Animal Companion Barding slot - Does this means Armor or Belts?

[Secane]

Sorry for this noob question, but does the Animal Companion's Barding slot refers to Armor or Belts?
Aka, what can I place in the Barding slot?

Edit: And if Barding means Armor, does an AC still need the Armor Proficiency (light) feat to wear armor?

[Sniggevert]

Barding is armor.

[Secane]

@Kevin,

So if Barding means Armor, does an AC still need the Armor Proficiency (light) feat to wear armor?

[Tabletop Giant]

Secane wrote:

Sorry for this noob question, but does the Animal Companion's Barding slot refers to Armor or Belts?

Aka, what can I place in the Barding slot?

Edit: And if Barding means Armor, does an AC still need the Armor Proficiency (light) feat to wear armor?

Barding does mean armor, and yes proficiency does still matter.

Barding is also typically more expensive than normal armor (as the creatures are often bigger) - here's the d20 page which includes the details: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/armor (search the page for the text 'barding' and you'll find the text block - it is near the bottom of the page).

[Sniggevert]

To wear it without taking the ACP to attack rolls, yes.

Having the slot available does not give you the armor proficiency. That said, there are a number of ways to get light armors with and ACP of 0 and there would be no penalties to the mount wearing such armor.

[Secane]

I think I get it, but it does feels a little weird.

Just confirming, without the use of feats to grant more magical slots for an AC, the only magical items an AC can wear are Neck slot items and Magical Armor.

Also, a Darkleaf Leather Lamellar armor would effectively not require Armor Proficiency (light), as the Darkleaf reduces the Armor Check Penalty to 0 and therefore not affect the AC in its attacks or skill checks?

[Tabletop Giant]

Secane wrote:

I think I get it, but it does feels a little weird.

Just confirming, without the use of feats to grant more magical slots for an AC, the only magical items an AC can wear are Neck slot items and Magical Armor.

Also, a Darkleaf Leather Lamellar armor would effectively not require Armor Proficiency (light), as the Darkleaf reduces the Armor Check Penalty to 0 and therefore not affect the AC in its attacks or skill checks?

That sounds about right (though it is likely preferable to say 'Barding' rather than 'Magical Armor', to be clear) - but again realize that the AC armor is often more expensive, depending on what the AC is. A medium nonhumanoid creature's barding costs twice the normal amount, for example.

[Sniggevert]

@Secane That is correct.

[Flutter]

Fluffy companion slots in pfs

[Secane]

Thanks for the quick answers, Tabletop Giant and Kevin!

I'm going with a Darkleaf Leather Lamellar barding (large) as I don't want my Roc's speed to drop in half.

I factored the cost of a Large Barding for a Roc as 4 times that of a normal Darkleaf Leather Lamellar armor

Darkleaf Leather Lamellar armor = 810gp (750 + 60)
Darkleaf Leather Lamellar Barding (Large) = 3240gp (810 x 4)

As for weight it is twice of a Leather Lamellar armor, but Darkleaf cuts the weight in halve, meaning its weights as much as a normal *edited* Leather Lamellar armor.

Anything amiss in my math?

Flutter wrote:

Fluffy companion slots in pfs

Favored! Thank you! Its really useful.

[Shamira]

Don't apply the special material cost before multiplication, but after.

Lamellar large barding 60*4=240, darkleaf cloth for light is +750, added to the large lamellar is a total of 990.

[jtaylor73003]

Secane wrote:

As for weight it is twice of a Leather Lamellar armor, but Darkleaf cuts the weight in halve, meaning its weights as much as a normal Darkleaf Leather Lamellar armor.

No that isn't right. The weight is twice that of Leather Lamellar Amor then Darkleaf reduces that by half, which should put it as weighing as much a Leather Lamellar Amor for medium creature vs weighing as much as Darkleaf Leather Lamellar armor for a medium creature. Just make sure you acutally calcuted the weight then divide that by half to get the exact weight of the item.

[Secane]

Shamira wrote:

Don't apply the special material cost before multiplication, but after.

Lamellar large barding 60*4=240, darkleaf cloth for light is +750, added to the large lamellar is a total of 990.

Oh! Didn't know that. Thought it was the other way around!

[Nefreet]

This seems like a nice opportunity to shamelessly plug my FAQ request on pricing armor for unusual creatures.

I concur that you add the special material modifier after multiplying for size and shape, but enough people disagree on it that it could be added to the FAQ.