Noqual AKA "Starmetal" heavy armor worth it? (SPOILERS)


Advice


So we just finished Pathfinder #14—Second Darkness Chapter 2: "Children of the Void" and in it we are offered by NPC's to have made Noqual items at cost without the added cost to make them out of the starmetal.

Currently I wear +1 scalemail. We just made 5th level and I am a Paladin FYI. The cost of Noqual Full Plate is a bit more in cost than the magic scale but gives better AC. 3 points better!

Noqual:
Noqual looks almost like a pale green crystal to the untrained eye, but can be worked as iron despite its appearance. It is associated with abjuration magic, charity, and envy. Noqual is light—half as heavy as iron, yet just as strong. More importantly, noqual is strangely resistant to magic. An object made of noqual gains a +4 bonus on any saving throw made against a magical source. Creating a magic item that incorporates any amount of noqual into it increases the price of creation by 5,000 gp, as costly reagents and alchemical supplies must be used to treat the metal during the process.
Weapons made of noqual weigh half as much as normal, and gain a +1 enhancement bonus on damage rolls against constructs and undead created by feats or spells. Noqual armor weighs half as much as other armors of its type, and is treated as one category lighter than normal for the purposes of movement and other limitations (light armor is still treated as light armor, though). The armor’s maximum Dexterity bonus increases by 2, and armor check penalties are reduced by 3. The armor’s spell failure chance increases by 20% and applies to all magic cast while wearing the armor, regardless of the magic’s source or class abilities possessed by the wearer. The wearer of a suit of noqual armor gains a +2 resistance bonus on all saving throws against spells and spell-like abilities.
Noqual has 30 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 10. Noqual ore is worth 50 gp per pound. A suit of noqual light armor costs +4,000 gp, medium armor +8,000 gp, and heavy armor +12,000 gp. A shield costs +2,000 gp, and a weapon or other item +500 gp.

So would Noqual full plate be worth getting right now? Not expensive cause the 12,000gp fee to make it is removed and it is much better than the scale but would probably not get a chance to make it magical if I got it made. The cost is too high & not waived.
Thoughts?


Hard to say yes or no without knowing what items you already have and what feats you took.


Sword & board Tiefling Paladin Warrior of the Holy Light of Iomedae.
+1 scalemail, +1 shield, +1 flaming sword, misc gear & potions.
The only feat that is defensive is Greater Mercy for more healing.

I thought the question was good on it's own. Comparing the two armors to decide if it is worth it or not for now. Cause once I get a chance to get magic plate I think I should go that route but this choice has presented itself.

If the gear & feat helped in giving me advice I am all ears.


Well it's 3k more than mithril full plate, and has the same Dex/ACP advantages. On the other hand, it also gives you +2 to saves, so it would free up your cloak slot for a little while.

I guess the question is whether your Dex is high enough that you'd benefit from the higher max Dex bonus.

BUT, if cool is the rule, then yeah, get the new armor and to hell with whether or not it's the best purchase for the cost. Killing dragons inside dungeons is way more fun than playing Mathfinder =)


Thanks! Actually it is not 3k more in this case. As I mentioned the fee to make it (12k) is waived by the NPCs. However not the added 5k to make it magical if I wanted that.

My Dex sucks but our mage just learned Cat's Grace to cast on me if needed so there is that.

I guess it would be a good filler armor to have for a while until something better came along like magical armor.


I would pay very close attention to the spell failure stuff, I've found that paladins use most of their spells in combat, so having a spell failure chance can really suck. Combined with the added cost of making it magical, I'd recommend going without it, but that's just me.


Paladins are divine, and don't suffer spell failure.


Noqual is a special case and applies spell failure to all kinds of magic.


I don't know, it seems worth it to me.

The arcane spell failure doesn't bother you, the resistance bonus against spells is specific enough to not bother a cloak, since the cloak will apply to everything.

It's like mithral, but with a built-in cloak of resist +2.

Edit: okay, wow. Didn't see that.
I'd say it's debatable.

Sorry for not reading everything.


If you will hit a town soonish, get the armor but sell it the first chance you get. You absolutely don't want it on at level 7 (there's enough all day and no somatic component spells for level 1, but you lose some amazing 2nd level ones).

I would normally not recommend this because the GM would just even out your WBL, but you are playing a published AP, so there's a finite amount of money

edit: As mentioned under me, you traded out your spell casting (which was a poor move, but whatever), so absolutely get it. While other armor will eventually surpass it, an extra 6000 GP will be a decent amount then.

Silver Crusade Contributor

For all those mentioning spell failure, isn't Warrior of the Holy Light the archetype that trades out paladins' spellcasting? :)


Oh. Wow, yeah.

So it doesn't matter.

I'd say do it.


deuxhero wrote:

If you will hit a town soonish, get the armor but sell it the first chance you get. You absolutely don't want it on at level 7 (there's enough all day and no somatic component spells for level 1, but you lose some amazing 2nd level ones).

I would normally not recommend this because the GM would just even out your WBL, but you are playing a published AP, so there's a finite amount of money

edit: As mentioned under me, you traded out your spell casting (which was a poor move, but whatever), so absolutely get it. While other armor will eventually surpass it, an extra 6000 GP will be a decent amount then.

Yeah well I liked the ease & style of the WoHL archtype. Also our characters were brought over from 4e and I did not want to deal with spells with this character. Trading spells IMO was a character driven move. Not everything has to be optimized all the time. Just my 2 cents.

I do agree that since making it magical costs too much it is a good armor for a few levels at most till magic full plate shows up. Unless I find a way to make it magical later? Though the reagents to make it magic are in the creation and cost that additional 5k.


Kalindlara wrote:
For all those mentioning spell failure, isn't Warrior of the Holy Light the archetype that trades out paladins' spellcasting? :)

Thanks for that. I should have said the archtype does not have spellcasting in the first place or posted a link to it.

Thanks all for the advice. Gonna go for it and should be good to have for at least a few levels.

Silver Crusade Contributor

ClownWolf wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
For all those mentioning spell failure, isn't Warrior of the Holy Light the archetype that trades out paladins' spellcasting? :)

Thanks for that. I should have said the archtype does not have spellcasting in the first place or posted a link to it.

Thanks all for the advice. Gonna go for it and should be good to have for at least a few levels.

At the very least, it'll be really cool and almost totally unique. :)


Kalindlara wrote:
ClownWolf wrote:
Kalindlara wrote:
For all those mentioning spell failure, isn't Warrior of the Holy Light the archetype that trades out paladins' spellcasting? :)

Thanks for that. I should have said the archtype does not have spellcasting in the first place or posted a link to it.

Thanks all for the advice. Gonna go for it and should be good to have for at least a few levels.

At the very least, it'll be really cool and almost totally unique. :)

Yup! And since it's custom made the armor can be made to accommodate my Tiefling tail & the helmet my horns!!! Pale green on a red skinned guy should be flattering! LOL


Absolutely go for it since you have virtually no spell casting. Be careful when detecting evil.

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