Aside from certain eastern armors that lack dex caps, is the newest top dexer light armor the eel hide mithril studded leather?
Eel hide drops ACP by 1 and raises dex cap by 1.
Mithral drops ACP by 3 and raises dex cap by 2.
From discussions and descriptions, studded leather is much more flexible than leather armor, and eel hide is more flexible than regular leather but still providing the same protection.
Also studded leather has a significant amount of mithral, instead of just simple mithril studs, so has enough metal to qualify for mithral armor.
So you get an armor with 3 armor bonus, a max dex of 8, no ACP, and the added benefit of 2/- vs electric damage.
For a high dexer, it's equivalent to the mithral breastplate that doesn't require the medium armor feat. You have half the weight, 1 less ACP, and a higher touch (but lower flat-footed) AC. Your max (AC plus max dex bonus) is the same (11).
Cost wise you are looking at 25(base)+1000(mithral)+1200(eel hide) so 2225 gold, barely more than half the price of a mithral breastplate (4200).
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Unless the item has been radically changed in Ultimate Equipment, you still cannot make "mithral studded leather".
I don't think you can apply two different special materials to one item. But I could be wrong.
Nope, still can't make mithral studded leather.
Even if you could, it wouldn't fly due to the "only the most prevalent material has any effect" rule that prevents stacking multiple special materials.
I've come across enough references to studded leather that suggest that there is a significant amount of metal to remain convinced that you can make mithril studded leather.
If studded leather were leather armor with extra metal studs, I'd have to concede that there isn't enough metal.
But instead, it has soft leather, more meant as the backing material for the metal than for providing the protection, so it has significantly thinner leather than leather armor that solely relies on the properties of the leather for protection.
Re-reading the Pathfinder core book description, it seems like whoever wrote it completely had no clue, and just slapped in a quick description and moved on, unrelated to previous AD&D materials.
On the other hand, I keep coming across references for the GMG having a chart where you roll for material on armor, and you roll for metal type on studded leather. This would kind of be pointless if there wasn't enough metal to warrant an effect from special materials.
Which doesn't change the original point, and I did overlook the prevalent material rule, so couldn't get effects from 2 special materials.
This returns me to an ongoing annoyance. While all the different armor types are nice for flavour, I don't recall ever seeing any armor used other than the most optimal. Dex caps make sense, but unless you are a fighter with armor training you will quickly outgrow most armors, and for dexers with the differences between total AC gained there seems to be very little incentive to use anything other than mithril breastplates, even after the introduction of additional exotic materials.
So once you outgrow the mithril breastplate, I guess the next step is the haramaki with your favorite metal inserted.
I stand corrected, some new special materials do serve a purpose.
Darkleaf cloth gives the same bonuses as Mithral, but can be used for leather and padded armors. So even without dipping into eastern armors, something like a duellist with a high (dex plus int) modifier to dex AC can get equivalent AC to a mithril breastplate using padded armor, at a reduced cost and higher touch AC. Also darkleaf cloth studded leather is equal to mithral studded leather at a lower cost.
If the Piecemeal armor rules get used, you can go 1 step better: haramaki for torso, and darkleaf cloth padded arms/legs gives you the 1 base torso, and the 1 bonus for a complete suit, resulting in leather equivalent (2 armor bonus) and a max dex bonus of 10.
While the rules state that all armor pieces need to be of the same special material to gain the properties of that material, they don't say that individual pieces lose that special ability when combined with pieces from other materials. And based on how all pieces have max dex bonuses, you don't need darkleaf cloth for the haramaki as the max dex bonus is still equal(based on piecemeal armor table) or higher (based on lack of in source material) to what darkleaf cloth padded sleeves/leggings would have.
The only thing to note is that you couldn't add another special material to the haramaki and expect to gain from that material, as you would be limited to the predominant material effect. Or, if you did, you'd negate the benefits from darkwood cloth on the arms/legs and cap yourself at a dex bonus of 8 to AC.
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