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Just wondering what people's go-to armor is.
For me, Mithral Shifting Jerkin has to probably be my light armor of choice... at will Disguise Self, ability to swap/switch Talents, and quite importantly no ASF chance. For, like, 8 grand, it is a no-brainer for a number of builds.
AC +3/+6;
ACP -0;
ASF 0%
Mithral Bouyant Agile Breastplate is a medium armor I have stuck on multiple characters. It is often a fire and forget choice, buy once and keep until I die. Really has become the definition of go-to armor for me. And a trait can remove all the penalties even without proficiency... it's wonderful.
AC +7/+5;
ACP -1, -0 climb/jump/swim;
ASF 15%
Mithral Bouyant Agile Half-Plate is a heavy armor I have used more than once. It's no Celestial Plate Armor, but that's not always an option. I have found this to be quite adequate a number of times, especially if you don't have Armor Training.
AC +9/+2;
ACP -4, -1 climb/jump, -0 swim;
ASF 30%
What are some of yours?
Any form of stone plate has a special place in my heart.
Celestial plate is beautiful
Glamoured silk ceremonial is funny to me
Magical mithril chainshirt for most characters, though mithril breast plate, or mithril fullplate is not unheard of.
Mithral breastplate is my generic go to. With a trait you can reduce the ACP to 0 and any non-arcane caster can wear it, even without proficiency.
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I am partial to a Mithral Full Plate +1 (or Hellknight Plate) of Comfort. A little expensive at 16,650gp but it is only +1 so upgrading it from there isn't too bad. Then take the 2 traits to reduce Armor Check penalty(Armor Expert & Sargavan Guard), and its 0. Full Plate base is -6 armor check, Mithril reduces that by 3, comfort by 1, and another 2 from the traits = 0. Meaning you don't need proficiency. You still have movement speed reduction from medium armor though. You can sleep it in as if it were light, always clean and appropriate weather gear.
Mithral Full Plate +1 of Comfort (16,650 gp)
AC +10/+3;
ACP -2(0 with traits)
ASF 25%
Another sleeper is the Elven Chain. While its a specifically named item, its non-magical. It counts as light armor for all purposes, so its not just mithral chainmail which only counts as light armor for movement and restrictions.
Elven Chain +0 (5,150 gp)
+6/+4
ACP -2
ASF 20%Mental Focus, Spirit-Bonded, Locksmith, and Harmonizing are all useful to certain classes/roles but completely worthless to anyone else.
Normally traits don't stack. People might wanna double check with GMs first
Mithral breastplate is my generic go to. With a trait you can reduce the ACP to 0 and any non-arcane caster can wear it, even without proficiency.
Same here. Even without the trait, the ACP is a mere -1.
I almost always pay for mithral armor for anybody for whom encumbrance, speed, or physical skill use is a concern.
I recently had a martial character in PFS spring for mithral full plate before he bought a +2 belt, despite the much higher cost. He's my PC for playing a couple of APs in PFS mode, so his Fame was a little lower than a standard PFS PC of his level--enough so that he was just short of the minimum Fame to buy a +2 belt, but had plenty of gold for +1 mithral full plate (mithral and +1 armor are "always available"). So he did that a couple levels earlier than I had originally planned, and bought the belt a level or so later.
I don't have a "go-to" special ability, but I do I like the restful enchantment, because it solves the biggest problems with interruptions while the party is trying to rest: the PCs with medium or heavy armor don't have to go into a fight armor-less or fatigued, and spellcasters can avoid spending extra hours resting afterward. The shortened rest period is also a boon for perceptive characters, who can take more of the watch load. Finally, it's a flat bonus, rather than eating into your "effective plus" budget.
For me, Mithral Shifting Jerkin has to probably be my light armor of choice... at will Disguise Self, ability to swap/switch Talents, and quite importantly no ASF chance. For, like, 8 grand, it is a no-brainer for a number of builds.
AC +3/+6;
ACP -0;
ASF 0%
I don't this is possible without a fair bit of houseruling. Shifting Jerkin is a lamellar curiass, which means made of leather, and there isn't a replacement material that can reduce the ASF, even assuming the ref will let you alter the material of specific armours.
