I don't mind the Fortification property granting immunity to crits, but I don't like that it negates precision damage. So if I house ruled that Fortification only negates actual crits, what would it be worth--a +1 bonus for 50% immunity and another +1 bonus for 100% immunity? Or maybe just +1 for total immunity?
Normally it is: light +1 bonus (25%), moderate +3 bonus (50%) and heavy +5 (100%).
I would say if you still allow "precise" (backstab) through the armour and if it only applied only to rolled criticals (does that apply to vorpal as well or is that precise?) then probally:
Moderate +1 (50%) and Heavy +3 (100%).
Anything less and it becomes too cheap and useful not to have on pretty much all armour.
I've always been somewhat bored and frustrated by magic items that are pure game mechanics versus other game mechanics. It's pretty dry to have armor that "negates critical hits" and it's kind of hard to imagine what exactly that is.
I mean, "critical hits" are a pretty nebulous thing to start with--usually I take it to mean that it's a really solid hit to a vital area that bypasses the armor. Thus finesse weapons (like a rapier) are more likely to pull it off while big bashy weapons (like a greataxe) are harder to crit with. A crit is like the rebound off the chestplate that skates up under the enemy's neck under the facemask of his helm--or likewise the shot under the light armpit padding and goes into his heart.
So then what's Fortification? Does it mean a kind of armor that is reinforced with additional plates to make the weak spots stronger. But on the one hand--isn't the whole idea of armor as AC that blows that hit the armor don't hit the character? In that case more hitproof armor would just have a higher AC wouldn't it?
On the other hand even if that was how it worked--why would that be magical? Isn't more coverage more of a practical crafting concern?
I dunno. It really doesn't make much sense. I've always thought magic items should focus more on creating a real substantive magical effect than on trying to negate fun game mechanics. Less criticals means more tired wood-choppy combat. Face it, criticals are fun. They make the badguys scary when they score one and the characters awesome and hardcore when they do. I would personally like to see a lot of the drier magical effects gotten rid of entirely and replaced with stuff that's got style and flash.
That's just me.
Well the armour is not well... more armoured. Instead I have always seen it as a magical effect where the person's vitals have a 'shield' that disperses the force. This means that lucky or well aimed shots damage are dispersed over a larger area of the body (and the armour) making them only as effect as a normal hit.
I've always been somewhat bored and frustrated by magic items that are pure game mechanics versus other game mechanics. It's pretty dry to have armor that "negates critical hits" and it's kind of hard to imagine what exactly that is.
The DMG says "This suit of armor or shield produces a magical force that protects vital areas of the wearer more effectively." How this special property can be effectively applied to a shield requires a big stretch of the imagination and this description is pretty mundane, but in the end I'm not much worried about fluff. I like to house rule too, but I don't like to change or ban anything from core too much or too often.
Crits do make combat more fun, so maybe I'll make the fort property grant 25% immunity per +1 bonus to make it less appealing. This would only block actual crits, not precision damage or other crit depenants like the Vorpal quality.
The DMG says "This suit of armor or shield produces a magical force that protects vital areas of the wearer more effectively." How this special property can be effectively applied to a shield requires a big stretch of the imagination and this description is pretty mundane, but in the end I'm not much worried about fluff. I like to house rule too, but I don't like to change or ban anything from core too much or too often.Crits do make combat more fun, so maybe I'll make the fort property grant 25% immunity per +1 bonus to make it less appealing. This would only block actual crits, not precision damage or other crit depenants like the Vorpal quality.
I would have to say I wouldn't allow Fortification on shields only armour. Because as you said it is quite the stretch (kind of like wilding shields).
I dunno. It really doesn't make much sense. I've always thought magic items should focus more on creating a real substantive magical effect than on trying to negate fun game mechanics. Less criticals means more tired wood-choppy combat. Face it, criticals are fun. They make the badguys scary when they score one and the characters awesome and hardcore when they do. I would personally like to see a lot of the drier magical effects gotten rid of entirely and replaced with stuff that's got style and flash.That's just me.
