So my group and I are probably finishing up Jade Regent in the next few weeks. Now I was expecting us to slide directly into shattered star.... but signs seem to point that the group wants to do skull and shackles. Problem is I have been itching to play a tank-y character (maybe an off the beaten path one like a magus or an oracle). Problem is heavy armor and water don't mix I assume or are the armor check penalties able to be overcome even at low levels in Pathfinder? Thoughts? Help?
Don't fall in.
My group is doing S&S and, although we've tended just by character design to go with lighter armors instead, there's been nothing that so far that would invalidate the idea of heavy armor.
Just don't expect to swing from yardlines.
And don't fall in.
Our S&S-party had a monk, with 1 level sorcerer, as tank. Sorcerer allowed him to cast mage armour and shield. With sorcerer just being a dip, he's getting by with CHA 11, so he's still able to have solid stats for the monk build.
We're lvl 6 currently, and so far he's been an awesome tank. So if you're looking for an alternative tank, that's not a bad way to go.
At least in the first two parts, there'll be plenty of swimming, so high armour check penalties will be a problem for you.
I know if in real life a breastplate would probably drag you to your grave, but a -3 /-4 if I had swim as a skill ifsbasically a wash at first leve,l even before str mod... or am I missing something?
Quite possibly you're missing the fact that you can either take off your breastplate, or simply walk along the bottom of shallow water.
If you think about it, the only time armor would be an issue would be a) you're in combat, and not involved in a skill trial of some sort, b) you're not able to fight from the deck of a ship, and c) you're not near enough to the shallows to be able to stand.
... which raises the question of, if you're fighting something in the deep ocean, how the hell did you get there if there's no ship near you?
Oddly enough, if you're fairly strong, your armor encumbers you when you wear it but doesn't encumber you when you don't. So if you MUST make a swim check and have time to take your armor off and put it in your backpack, or a large sack tied to your belt, you'll be just fine swimming.
If you fall overboard, you might be in trouble if the water is deep enough and the armor takes long enough to remove, but a decent STR plus a rank in swim and a class bonus +3 should keep you afloat, at least most of the time.