Hi all!
This idea started out as a desire to give a wealthy spellcasting villain a distinctive look.
I'd been toying with the idea of giving him a pet Aurumvorax from bestiary 2.
I was rooting around and stumbled across the 3.5 version of aurumvorax which notes that the pelt can be sold for 3000gp although the check to skin it is quite high. A little more investigation and i found in 2ed the aurumvorax hide can be made into armour granting AC2.
Anyway on the strength of this i came up with this:
Aurumvorax Fur Coat
This heavy coat of golden fur is extremely effective as a substitute for armour and highly prized by those spellcasters rich enough and strong enough to wear it.
The coat provides a
+8 armour bonus
Fire resistance +2
Max dex +3
Armour check penalty -2
arcane spell failure 0%
it weighs 50lbs
Price 6000gp
Do people feel its under/ overpowered for the price? Its non-magical. But the creature is rare and hard to process. Should it cost more? Or less? Or have i, just this once, hit the nail on the head?
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Hi all!
This idea started out as a desire to give a wealthy spellcasting villain a distinctive look.
I'd been toying with the idea of giving him a pet Aurumvorax from bestiary 2.
I was rooting around and stumbled across the 3.5 version of aurumvorax which notes that the pelt can be sold for 3000gp although the check to skin it is quite high. A little more investigation and i found in 2ed the aurumvorax hide can be made into armour granting AC2.Anyway on the strength of this i came up with this:
Aurumvorax Fur Coat
This heavy coat of golden fur is extremely effective as a substitute for armour and highly prized by those spellcasters rich enough and strong enough to wear it.
The coat provides a
+8 armour bonus
Fire resistance +2
Max dex +3
Armour check penalty -2
arcane spell failure 0%
it weighs 50lbsPrice 6000gp
Do people feel its under/ overpowered for the price? Its non-magical. But the creature is rare and hard to process. Should it cost more? Or less? Or have i, just this once, hit the nail on the head?
Thats crazy, in an old 1st/2nd ed game I had a half-orc barbarian that used an aurumovrax hide.
I think the price is about right.
Anything that weighs 50 pounds is going to have ASF since it will make it more difficult to make gestures. I also think max dex should be lower. Another factor is armor proficiency. - is this light armor?
I always figured that ASF was due to the restrictive unflexible nature of the armour - this stuffs flexible, its just supposed to be very heavy.
It was supposed to be more on the order of a robe than actual armour.
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If it doesn't count as armor, doesn't give ASF and has a armor bonus equivalent to plate mail, I think you're going to see just about everyone wearing it. It would be cheap at 10,000 gold. Add shield spell and you have a +12 to armor class before dex. It would also be good for druids, bards, pretty much everyone that wants armor protection, but does not want the movement restrictions associated with medium or heavy armor. How about monks - who are not allowed armor - good deal for them too.
I think you're going to see just about everyone wearing it. It would be cheap at 10,000 gold.
All of that is true. And also my problem.
The weight and the AC bonus are things i want to keep, as is the token fire resistance - they all hark back to the original 2nd ed concept.
In this instance i'm trying to make what is essentially a robe.
Compared to a robe of the archmagi its pretty lousy - that gives a +5 armour bonus, SR18, +2CL, +4 bonus on all saves.
It also has no ASF, no skill check penalty, no max dex and weighs just 1lb.
It is alignment restricted.
It rolls in at 75000Gp.
I'm happy enough to play with the max dex and Skill penalty - but i want it to be max ASF 10%
Im even content to require an armour proficiency - medium possibly?
But what price should it be?
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I think you're going to see just about everyone wearing it. It would be cheap at 10,000 gold.All of that is true. And also my problem.
The weight and the AC bonus are things i want to keep, as is the token fire resistance - they all hark back to the original 2nd ed concept.
In this instance i'm trying to make what is essentially a robe.
Compared to a robe of the archmagi its pretty lousy - that gives a +5 armour bonus, SR18, +2CL, +4 bonus on all saves.
It also has no ASF, no skill check penalty, no max dex and weighs just 1lb.
It is alignment restricted.
It rolls in at 75000Gp.I'm happy enough to play with the max dex and Skill penalty - but i want it to be max ASF 10%
Im even content to require an armour proficiency - medium possibly?
But what price should it be?
It would definetly be medium armor, I guess I missed that. It is basicly hide armour. Realize that because this is not magical, it can be upgraded with magic to make it even more BA, I would compare this to dragon hide for price.
I would compare this to dragon hide for the price.
Well a standard Aurumvorax is small, so presumably you need 4 to make a medium suit of armour? In 2nd ed and 3.5 a single aurumvorax pelt was worth 3000gp but harvesting it requires a DC30 survival check.
Aurumvorax hide : Armorsmiths can work with the hides of aurumvoraxes to produce armor of masterwork quality. Four aurumvoraxes provide enough hide for a single suit of masterwork hide armor for a medium sized creature.
Aurumvorax Hide 15000 gp
AC +8, max dex +4, armour check –3, ASF 20%, medium speed 20 ft, 50lbs.,
Special: +2 fire resitance
Because aurumvorax hide armor isn't made of metal, druids can wear it without penalty.
Aurumvorax hide has 8 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 5. The hide of a aurumvorax is typically 1/2 inch thick.
The price reflects the value of the pelts with a small mark up to allow profit.
Given that dragonhide half plate would be 1500gp i think ive run into the 1 ladder = 2 poles at 1/2 the price problem - though i note theyve fixed that particular one for pathfinder... :)
You should make it a goal of a quest - not something that can be bought.
Not really Intending to make it easily purchasable - i always feel that dragonhide armour is something you should have to kill a dragon for, otherwise you should pay over the odds for it because dragon leather is not even close to equivalent to your average pigskin.
The NPC who inspired all this will have bought it - or rather commissioned it - he's wealthy enough to pay serious people to hunt Aurumvorax and to have the armour made, but its not going to be available on the highstreet!
Still i want to set a price so i know how much the treasure is worth. :-s
I wouldn't get too hung up on trying to make the PF numbers match the 2nd edition/3.5 numbers. A lot of things have changed since then. Using dragonide as a guideline is a good approach.
Thought id compare with mithral - that Allowed me to make an armour that took half plate and took it steps towards hide armour while retaining the Ac bonus.
Mithral halfplate
+8 ac, max dex +2, check penalty -4, asf 30%, spd 20, 25lbs, 9600gp
aurumvorax hide
+8ac, max dex +3, check penalty -4, asf 20%, spd 20, 50lbs, special: fire resistance +2,
20000gp? 15000gp?