It's one of the weaknesses of the armour system - mithral is just so much better than any of the other materials that a mithral XXX is always going to be the best armour available unless you are unable to wear metal for some reason.
For me, Mithral Shifting Jerkin has to probably be my light armor of choice... at will Disguise Self, ability to swap/switch Talents, and quite importantly no ASF chance. For, like, 8 grand, it is a no-brainer for a number of builds.
AC +3/+6;
ACP -0;
ASF 0%I don't this is possible without a fair bit of houseruling. Shifting Jerkin is a lamellar curiass, which means made of leather, and there isn't a replacement material that can reduce the ASF, even assuming the ref will let you alter the material of specific armours.
It's one of the weaknesses of the armour system - mithral is just so much better than any of the other materials that a mithral XXX is always going to be the best armour available unless you are unable to wear metal for some reason.
"Lamellar plates can be constructed from lacquered leather, horn, or even stone, though suits of iron and steel are the most common."
If it can be steel, it can be Mithral... and even if Paizo didn't intend it that way, as the GM... there are indeed Mithral Lamellar cuirasses in my games because I like there to be nice things available to the enemies and players. The game is better with better things.
And Lamellar Cuirass is a completely different item that specifically calls out lacquered leather plates.
Aon Lamellar is not pretty clear to me.
It says: This armor consists of a light breastplate and shoulder guards made from lacquered leather plates...
Does that mean: A) ... a light breastplate (made from whatever) and shoulderguards made from ....
Or does it mean: B) ... a light breastplate and shoulderguards both made from lacquered...
Since light breastplates are usually made from metal ...?
Sue the mathematicians for logic.
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None. I make a lot of characters with monk levels.
The mithral kikko is just a better mithral chain shirt. Being medium is irrelevant as being non-proficient just gives you a -acp to attacks and skills (so -0), and for all other intents and purposes it counts as light. At +2 mithral kikko has the exact same stats as a +3 mithral chain shirt, but is cheaper.
Kikko Armour, especially Mithral, is great statistically and, because of the way it is (often between layers of fabric), you can have it be worked into any sort of medium to heavy garment that you'd like it to resemble.
My favorite is the Armored Jacket. I just think it's neat.
I'm partial to Darkleaf Cloth Leather Lamellar.
Basically fills the same mechanical space as a Mithral Chain Shirt, but a bit cheaper, Druid-friendly, and allows for a different aesthetic.
If we are going with non-3rd party, I'd have to say that I like the concept for Clockwork Armor. Not necessarily the execution, but the concept is great. At one time I reverse calculated out what the "clockwork" modification cost so that it could be applied to other, non-plate armors, and I liked using that a lot.
If we are allowing third party (and going all the way back to 3.5 3rd party at that, I really like the Arms and Armor from Bastion Press, how you can just layer on multiple different component pieces. Since the rule was that only one piece of enchanted armor provides its enchantment, it isn't too cumbersome, it just ends up being a concept where you have your core armor, and keep tacking on different items and layers until you feel secure enough.
Four-Mirror Armour. Pretty much the only Medium Armour giving +6 to AC that you can afford with starting cash, even with post-errata making it 125 gp rather than 45 gp.
Chain Shirt
Lamellar (leather)
Breastplate
Lamellar (steel)
O-yoroi
Full plate
The issue I see with armors is that... there is no incentive to pick weaker armors outside of price. For instance, what's the actual difference between a banded and a splint mail?
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for any character of mine that stay out of melee combat and can use light armor i try and get Truefaith Vestments .
a +1 chain shirt that count as +3 breastplate unless the enemy see through the illusion? sign me on! (and ranged attacks doesn't help here. only melee attacks allow a save or the ability to see through illusions)
at just under 7k gold it combine the high ac of breastplate +3 (+9 ac before dex. which normally cost 9,00 gp just on the magic part) with the fact it's still a chain shirt so the max dex (+4 if not from special material etc), acp and arcane fail are much much better.
and if the enemy does see through the illusion it's still a +1 chain shirt...
all in all, for less then 7k to get up to +13 ac (with +4 dex) is a steal.
So in my experience, interesting and mechanically optimized are not the same, and often at odds. I blame the guides and the legions of armchair optimizers they've spawned for what has amounted to a series of cookie-cutter builds (including magic item choices).
