Piecemeal Armor from Ultimate Combat - Am I doing this right?

[HappyDaze]

So I add the armor bonus, cost, and weight. I use the worst movement, ACP, and max dex. If I have all three areas covered I have a suit which is +1 AC but +5% ASF if it's a mixed suit.

So Chain torso, Scale arms, and Scale legs gives me +7 AC with +3 Max Dex, -2 ACP, 35% ASF, 30 ft. move, and 40 lbs. weight for 120 gp.

Better AC than a Breatplate with no reduction in movement rate (unlike a Breastplate) and only costs 120 gp. the only real downside is that the suit weighs 10 lbs. more than the Breastplate.

Am I doing this right?

[Biblical_Payload]

it would still reduce your speed cause' its medium armor... chain torso only counts as light if its by its self. add any other armor, even padded and it goes to medium as defined at the bottom of table 5-9 of UC.

[Biblical_Payload]

other then that, you have it right

[Xexyz]

Also, I believe you only get the extra +1 to AC if all three pieces are of the same type.

[Khrysaor]

Alas, Biblical_Payload is right. The reduced speed is found in the CRB section for armor:speed;

PRD wrote:

Speed: Medium or heavy armor slows the wearer down. The number on Table: Armor and Shields is the character's speed while wearing the armor. Humans, elves, half-elves, and half-orcs have an unencumbered speed of 30 feet. They use the first column. Dwarves, gnomes, and halflings have an unencumbered speed of 20 feet. They use the second column. Remember, however, that a dwarf's land speed remains 20 feet even in medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.

Otherwise you'd put a suit of chainmail or scalemail together via the piecemeal tables and still have 30ft move when the CRB versions only give them 20ft.

@Xexyz

PRD wrote:

Suits of armor can have all armor pieces of the same type (all three plate pieces make a suit of full plate), or a mixture of armor pieces (a plate arm armor piece and torso armor piece combined with a chainmail leg armor piece creates a suit of half-plate). Wearing an entire suit, whether its pieces are mixed or the same type, grants a +1 armor bonus on top of the protection the combination of pieces already grants the wearer. Wearing a mixed suit of armor increases the arcane spell failure chance by 5% because of the awkwardness of the design. Wearing less than a full suit of mixed armor does not increase the wearer's arcane spell failure chance.

As long as you have all three pieces you're good to go.

[Rocky Williams 530]

Piecemeal is kinda a messed up system.

[Biblical_Payload]

I've been using piecemeal armor for awhile now; haven't had any real problems with it really. while starting characters can end up with a slightly higher AC or the same one for less GP, those are mitigated in the long run if you use random item generation for gear as they don't have listed any of the "best" armor.

[Inferon]

Biblical_Payload wrote:

it would still reduce your speed cause' its medium armor... chain torso only counts as light if its by its self. add any other armor, even padded and it goes to medium as defined at the bottom of table 5-9 of UC.

While running this variant I would rule the opposite. I think it could be argued either way, though...

Ultimate Combat wrote:

If a character is wearing more than one armor piece, she add the armor costs, armor bonuses, and weights of the armor pieces, and takes the worst maximum Dexterity bonus, arcane spell failure chance, and speed limitations from among the various armor pieces to determine the full statistics and qualities of the armor she is wearing.

(italics mine)

Xexyz wrote:

Also, I believe you only get the extra +1 to AC if all three pieces are of the same type.

Nope, you're thinking about the extra 5% arcane spell failure.

[Biblical_Payload]

but then you could make the example happy daze listed... if it worked like that why would any one use normal medium armor at all??

[Inferon]

Exactly. When using this varient I wouldn't expect to see regular armour. If any regular armour contradicted the piecemeal rules, I'd change the regular armour to match. This is, of course, just how my group runs the system. By being a varient rule to begin with, there is no right or wrong way a DM could rule on this. Generally, using this varient leads to better and cheaper armour.

[Biblical_Payload]

while thats not how i would do it, as long as everyone's having a good time, who am I to say whats wrongbadfun? its a pretty cool variant no matter how you run it, plus you have more say on your appearance this way.

[Axl]

Does piecemeal armour use the <i>worst</i> armour check penalty of the three pieces? This doesn't seem to be explicitly stated.