Mithral HellKnight Plate - 2 or 3 ACP?!

[Lord Lupus the Grey]

So, I searched a lot about this, but there is no such thread that answers well: does Mithral HellKnight Plate has 2 or 3 ACP and how much it costs?

Please, link some FAQ ot dev's post about it, if you can! Thanks!

[Mamnot]

Obviously 2ACP. Hellplate is just an ordinary MW Full Plate armor with cool name. IT costs 2000. Mithril as material for crafting heavy armor costs 9000. so you get armor with 2 ACP 3 MAX DEX and 9 AC fo 11000. With class skills of hellknight and fighter lvls(if you were one) it stacks up to 0 ACP and over 9000 MAX DEX.
other problem is roleplaying. Shiny silverish armor is not so good at intimidating foes with your HELLISH powers)

[Lord Lupus the Grey]

Em... So -3 or -2? If you say it is JUST A MW FULLPLATE, it must be -3...

[pocsaclypse]

So there seem to be two schools of thought on this one and we're going to open a can of worms here either way.
It all boils down to the line "a suit of Hellknight plate functions the same as a suit of masterwork full plate."

One interpretation is that this means Hellknight Plate is already masterworked and so the reduction from making it mithral would only be an additional 2 since the reduction by 3 for mithral includes the reduction from being masterwork. With this interpretation the final ACP of Hellknight Plate would be -3.

The second interpretation is that the Hellknight Plate is not masterworked (in the mechanical sense) by default. It is better than regular full plate, but thats included in the price and where it gets the starting reduced ACP. Basically, its reading the line as "it works like masterwork full plate with the reduced acp, but it can still have the masterwork property applied to it later." With this interpretation, making it out of Mithral would give it the full ACP reduction of 3 resulting in a final ACP of -2.

Considering that base Hellknight Plate has an increased cost above the standard masterwork price as well as the additional in game requirements that go into earning the armor, I am personally inclined to go with the second interpretation and give it the final ACP of -2.

[Cavall]

I'd say -3. Its masterwork already. I looked in my books at hellknights and the penalties are for masterwork plate so mithril would only give -2 more.

[Gulthor]

Adventurer's Guide wrote:

Apart from its distinctive look (each order of Hell Knights has its own style of armor), a suit of Hell Knight plate functions the same as a suit of masterwork full plate.

Its stats match its description; a suit of Hellknight Plate is simply a slightly more distinctive suit of masterwork full plate (certain prestige class class features key off of using this very specific piece of equipment, which justifies the higher cost).

Therefore, Mithral Hellknight Plate would be identical to Mithral Full Plate in stats, differing only in price; fortunately, the description for mithral specifies that price, which is 9,000 gp for heavy armor (and includes the masterwork component).

This would mean that the price for mithral Hellknight plate would be 10,850 GP (2000 Hellknight plate +9000 mithral -150 masterwork; you wouldn't have to pay for the masterwork component twice, and as mentioned, it's covered in the 9000gp mithral cost). If your GM disagrees that the masterwork cost shouldn't be paid for twice, 150gp is not worth arguing over, pay it and move on - NPCs don't have to charge fair market prices anyway.

The armor check penalty would be -3 (full plate is -6, masterwork reduces by 1 and mithral by an additional 2) and the max Dex would be +3.

You're not likely to find a developer post spelling this out, and is unreasonable to ask others to cite you things you're unwilling to find out yourself; this is basic application of the rules and can be confirmed by looking at printed character or magic items entries, such as Mithral Full Plate of Speed.

[Dave Justus]

Hellknight armor is "a special type of masterwork full plate" and unsurprisingly give that it "functions the same as a suit of masterwork full plate"

The 'special' portion is 1) distictive style and 2) additional effects for Hellknight prestige class.

Clearly though it already is masterwork.

[Reksew_Trebla]

I agree with the “it’s already masterwork” argument, but has anyone tried looking for a NPC Hellknight that has magic Hellknight armor? That could help determine for certain, once its skills are reverse engineered to the individual components.