There's a full suite of bizarre, interesting unique armors and yet every PC seems to be wearing a mithral breastplate...
It's a good time to get into the mithral market, is what I'm saying.
Also, did I just make an argument for automatic bonus progression but accident? Darnit, not again.
And Lamellar Cuirass is a completely different item that specifically calls out lacquered leather plates.
Aon Lamellar is not pretty clear to me.
It says: This armor consists of a light breastplate and shoulder guards made from lacquered leather plates...
Does that mean: A) ... a light breastplate (made from whatever) and shoulderguards made from ....
Or does it mean: B) ... a light breastplate and shoulderguards both made from lacquered...
Since light breastplates are usually made from metal ...?
Sue the mathematicians for logic.
it's made out of leather. so just make it from darkwood cloth it's almost the same effect as mithril except it won't make a medium armor light one (but that armor is light anyway)
end result (with +1 from the shifting jerkin) would be +3 ac (2 +1 magic) with yp to 6 dex bonus. no acp and 0 afc. (and hte cost would be 750+ gp instead of mithril's +1,000)
That is awesome. Thank you for pointing me towards a more legit (and Nature Fang-friendly) version of the Shifting Jerkin.
It really is one of my favorite armors... an absolute must have for any character of mine with "Talents"...
your welcome. i'm actually starting to like it as well.
having a sylvan trickster able to change the major magic talent for a different spell each day. and picking the cauldron hex give me a glimpse of a very nice easy to achieve potion making gig. before this i was relaying on the bookish rogue feat
now the question is if it can also change hex's taken instead of talents with the archetype's fey tricks ability :
"..can select a witch hex in place of a rogue talent."
it's made out of leather.Aon Lamellar is not pretty clear to me.
It says: This armor consists of a light breastplate and shoulder guards made from lacquered leather plates...
Does that mean: A) ... a light breastplate (made from whatever) and shoulderguards made from ....
Or does it mean: B) ... a light breastplate and shoulderguards both made from lacquered...
Since light breastplates are usually made from metal ...?
Sue the mathematicians for logic.
In support of this, a breastplate (as in the metal thing) weights 30 lb, yet a lamellar cuirass only weights 8 lb. The only way the described breastlate actually consists of metal is if it's made of tin foil! *
*) And there aren't any 5G masts in Golarion, so that's not needed.
For characters with access to magic vestment, it's hard to resist expeditious righteous mithral breastplate of speed (switching from mithral full plate to a mithral breastplate gives a market price of 20,200 gp; +4,000 gp for expeditious and +27,000 for righteous; total market price 51,200 gp). Or expeditious righteous mithral kikko of speed (51,250 gp) if Dex is slightly higher or the character doesn't have proficiency in medium armor.
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For characters with access to magic vestment, it's hard to resist expeditious righteous mithral breastplate of speed (switching from mithral full plate to a mithral breastplate gives a market price of 20,200 gp; +4,000 gp for expeditious and +27,000 for righteous; total market price 51,200 gp). Or expeditious righteous mithral kikko of speed (51,250 gp) if Dex is slightly higher or the character doesn't have proficiency in medium armor.
dont forget those armors need to have to have a +1 or more enhancement to be enchanted with special abilities like speed
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I'll let you know when my divine and psychic casters care, or on the myriad of classes that ignore arcane spell failure chance on light or medium armors.
But yeah, it is technically relevant in case you wanted your wizard to wear armor.
For characters with access to magic vestment, it's hard to resist expeditious righteous mithral breastplate of speed (switching from mithral full plate to a mithral breastplate gives a market price of 20,200 gp; +4,000 gp for expeditious and +27,000 for righteous; total market price 51,200 gp). Or expeditious righteous mithral kikko of speed (51,250 gp) if Dex is slightly higher or the character doesn't have proficiency in medium armor.dont forget those armors need to have to have a +1 or more enhancement to be enchanted with special abilities like speed
Mithral full plate of speed is a specific magic armor. There is no speed special ability for armor.
I discovered the PowerhousePelt the other day while doing a bit of digging for that 880K of gear IRL thread.
