Is an Adamantin Full Plate worth the money?


Advice


The Fullplate will give you DR3/- which is nice. Still the armor costs roughly 17000 gp.

I was thinking if a Minor Cloak of Displacement for 24000 gp wouldn't be the better deal. Of course that would interfere with the cloak of resistance. In my current case that wouldn't be much of an issue as I play a pali and get my saves boosted by charsisma.

Go to Minor Cloak link..


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It's highly situational as to whether adamantine full plate is a worthwhile investment, it doesn't stack with anything so many full-bab and even some other classes will get something better than it for free a few levels past when you'd first be able to get it and several spells will grant a limited dr 5/x or 10/x which is usually cheaper and strictly better (although paladins don't get that until late). It also competes with celestial armor, which is really useful if you don't have other access to the fly spell.

On to your actual question; at the level where you can buy either item many things have truesight, or a similar sense which negates miss chance so against meaningful opponents the Minor Cloak of Displacement is not worth much. Added to that blur is available for 300 gp as a potion, and I have a hard time paying 24 k for it, even if the effect is constant.

I think the dr is probably better for a paladin, but I am convinced that neither is an optimal investment.


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I have always saw it as being overpriced, especially since it doesn't stack with other DR.


Lets do some quick-n-dirty calculations.

You are probably getting this around level 12 if not later. You will probably have at least 100HP, CR10 monsters deal about 35 damage per hit, so you are going to take around 4 hits to drop at level 12 (assuming you pop Lay on hands once or twice). That makes DR3/- roughly equivalent to an extra 12HP. It's basically Toughness. FYI that makes it negate about 1/3 of a hit before you drop.

Other options:
*If you don't have a Constitution booster, a Pink Rhomboid Ioun stone gives +2 constitution for half of the price. You could also up a +4 Str belt to a +4 Str/Con belt for 24kgp, which gives double the benefit for only a little more.

*Assuming your paladin already has enough AC to make an enemy miss 50% of the time, 3 points of AC negates around 1 hit on average. This makes a single point of AC worth roughly the same as the plate. Since going from +4 to +5 on an AC boosting amulet or ring costs 14kgp, you should max all other AC boosters first.

*Your cloak costs a bit more than the plate and negates a little less than 1 hit. It's probably worth roughly the same as 2 points of AC. Not great value, but it's better than the plate. This is assuming it doesn't get negated by blindsight or something, but adamantine gets negated by scorching ray or enervate so *shrugs*. Neither are a great option, in any case.


I like the idea of using a potion. Is there a way to drink potions as a free action? As pali I'm alway low on swift and standard actions.


What is the campaign itself like? Do you deal with a lot of spellcasters, or more physical threats?

Silver Crusade

Adamantine fullplate is a niche product.

It's good for characters who:
A. Want to wear fullplate
B. Don't have sufficient dex to benefit from mithral fullplate (Note that most classes can benefit from mithral fullplate if they get a belt of physical perfection +6, but that's extremely expensive so a lot of characters might prefer to just get a belt of strength +6 and a couple ioun stones for Dex and Con +2).
C. Don't have another source of DR
D. Are high enough level that the extra 15,000 gp to make the fullplate adamantine doesn't cost them other defenses.
E. Are not upgrading their other armor--or found a suit of adamantine fullplate as treasure. (You can't just upgrade your +5 normal fullplate to +5 adamantine fullplate so the cost is a lot higher than the list price if you need to sell your +5 fullplate at half price to buy +5 adamantine fullplate)

Who potentially fits that list?

Fighters with archetypes that trade away their high level DR. (It's not really affordable until you're in spitting distance of that high level DR anyway). Note that fighters need a 16 starting dex to max out the bonus from Mithral Fullplate with armor training and that a fighter with a 12 starting dex won't exceed the max dex on Adamantine Fullplate even with a +6 enhancement bonus to Dex, so a lot of fighters can have both the max AC from dex AND the DR from adamantine.

