Dwarf/Kobold Armor

[Maddog]

Hi
Does anyone have any house rules or special methods of assigning bonuses to Dwarven/Kobold/Jotan armor? Weapons are pretty straight forward; +x% to the cost of the weapon for +x to strike (or whatever). How can the high quality of Dwarven armor be reflected by a game mechanic? My group uses a damage reduction method in place of the standard AR system. Do I add to the DR (and weight) for D/K/J armour? Any suggestions welcome.

Maddog

[eliakon]

In my games I simply allow a bonus to the AR and DR of the armor with some of the legendary suits of dwarven master smiths having effectively nAR of their own. (i.e. you need a 17+ to hit the wearer and will need a 12+ to even damage the suit)
I will also say that I have done a lot of customizing of the AR system to my house rules so it is not exactly the same as the regular one (short version is that I compare ARs to the natural rolls with only a tiny number of modifiers affecting it.)

[kiralon]

In my games I simply allow a bonus to the AR and DR of the armor with some of the legendary suits of dwarven master smiths having effectively nAR of their own. (i.e. you need a 17+ to hit the wearer and will need a 12+ to even damage the suit)
I will also say that I have done a lot of customizing of the AR system to my house rules so it is not exactly the same as the regular one (short version is that I compare ARs to the natural rolls with only a tiny number of modifiers affecting it.)

Ditto, its mostly only the wp + to strike that adds a bonus penetrate for me too (+ some weapon bonuses and magic).

But there is 'superior' armour in the book that lets you add 20 sdc to light and 50 sdc to heavy armour.

[Library Ogre]

As Kira says, I think the official version is "more SDC", but you might also consider "fewer penalties on heavy armor", if you remember to use those.

[Hotrod]

As Kira says, I think the official version is "more SDC", but you might also consider "fewer penalties on heavy armor", if you remember to use those.

Though it's not in the rules as written, there is precedent for dwarves and kobolds increasing an armor's AR. Eastern Territory (a book I've become very familiar with in recent months) has King Edmund Penington's armor, a dwarven plate, with an AR of 18 and an SDC of 170.

I think it's reasonable that a custom-fit armor of exceptional quality could have an improved AR. Such a suit would be quite pricey.

[kiralon]

As Kira says, I think the official version is "more SDC", but you might also consider "fewer penalties on heavy armor", if you remember to use those.

Though it's not in the rules as written, there is precedent for dwarves and kobolds increasing an armor's AR. Eastern Territory (a book I've become very familiar with in recent months) has King Edmund Penington's armor, a dwarven plage, with an AR of 18 and an SDC of 170.

I think it's reasonable that a custom-fit armor of exceptional quality could have an improved AR. Such a suit would be quite pricey.

That could be just the magical +1 AR and +10 sdc from being well made. (More likely the writer thought 17 was too low and 18 looked better)
But I allow custom made armour to give more protection.

[Hotrod]

As Kira says, I think the official version is "more SDC", but you might also consider "fewer penalties on heavy armor", if you remember to use those.

Though it's not in the rules as written, there is precedent for dwarves and kobolds increasing an armor's AR. Eastern Territory (a book I've become very familiar with in recent months) has King Edmund Penington's armor, a dwarven plage, with an AR of 18 and an SDC of 170.

I think it's reasonable that a custom-fit armor of exceptional quality could have an improved AR. Such a suit would be quite pricey.

That could be just the magical +1 AR and +10 sdc from being well made. (More likely the writer thought 17 was too low and 18 looked better)
But I allow custom made armour to give more protection.

The king's armor does have magical properties listed, but increased AR and SDC aren't among those properties (weightless and impervious to fire). Per canon rules as written, superior armor isn't species-restricted; only superior weapons are, so the fact that dwarves made this armor shouldn't be relevant. However, having dwarves or kobolds able to produce special, superior armor seems more consistent with the fluff.

[RockJock]

You can always have them know how to make a better alloy(black iron). One of the NPCs in Nimro can make armor that is half the normal weight and noiseless via technique.