It seems like it stacks with Muleback Cords, Anthaul, and any size increases you have handy for when you really want to do some heavy lifting. It is also cheap enough that it can be bought purely as a utility item after a certain point. Your average 22 Strength Fighter can already lift half a ton and some change just with their own raw strength. Muleback Cords would pump that up to a ton and a half and some change. Powerhouse Pelt + Muleback Cords and they can lift almost 5 tons. Ant Haul? 14.4 tons. Enlarge Person on top of that or otherwise going from Medium to Large? 28.8, almost 30 tons.
All that for not very much money in terms of gear and a few low level spells.
idk, i would rule that the cords and armor don't stack they both have:
".. as if it were 8 higher than normal for the purpose of determining her carrying capacity."the 'then normal' for me state that you start to count from his normal str not his virtual str via cord\armor.
for any character of mine that stay out of melee combat and can use light armor i try and get Truefaith Vestments .
a +1 chain shirt that count as +3 breastplate unless the enemy see through the illusion? sign me on! (and ranged attacks doesn't help here. only melee attacks allow a save or the ability to see through illusions)at just under 7k gold it combine the high ac of breastplate +3 (+9 ac before dex. which normally cost 9,00 gp just on the magic part) with the fact it's still a chain shirt so the max dex (+4 if not from special material etc), acp and arcane fail are much much better.
and if the enemy does see through the illusion it's still a +1 chain shirt...
all in all, for less then 7k to get up to +13 ac (with +4 dex) is a steal.
You missed a big point for weak characters: it only weighs 1 pound.
/cevah
for any character of mine that stay out of melee combat and can use light armor i try and get Truefaith Vestments .
a +1 chain shirt that count as +3 breastplate unless the enemy see through the illusion? sign me on! (and ranged attacks doesn't help here. only melee attacks allow a save or the ability to see through illusions)at just under 7k gold it combine the high ac of breastplate +3 (+9 ac before dex. which normally cost 9,00 gp just on the magic part) with the fact it's still a chain shirt so the max dex (+4 if not from special material etc), acp and arcane fail are much much better.
and if the enemy does see through the illusion it's still a +1 chain shirt...
all in all, for less then 7k to get up to +13 ac (with +4 dex) is a steal.
You missed a big point for weak characters: it only weighs 1 pound.
/cevah
i always thought it was a mistake as even Mithril chain shirt weigh 12.5 Lb. but if your gm is cool with that - that's just a bonus ;)
i actually make mine out of mithril so as to not just cover that question from above but also increase max dex by 2 more for 850 gp more (mithril is already masterwork wo that is subdued from the total)
so with +6 dex you end up with +15 ac (9 from "breastplate +3" and 6 from dex) at just under 8k gp. super cheap for this high ac.
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But yeah, it is technically relevant in case you wanted your wizard to wear armor.
Even worse, it's only relevant in case your Wizard wanted to wear leather armor or a lamellar cuirass. Because these are the only two armors in the game where that limitation is relevant.
I discovered the PowerhousePelt the other day while doing a bit of digging for that 880K of gear IRL thread.
Even if it does stack with Muleback Chords, you'd never want to wear it in combat, as hide armor is just bad.
for any character of mine that stay out of melee combat and can use light armor i try and get Truefaith Vestments .
Is it me, or is someone at Paizo utterly in love with the whole Razmir stuff? Razmiran Priest is the most powerful archetypes in the game (for non-tier 1-classes, at least), Strength of Submission is probably the strongest trait for a martial in the game, and even without the clearly erroneous weight, this armor is ridiculous. And all that stuff is PFS legal!
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...
for any character of mine that stay out of melee combat and can use light armor i try and get Truefaith Vestments .Is it me, or is someone at Paizo utterly in love with the whole Razmir stuff? Razmiran Priest is the most powerful archetypes in the game (for non-tier 1-classes, at least), Strength of Submission is probably the strongest trait for a martial in the game, and even without the clearly erroneous weight, this armor is ridiculous. And all that stuff is PFS legal!
im just thankful the made it a point to allow that armor to be used by others as well
" ...(it appears white when worn by anyone who doesn’t follow Razmir). Used primarily as a means of appearing to be protected by the false god’s power..."and yes. that trait is overpowered. i mentioned about it in a different thread. with a simple level 1 bard spell cast on you (can be done right in a harmless manner) and you get the bonus contently. (my go to thought is "i do like green eggs and ham")