Multiclass fighters who keep armor training but won't ever get DR.

Paladins, cavaliers, warpriests, and magi who didn't make a major dex investment.

Clerics with heavy armor proficiency (through feat, archetype or multiclassing) who didn't make a major dex investment. The ability of clerics to get their armor's enhancement bonus through magic vestment and skimp on permanent magic actually makes them one of the most likely to be in the market for adamantine fullplate.

Scarab Sages

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It's worth it for Fighters with the Armored Juggernaut Advanced Armor Training. It specifically stacks with the DR from admantine armor, giving up to DR 11 at 19th level, more than an Invulnerable Rager Barbarian.


It's maybe worth it if you're starting a character at high levels to afford it. Otherwise it's not worth the wait for it.


So if DR 3/- isn't worth 15000, is DR 2/- worth 10000 or DR 1/- worth 5000? I.e. is any kind of adamantine armor worth it?


adamantine chainshirt is 5100 for +4 ac and dr1
chainshirt +2 is 4250 for +6 ac
mithral chainshirt +2 is 5100 for +6 ac and 6 max dex

So, do you value 1 dr over 2 ac?
1 damage off of every time you're hit, or 10% reduction in their chance to hit you.
My guess is you take average damage and take 10% of that and that's how much damage you're preventing from the AC, but I'm not sure if that's accurate calculation.


No, not really. If they were hitting you 15% of the time, and now only hit you 5% of the time, you're preventing 66% of the damage.


_Ozy_ wrote:
No, not really. If they were hitting you 15% of the time, and now only hit you 5% of the time, you're preventing 66% of the damage.

Yep, the more AC you have, the better each point of AC get right up until you fall off the RNG.

Grand Lodge

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Don't forget that adamantine full plate also comes with built in adamantine gauntlets. So you can theoretically punch your way through walls (and DR).

Scarab Sages

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claudekennilol wrote:
Don't forget that adamantine full plate also comes with built in adamantine gauntlets. So you can theoretically punch your way through walls (and DR).

And an adamantine helmet to headbutt your way through walls if you take the Steel Headbutt Advanced Armor Training.

Silver Crusade

Fuzzy-Wuzzy wrote:
So if DR 3/- isn't worth 15000, is DR 2/- worth 10000 or DR 1/- worth 5000? I.e. is any kind of adamantine armor worth it?

Adamantine light armor is not worth it--not because the DR is overpriced (though it may be), but because of the kinds of characters who wear light armor. If you wear light armor, you almost certainly have the dex to take advantage of the AC benefit from mithral.

Adamantine medium armor has a niche. It's for characters who don't have proficiency in heavy armor but don't have the dex to take advantage of mithral. Devastator Inquisitors and battle clerics who didn't go for heavy armor proficiency will often fall into this category. My PFS archer cleric, for example wears a mithral breastplate because he has the dex to take advantage of the full AC bonus. On the other hand, my PFS Inquisitor would rather have an adamantine agile breastplate because even if he gets an enhancement bonus to his dex, he won't max out the dex bonus on his regular agile breastplate, much less take advantage of a mithral breastplate's increased max dex. However, the 10k price tag probably pushes the adamantine agile breastplate outside of his priority list until the very end of society play.

Semi-combatant/spellcasting focused clerics might fall into this category too though spellcasting focused clerics will often settle for ordinary steel armor or go for mithral to take advantage of the better movement speed.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 16

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Statistically speaking from a defensive standpoint, the extra AC and movement you'd get from wearing mithril is more valuable to you then getting adamantine, especially since the DR doesn't stack.

Really, the armor you want is Celestial, because it gives +4 to Dex bonus...or Mithral Celestial, if your DM will allow it.

As to your other question...yes, it would be better to spend the money on the 20% miss chance of the cloak then get the non-stacking DR. Nothing like changing a crit into a miss, vs taking off 3 pts dmg from it.

