Hey folks!
So I'm trying to figure out how to make armor that beats Mage Armor, and will make a lv10 sorcerer (white necromancer) more survivable in case I can't get away from danger.
1. Studded leather and mithral/darkleaf: General consensus seems to be that SL can be made of mithral, and the SRD for darkleaf specifically mentions SL can be made of it. Could the two materials be combined, and if so, what impact would it have on the ASF? Would it be 5% (because of darkleaf limit), or 0%?
2. Mithral armored kilts: When adding to armor, does the -10% ASF apply to the new thing? Similar to above, would a mithral kilt on darkleaf hide (medium) result in 10% ASF, 5%, or 0%? And if the two do combine, what would the total adjustment be to ACP and max dex as well?
Mithral and darkleaf can technically both used in the construction of studded leather armor, however it can only benefit from one.
Weapons and armor can be crafted using materials that possess innate special properties. If you make a suit of armor or weapon out of more than one special material, you get the benefit of only the most prevalent material. However, you can build a double weapon with each head made of a different special material.
Mithral and darkleaf can technically both used in the construction of studded leather armor, however it can only benefit from one.
Weapons and armor can be crafted using materials that possess innate special properties. If you make a suit of armor or weapon out of more than one special material, you get the benefit of only the most prevalent material. However, you can build a double weapon with each head made of a different special material.
Reading is great. /sigh
Would the same principle apply to the combination of kilt and armor? Or, if they're considered separate, would the ASF reduction from the kilt not carry over to the hide?
Mithral and darkleaf can technically both used in the construction of studded leather armor, however it can only benefit from one.
Weapons and armor can be crafted using materials that possess innate special properties. If you make a suit of armor or weapon out of more than one special material, you get the benefit of only the most prevalent material. However, you can build a double weapon with each head made of a different special material.Reading is great. /sigh
Would the same principle apply to the combination of kilt and armor? Or, if they're considered separate, would the ASF reduction from the kilt not carry over to the hide?
Related, would a mithral kilt on a (plain) lamellar cuirass have any impact on ASF?
Mithral and darkleaf can technically both used in the construction of studded leather armor, however it can only benefit from one.
Weapons and armor can be crafted using materials that possess innate special properties. If you make a suit of armor or weapon out of more than one special material, you get the benefit of only the most prevalent material. However, you can build a double weapon with each head made of a different special material.Reading is great. /sigh
Would the same principle apply to the combination of kilt and armor? Or, if they're considered separate, would the ASF reduction from the kilt not carry over to the hide?
The rule still applies if you make a composite single set of armor of kilt plus something else, whatever has the greater amount of material is the dominant property of the whole set. I do believe that ambiguities like this is why the whole kilt thing is disallowed in PFS.
Would the same principle apply to the combination of kilt and armor? Or, if they're considered separate, would the ASF reduction from the kilt not carry over to the hide?
I'm not sure exactly what you're asking for here...
Armored kilts don't have an ASF chance according to the table on d20pfsrd, although the item has been revised once since it originally came out. If you made it from mithral it would still be 0, as it cannot become negative.If you combined the mithral kilt with as lamellar cuirass...I don't think it would have any effect. At least as a GM I would rule that you need the cuirass to be made of the special material. The rules really aren't clear.
But it doesn't make sense that adding more bulk to armor would make it easier to cast.
As far as the armor kilt goes....no one is actually clear how it's supposed to function.
I believe you take the worst of either the armored kilt or the other type of armor in every category, and increase your total AC by 1. The kilt being mithral will not reduce the ACP, spell failure chance, or increase the max dex of the other armor.
Basically nothing beats mage armor until you pay a whole lot of money for it, such as bracers of armor or robe of the archmage. There really is not a solution outside of using Mage's Armor.
Why are you so keen on not using it? Worst case pick up a wand and use repeated castings throughout the day.
With mage armor and a decent dex you should have a 16 or 17 AC at level 1. Even without any proper armor.
Thanks, both.
I'm not necessarily 'against' Mage Armor, though was trying to find combinations that might result in a bit higher AC. I also often forget to have Mage Armor active, and I have debuffs to focus on when combat hits. Typically I can evade danger when things actually start, but when things get the drop on me, it gets perilous. It should be even less of an issue going forward, since I can fly and just picked up Greater Invisibility, along with being able to Marionette Possession my ghost companion for incorporeal gooeyness.
I appreciate the clarifications!
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Mage armor lasts hours per level and is a 1st level spell. It's something that you should have up for when you think danger could be near at low levels, and then up all awake day by casting twice at lv4. The only time you should be in a fight without it up is if someone is coming in your sleep.
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At 10th level, Mage Armor lasts 10 hours. If you spend 3K on a lesser extend metamagic rod, it can last for 20 hours. Or you could just cast it twice. Since you generally want to sleep for 8 hours, that means it is always up.
If you really want armor, what was wrong with enchanting Haramaki? It has no ASF and can be enchanted like normal armor. It is better than Bracers of armor until you get to +7 Bracers. To do better than the Mage Armor, you would need to enchant it to +4 (total +5) for 153 + 16000 = 16303 gp.
Regardless of what you do there, you then supplement it from your spells known: Blur, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Magic Circle against alignment, perhaps Displacement. Pages of Spell Knowledge are expensive, but very worthwhile.