Obsidian armor material

[jhansonxi]

Only armor normally made with a substantial amount of metal or stone can be made out of obsidian.
Weigh/cost 75% of normal item.
+1 circumstance bonus to Stealth in dim or lesser light.
10 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 10 (same as Blood Crystal).

Specific armor:
Obsidian Studded Leather armor
Stats as adjusted above.
When struck by natural or unarmed strikes, attacker receives 1 point of slashing damage.

[Lincoln Hills]

That depends on whether you want your obsidian armor to be 'natural' obsidian or some kind of fantasy equivalent (as mithral is to silver, for instance.)

I share your enthusiasm for the notion - obsidian's got a dramatic appearance that would undoubtedly look cool as armor. However, ordinary obsidian is essentially just naturally occurring glass. For obvious reasons nobody wants to wear armor made of glass. I believe the rules as they stand assign hardness 7 and 1 hp/inch to glass, representing the fact that it's fairly rugged but extremely brittle once you reach its damage threshold.

Your 'auto damage' mechanic for obsidian-studded leather might be more elegantly folded into the rules if you treat all obsidian armor as having 'armor spikes' at no additional cost or weight.

[Gilfalas]

Lincoln Hills wrote:

That depends on whether you want your obsidian armor to be 'natural' obsidian or some kind of fantasy equivalent (as mithral is to silver, for instance.

I am guessing he means the obsidian from the Elder Scrolls video games or some such, which basically is a fantasy equivalent.

[jhansonxi]

Lincoln Hills wrote:

That depends on whether you want your obsidian armor to be 'natural' obsidian or some kind of fantasy equivalent (as mithral is to silver, for instance.)

It has to be. Obsidian can not be made into armor unless it is "magically strengthened".

Lincoln Hills wrote:

Your 'auto damage' mechanic for obsidian-studded leather might be more elegantly folded into the rules if you treat all obsidian armor as having 'armor spikes' at no additional cost or weight.

The side benefit was based on the general theme of the material description in the PRD.

[jhansonxi]

I came up with this idea as a defense against Ball Lightning, Chill Metal, and Heat Metal for a character that only wears studded leather. Changing the studs to non-metallic during crafting seems trivial but is undefined in the PRD except for mithral and adamantine.

I suspect that obsidian would be considered a stone material and thus affected by Repel Metal Or Stone. Other spells affecting stone, such as Stone Shape and Stone To Flesh, are undefined for combat usage against stone equipment.