Armor Check Penalty and Carrying capacity?

[warpi9]

If I am a Fighter that has the ability Armor Mastery does this ability help with carrying capacity limits, such as Max Dex, Armor Check Penalty and Speed?

I ask because is seems kinda stupid that Full Plate wearer Fighter 20th Level Can basically have a 20 Dex and only a -2 (or -1 for magical) Armor Check Penalty. But because of it's 50lbs it's weight takes up the majority of your carrying capacity, which means that not much else can be carried assuming your strength is around a 14.

I made a Dex based melee fighter that has a 14 Str thinking that I could wear Full Plate eventually, without much penalties, but discovered that my load is still going to limit me. It just seems to kinda conflict with each other. There is a section under carrying capacity that states "medium or heavy loads counts as medium or heavy armor for the purpose of abilities or skills that are restricted by armor" Maybe they are considered for the Armor Master ability as well.

Any thoughts? Or rulings?

[Helder Cruz]

Hmmm...

No, armor mastery doesn't help with that.

Armor mastery is a matter of mobility. A fighter with this ability know how to move with the armor.

The armor doesn't becomer lighter, it's your fighter who learns how to move better.

[Thazar]

A couple of things. If you are going to want full plate and have a low STR I would suggest getting it made from Mithral. That will cut the weight in half. You may also want to make sure you get something to boost your strength. A fighter with a 14 STR at level 20 would be a rare fighter indeed... but it could be fun to role play.

Finally, many weaker characters will have a back pack or bag for most of their gear. If you are in danger of being encumbered try and get it so you can drop the backpack or bag at the start of combat. Then you only need to worry about what your "battle gear" weighs.

[ShadowChemosh]

warpi9 wrote:

..

I made a Dex based melee fighter that has a 14 Str thinking that I could wear Full Plate eventually, without much penalties, but discovered that my load is still going to limit me....
Or rulings?

A 14Str character in full plate would not be encumbered until you hit over 175lbs of gear. So full plate weighs in at 50 lbs so this leaves you at 125lbs of gear left to carry. Your character is already considered heavy encumbered by heavy armor so your carrying capacity is not 58lbs a light load, but 175lbs the max for a heavy load as you are already past light load encumbrance.

See Carrying Capacity in the PRD.
"Encumbrance by Armor: A character's armor determines his maximum Dexterity bonus to AC, armor check penalty, speed, and running speed. Unless your character is weak or carrying a lot of gear, that's all you need to know; the extra gear your character carries won't slow him down any more than the armor already does."

[Deussu]

And not too many rows below...

PRD wrote:

If your character is wearing armor, use the worse figure (from armor or from load) for each category. Do not stack the penalties.

Thus if the character's armor brings her to heavy load, you use the heavy load's limits. In this case it'd limit the max dex to +1. That's the issue here.

[Eric Mason 37]

ShadowChemosh wrote:

A 14Str character in full plate would not be encumbered until you hit over 175lbs of gear. So full plate weighs in at 50 lbs so this leaves you at 125lbs of gear left to carry. Your character is already considered heavy encumbered by heavy armor so your carrying capacity is not 58lbs a light load, but 175lbs the max for a heavy load as you are already past light load encumbrance.

See Carrying Capacity in the PRD.
"Encumbrance by Armor: A character's armor determines his maximum Dexterity bonus to AC, armor check penalty, speed, and running speed. Unless your character is weak or carrying a lot of gear, that's all you need to know; the extra gear your character carries won't slow him down any more than the armor already does."

A high level fighter (who can move full speed in heavy armour) with strength 14 would be encumbered at 59 lbs. If we were talking a Paladin who doesn't have armour training, I would agree with you :)

Yes, having a bit more strength than 14 would be useful if you want your high level fighter with high dex to dance around in full plate. I'd suggest a belt that enhances your strength in addition to your dex.

Mithral armour as others have suggested is a good plan too.

[dulsin]

With a Dex of 20 and Str 14 you are looking at a light high mobility warrior. Keep him out of heavy armor you want to have a decent movement speed. Use the Mithral BP it is the heaviest medium armor and since it is made of mithral it counts as light armor giving you a 30' movement speed.

MW Mithral Breastplate AC +6 M Dex +5 Penalty 0 Spell fail 15%

With this a 20th fighter gets full benefit from up to a 28 dex.

[warpi9]

Basically it sounds like the rules are geared more toward a strength fighter than a dex based fighter. I guess it makes sense, but I'm just kinda dissapointed that I won't be able to take much advantage of the Armor Mastery ability to it's full capacity. Though I may try to get some +str items. Plus a bag of holding (do they still have those?) can reduce carying capacity a lot. I think there are ways that can help out the issue. I think by level 20 I should be fairly good off. I wasn't thinking about magic items much, and mithril.

[Eric Mason 37]

Portable holes are a perfect way to carry loot without weight issues.

Armour Training +4 max dex bonus + mithral +2 max dex bonus = +6 max dex bonus

Look through the armours, and figure out what armour will work best for you based on that.

Yes, even with armour training, the ability to haul around lots of weight is limited by your strength... It would be highly silly if it weren't ;)

In parties I've been in there has always been at least one character who is very strong, and not worried about going into heavy encumbrance. If you aren't going to be that character, then check with your fellow players to see who will be.

Worst case, before you can affort the hole, there are pack mules avaiable for cheap.

[Purple Dragon Knight]

Eric Mason 37 wrote:

ShadowChemosh wrote:

A 14Str character in full plate would not be encumbered until you hit over 175lbs of gear. So full plate weighs in at 50 lbs so this leaves you at 125lbs of gear left to carry. Your character is already considered heavy encumbered by heavy armor so your carrying capacity is not 58lbs a light load, but 175lbs the max for a heavy load as you are already past light load encumbrance.

See Carrying Capacity in the PRD.
"Encumbrance by Armor: A character's armor determines his maximum Dexterity bonus to AC, armor check penalty, speed, and running speed. Unless your character is weak or carrying a lot of gear, that's all you need to know; the extra gear your character carries won't slow him down any more than the armor already does."

A high level fighter (who can move full speed in heavy armour) with strength 14 would be encumbered at 59 lbs. If we were talking a Paladin who doesn't have armour training, I would agree with you :)

Yes, having a bit more strength than 14 would be useful if you want your high level fighter with high dex to dance around in full plate. I'd suggest a belt that enhances your strength in addition to your dex.

Mithral armour as others have suggested is a good plan too.

You use the worse of the two: medium encumbrance is -3, so if your total ACP (armor + shield) is better than -3... use -3. Once you get a bag of holding and shed some load, you'll revert to your ACP (i.e. -2 or -1 in this case...)