is it does try to emulate realism/common sense -- that's evident throughout the game. So, the guy who insists his character can carry around an anvil, 10 swords, 2 suits of armor, or whatever amount of gear he wants regardless of weight, and still be able to fight, swim, dodge, jump etc. just as well or nearly as well as normal is obviously totally unrealistic.
If your GM and group don't care, or your campaign gives everyone magic packs with unlimited capacity, then go for it, but most groups do tend to want at least a reasonable amount of realism.
But we digress...getting back on topic, the poster wanted to know about ways to mitigate heavy armor penalties. As mentioned by other posters, you'll want mithral and magic armor, or go with light or medium armor with high AC bonuses (maybe magic elven chain), then add magic items that give deflection bonuses or shield bonuses (so you don't have to use a shield which has its own check penalties), items that increase your base speed (like Boots of Striding and Springing) max out your Strength and Dexterity scores, pump up your ranks in skills dependent on Strength and Dexterity, seek out Strength- and Dexterity-enhancing magic items, ask your comrades to buff you with Strength and Dexterity enhancing spells and spells that increase your speed (Haste, Expeditious Retreat), etc. However, unless your GM is extremely generous, all the item-related stuff is going to be extremely expensive and/or hard to find.
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There are other ways of getting around some of these issues. First off be a dwarf, and then there is no encumbrance. Granted, we may not seem to be the friendliest crew, but if you need to move from keep to keep, you could never find better qualified help.
As a fighter, yes the touch AC thing is rough. There is one little spell that can aid in this minor issue..”Barkskin” Befriend your friendly neighborhood druid and have him keep that spell handy for you. Granted it’s not perfect, but then nature never is (which is why Torag created the forge) but every little bit helps. And if the local druid’s hippie-esque rantings and beliefs are too much for you to take, then go to your local wizarding five and dime store and pick yourself up an item of natural armor. Better, yet pay to have it put on your armor.
If you’re a man (or woman) of the forge as I am, then there are more alternatives at your fingertips (gm permitting). In 3.5 there was a book called the “Magic Item Compendium”. This book described magical enhancements such as buoyant, called and nimbleness.
Buoyant has some wonderful benefits. It removed 5 points from your swim check penalty and gives you the bonus of +2 to swim. Even the most reluctant of dwarves wearing heavy armor who don’t want to cross large bodies of water in the first place for fear of drowning (thanks for sharing my embarrassing story Redcelt :P) will be more comfortable on a boat. If money is no object, add the little benefit of “Deep Dweller”. After all, if you roll like I frequently do, you will need to walk back to shore along the bottom.
Nimbleness is like being fighter (albeit lower level) without having to be one. It gives you +1 to your Dex bonus and -2 to the penalty on ability checks.
They do have other beneficial enhancements that can be added to your armor (i.e healing and balance). Something could be done for climbing as well. With proper bribing, you might be able to get your GM to allow such things. I personally have yet to find the proper bribery, but we dwarves are stubborn and live for a long time (barring any unforeseen dragon encounters).
Finally. Called. Ahh the warriors dream. No more sleeping in that uncomfortable armor at camp for fear a hungry dire chinchilla attacks the camp. Instead, feel free to take off your armor and let the twigs, roots, pebbles and rocks poke and prod your back all night. If that vicious dire chinchilla does attack the camp, then simply call your armor and it instantly appears on your body. There will be no more taking a half hour trying to don your full plate and and fumbling around while trying to figure out which boot is left or right in the dark.
The thing to keep in mind when it comes to fighters and their armor, is that with a forge, a hammer and a Dwarven smith, Torag has made all things possible.
Foolish Dwarf.
Minkan Schoolgirls are superior at everything.
even forging the greatest metal. minkan steel is lighter than mithril and stronger than adamantine, having all the advantages of both. but none of the weaknesses. it is responsible for the extinction of beholders, mind flayers, displacer beasts, githyanki and githzerai. and minkan steel can harm a god too. just ask anyone from minkai, especially those in the ceremonial seifuku. the seifuku is the religious uniform of minkan schoolgirls and many have achieved eternal youth, so that they retain the right to wear these sacred garments. and it is minkan schoolgirls that invented the ultimate melee weapon, the katana. the katana is why the soul of Gorum is bonded to a suit of fullplate through a transmuter's blood runes. the gods fear minkan steel. as does any individual capable of even basic sentience. one should fear minkan steel with all thier being. it is that dangerous.