Ways to Lighten Armor


Advice and Rules Questions


I'm trying to play a non-somatic wizard in heavy armor, but with a wizard's brain comes a wizard's back. A wizard's back can not hold much.

I'm already carrying around a large stone slab (30lb) for "reasons". What tactics can I use to reliably wear full plate (or something similar).

Things I am considering (but would still like to hear alternatives):
Muleback Cords
Burdenless Armor

Things I would rather not:
Mithral

What else can I do?


Celestial Plate


Ed Girallon Poe wrote:
Celestial Plate

That's the same weight as mithral full plate but more expensive :(


Any reason you would rather not have mithral? Could guide in the suggestions.


Goblin_Priest wrote:
Any reason you would rather not have mithral? Could guide in the suggestions.

Mithral full plate is 15,000. I don't have a dex bonus and I don't have any armor proficiency, so the upsides of mithral don't really help me much.

If there was a cheap (PFS legal) material that cut weight I would use it in a heartbeat. Stone is the only material legal for armor that also cuts weight, unfortunately it can only be used in stone-only armor constructions, and as such its weight reduction has already been calculated.

Stone coat has been another option, saves me 1k gold vs full plate and 5 lb, but its 1 AC less, and if I imagine a slotless item with an untyped +1 to AC for 1k, I'd buy a billion of them. So I'd rather keep full plate.


If Mithral is a viable option then it would reduce the weight by half, so for Full Plate it would cost you 9,000 gp and lighten you by 25 lbs (0.00278 lbs/gp).

Handy Haversacks give 120 lbs of storage, weigh 5 lbs, and typically cost 2,000 gp (0.0575 gp/lbs).

Bags of Holding give 250/500/1000/1500 lbs of storage, weigh 15/25/35/60 lbs, and typically cost 2,500/5,000/7,400/10,000 (0.094/0.095/0.130/0.144 lbs/gp)

Portable Hole gives 283 cubic feet of storage, has negligible weight, and costs 10,000 gp. If we equate average storage volume to average storage weight from Bags of Holding (~7.04 lbs/cubic foot) we can determine that a Portable Hole will hold about 2,000 lbs. (0.200 lbs/gp).

Muleback Cords increase carrying strength by 8, weight 0.25 lbs, and cost 1,000 gp. Assuming you start with 10 strength then your medium carry capacity increases from 66 lbs to 200 lbs. (0.134 lbs/gp).

Having an item enchanted to cast Ant Haul at will costs spell level x caster level x 1800 gp = 1800 gp and will probably weight 1 lbs or less. This would triple your carry capacity, so with 10 strength and a medium load of 66 lbs, you could carry 198 lbs AND cast Ant Haul on your comrades increasing their carrying capacity. You could agree with your comrades to reserve up to 1/2 of their extra carrying capacity for your stuff and the other half for their stuff. Great for the whole group (0.0733 lbs/gp for only you + values for the rest of your group).

Heavy Load Belts have Ant Haul continuously in effect and cost 2,000 go (0.066). Like the item above but worse, although less likely to be vetod by your GM.

Mules or donkeys with saddle bags costs 8 gp + 4 gp + 0.05 gp/day for feed and carrie 600-800 lbs. Assume 700 lbs carrying capacity for an average mule/donkey (58.3 lbs/gp + 14,000 lbs/gp/day).

Mules or donkeys plus carts are the same as above but the cart allows the animal to use their dragging capacity, increasing their effective carrying capacity by x5. Total carry capacity is 700 lbs x 5 = 3,500 lbs, and cost is 8 gp + 15 gp + 0.05 gp/day (152 lbs/gp + 70,000 lbs/gp/day).

Untrained Hirelings cost 0.1 gp or more (varies dramatically depending on the book, so you should just stick with the Core) per day. You will have to pay for their food and lodging if you want them to follow you away from their home. Assuming the hireling is equivolent to a farmer with 11 strength and has a 76 lbs medium load capacity then you get (760 lbs/gp/day). Values will decrease with traveling, but you could also get a cart like for the mules and donkeys.

Although Mithral is the obvious answer to your problem it is also the mostly costly in terms of weight reduction per gold. I usually make sure my characters own a donkey and a cart.

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