Piecemeal Armor Question

[D'arandriel]

Not sure if I am reading the rules from Ultimate Combat correctly, but it seems that you can get superior AC from piecemeal armor than from a full suit of plate. Am I reading this correctly? It's not making a whole lot of sense to me.

[Vivil]

D'arandriel wrote:

Not sure if I am reading the rules from Ultimate Combat correctly, but it seems that you can get superior AC from piecemeal armor than from a full suit of plate. Am I reading this correctly? It's not making a whole lot of sense to me.

I was originally thinking you were wrong, but after digging through the rules a bit, I believe you are correct.

If I am reading this correctly, the highest armor you can get through Piecemeal armor is +10, one higher than Full Plate.

Arms: Tatami-Do +1
Legs: O-Yoroi +2
Torso: Plate +6
Set: Bonus +1
Total: +10

While a Stone Chest has a +8 bonus to armor, it does not add the armor bonus of other pieces: "If worn with other armor pieces, this torso armor piece gains no armor bonus from the other armor pieces, and all of the added hindrances."

Additionally, the above pieces would have a max dex bonus of +2 (versus Full Plate's +1).

So, yea, I think you could get two AC higher.

[Kenjishinomouri]

D'arandriel wrote:

Not sure if I am reading the rules from Ultimate Combat correctly, but it seems that you can get superior AC from piecemeal armor than from a full suit of plate. Am I reading this correctly? It's not making a whole lot of sense to me.

Yeah, I had come to this conclusion, You can make superior armor of each size category. The numbers were crunched out on another thread. We made a +9 ac, +3 max dex armor with a -2 Ac penalty, Way superior to full plate, The armor is much cheaper to the above armor We made was somewhere around 200gp, as opposed to the 1500gp you pay for full plate.

[D'arandriel]

At least I know I'm not crazy, but it now looks like I can get all the benefits of full plate or half plate and wear medium armor:

Breast Plate +6
Scale Arms & Leggings +2
Set Bonus +1
Total: +9

or the equivalent of half plate:

Breast Plate +6
Studded Leather Arms and Leggings +1
Set Bonus +1
Total: +8

I do like the idea of piecemeal armor, and I'm not trying to crunch numbers, just wondering if this was intended or even considered...

[Vivil]

D'arandriel wrote:

At least I know I'm not crazy, but it now looks like I can get all the benefits of full plate or half plate and wear medium armor:

Breast Plate +6
Scale Arms & Leggings +2
Set Bonus +1
Total: +9

or the equivalent of half plate:

Breast Plate +6
Studded Leather Arms and Leggings +1
Set Bonus +1
Total: +8

I do like the idea of piecemeal armor, and I'm not trying to crunch numbers, just wondering if this was intended or even considered...

I don't think that works.

Agile Plate / Plate are only considered Medium Armor when worn alone (when they are a breastplate). If you have other pieces, they are considered Heavy Armor. If you are wearing one piece of heavy armor, you take the penalties if you are not proficient in their use. So, not much is gained in that regard.

[Pol Mordreth]

The entire section is borked. You can make chainmail (Chain shirt, Chain legs, Chain arms) and although the base stats are all the same the speed is 30 instead of 20 in Core.

Being a little more dex focused I can make +7 with +4 dex at 30 ft movement (Chain shirt, horn lamellar arms, hide legs) medium armor. Stupid.

Regards,
Pol

Edit: Of course, the entire armor section is borked. All the Eastern armors are better than their western counterparts? Rubbish.

[ArmoredSaint]

It also looks like the O-yoroi pieces, when worn together, result in a +9 armour bonus under the piecemeal armour rules:

Torso piece: +5 armour bonus
Arm pieces: +1 armour bonus
Leg pieces: +2 armour bonus
Full suit: +1 armour bonus
Total: +9 armour bonus

...while the listing for the complete O-yoroi armour earlier in the book gives the armour bonus only as +8.

What's up with that? Were these sections written by different people?

[Allia Thren]

Remember that its a variant rule. It's not active by default, only when the GM says so.

And yes, apperently you can get better armor for less money. Perhaps that was the goal to make armor a little bit better? I don't know.

Or maybe someone just forget to do the math.

I'll chime in with a question of my own though:
I'm not quite sure though I understand the magic armor section in that rule.
I wear a +1 torso, but non-masterwork, non-magical legs and arm pieces, then I still get the +1 and masterwork bonus for the suit because the torso has it?
(I don't think it actually makes it cheaper though, since the torso gets the normal increase for MW and magic enhancement, so I guess thats ok)

[Protoman]

I don't understand how the four-mirror armor works under the piecemeal rules. Torso's the only piece listed (like stone coat) but the stats don't come anywhere close to the "full set" listed in the equipment chapter.

[Allia Thren]

Protoman wrote:

I don't understand how the four-mirror armor works under the piecemeal rules. Torso's the only piece listed (like stone coat) but the stats don't come anywhere close to the "full set" listed in the equipment chapter.

In the armor section it says that four-mirror armor is worn over chainmail, so I guess it assumes you wear chain gloves and legs, which seems to fit from the stats.

With the +1 from suits it's the usual +1 better than when you use the full suit.

Not to mention that most pre-made sets seem to be entirely stupid in this system. Why ever wear chain legs when studded leather legs are cheaper, give more AC, and more dex bonus, and having less weight?

Honestly the suit bonus should only be given if you actually wear a suit of the same armor. Then you can justify forgoing a +1 on legs or arms, if you get it back for the suit. But like this it's stupid to wear matching armor.

"Haha, that guy wears full plate! What a noob!" :)