==Aelryinth

Sovereign Court

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Elder Basilisk wrote:
Adamantine medium armor has a niche. It's for characters who don't have proficiency in heavy armor but don't have the dex to take advantage of mithral.

It depends upon the character. It might just be better to spend the 10k on other gear. Or get mithril anyway for better mobility/less armor penalty and still save some gold.

Generally - I've always found adamantine armor to be one of those things which is great if you find the right kind for your character as loot it's well worth keeping (rather than selling), or if you have Craft: Armor and are in a campaign with a good bit of downtime so that you can make your own 1/3 price. But not generally worth paying full price for.

The cloak isn't worth it because it uses up your cloak slot. The only characters I would even consider it for are a character with the resistance domain or MAYBE a rogue with Moonlight Stalker Feint (though I'd probably just use smoke pellets instead - and they even work against True Seeing).


Charon's Little Helper wrote:

...

The cloak isn't worth it because it uses up your cloak slot. The only characters I would even consider it for are a character with the resistance domain or MAYBE a rogue with Moonlight Stalker Feint (though I'd probably just use smoke pellets instead - and they even work against True Seeing).

It could also be useful for characters who like to wear an Otherworldly Kimono.


Adamantine haramaki is an odd but possibly useful choice.


This is situational but is what I prefer doing when I can -

4th level Scroll of Stoneskin
Duration: 70 minutes
Effect: DR10/admantine up to 70 absorbed damage.
Costs: Scroll: 700 + 250 diamond dust = 950 gp

Does require a arcane caster and access to some scrolls.

This is a lot cheaper option then going with Adamantine FullPlate.
While it does have some drawbacks (anti-magic or getting hit with a dispel) I fill the pros out way the cons.


Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Adamantine armor is useful/worth it in some specific cases: usually in higher-level play when the difference between another "+1" on the armor is about the same as/more than the cost of adamantine (i.e., +3 adamantine chain shirt (14,100 gp) vs. +4 chain shirt (16,250 gp)) or as part of a suit of +5 armor, mithral doesn't provide any significant benefit (i.e., a dwarf or class with Armor Training 1 and without a high Dex/arcane casting in an adamantine breastplate), and/or the character benefits from a class feature (armor master fighter with Armored Defense).

For instance, a dwarf with 14 Dex can better afford +5 adamantine tatami-do (41,000 gp), a belt of giant strength +6 (36,000 gp) and a snakeskin tunic (8,000 gp), for AC 25 and DR 3/- (85,000 gp total) than +5 mithral tatami-do (35,000 gp) and a belt of physical might (Str, Dex) +6 (90,000 gp) for AC 27 and no DR (125,000 gp total). Even with a belt of physical might (Str, Dex) +4 (40,000 gp), it's a tough call as to whether +1 AC and 10,000 gp is more valuable than DR 3/-.


I've seen a few niche builds that take the few ways there are to stack DR from various sources to add them all together and get a significant chunk of DR (15 to 20 points), but these were very specific builds that were doing to DR what the fighter does to attack bonus and damage. Namely collecting a bunch of bonuses together to add up into a "sum bigger than the total of the parts" sort of deal.

IF you have one of those builds then an extra 3 DR could be worth it. Otherwise usually not.

TL/DR: What everyone else said.


Aelryinth wrote:

Statistically speaking from a defensive standpoint, the extra AC and movement you'd get from wearing mithril is more valuable to you then getting adamantine, especially since the DR doesn't stack.

Really, the armor you want is Celestial, because it gives +4 to Dex bonus...or Mithral Celestial, if your DM will allow it.

As to your other question...yes, it would be better to spend the money on the 20% miss chance of the cloak then get the non-stacking DR. Nothing like changing a crit into a miss, vs taking off 3 pts dmg from it.

==Aelryinth

What about Adamantine Celestial: Whether full plate or Chain?

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