I got no problem with magic items that simply negate other game effects but I agree with you here. This is magic that just should not be because it makes the game less fun. Criticals are exciting - when one comes up everyone on the table stops picking their nose or whatever it was they were doing and pays attention because a bad guy either just got clobbered or a friend and alley is in a real bad way and needs some help.
Its sort of like the problem with the cure disease spell. This spells existence hinders the DMs ability to make plots (no plaque outbreaks, the worlds clerics would come out and stop it) hence the spell is rarely cast. In the end the mere existence of the spell just tied the DMs hands without really benefiting the player and in fact made something like the Paladins immunity to disease ability less shiny because a disease based plot line is unlikely as long as cure disease is on the clerics spell list.
Cure Disease removes plaque? Does it also remove gingavitis?
:)
Okay so it's a magical field that provides protection? Isn't that specifically what a ring of protection does? I can't really envision (and wouldn't really want) a magic forcefield that lets me get hit like crazy--as long as it isn't a really GOOD hit. A hill giant can mush me to jelly, but a kobald with a stick does 1 point of damage instead of 2 when it hits me really well. Err?
I guess I'd rather they started with "what's really happening". What does this item do? Then make the rules so that what happens is statted out the mechanics neatly and simply. What happened here is they want a game mechanic and create a weak explanation to engineer exactly this effect. As a result it's pretty dull and doesn't match the flavor very well--because the flavor text is just an excuse really. That kind of bothers me. I like magic that feels fun and flashy and cool.
I really try not to just X stuff off the list of magical gear when I can try to tinker through the flavor text and come up with more meaningful stats for a given thing. This sort of thing though, I just want to scribble it out with a fat magic marker. There's just nothing to salvage. It hurts the game and it isn't even fun or colorful to make up for it.
Cure Disease removes plaque? Does it also remove gingavitis?
:)
I would hope so.
An option would be to set the fortification up as some level of DR. It would not completely negate criticals and sneak attacks, but it would reduce their effectiveness. As this would also affect normal attacks, you might need to play with the values.
Grim: You're the only poster I know that can't help but turn a discussion of mechanics and balance into a discussion about game flavor. But that's alright, cause normally it's the other way around which is just obnoxious.
Thraxus: I could easily imagine a type of DR that works like energy resistance. Call it Precision Resistance; it reduces precision damage, but it doesn't affect normal damage.
In any case, someone on the giantitp.com forum came up with a solution I like more than messing with Fortification. There's some alternate class ability from Dungeonscape that allows rogues to deal half precision damage against foes who are normally immune. They only have to give up their Trap Sense progression, but I like it.
Grim: You're the only poster I know that can't help but turn a discussion of mechanics and balance into a discussion about game flavor. But that's alright, cause normally it's the other way around which is just obnoxious.
Thraxus: I could easily imagine a type of DR that works like energy resistance. Call it Precision Resistance; it reduces precision damage, but it doesn't affect normal damage.
In any case, someone on the giantitp.com forum came up with a solution I like more than messing with Fortification. There's some alternate class ability from Dungeonscape that allows rogues to deal half precision damage against foes who are normally immune. They only have to give up their Trap Sense progression, but I like it.
I like that as well Tequila. Another option if like me you use specific critical strikes instead of just multiples is the fortification could protect against those specific kinds of wounds which kill/incapacitate the characters.
Example: breastplate with fortification would still allow the dice multiplier because it was a solid strike but when the roll for the specific wound is rolled the fortification can remove this one based on its original premise. This keeps the crits "fun" but keeps them from being so deadly.
Note: I know this is only useful in really savage campaigns like mine but it would make fortification more "fun" or useful but leaves the dice multiples alone.
Sorry. The two are just pretty interwoven for me. That and I tend to get grumpy/excited about stuff sometimes...grumpcited?
But yeah, sorry.