PDA

View Full Version : [new material] Iron fist in a velvet glove



illathid
2006-08-08, 04:02 AM
I invented this substance for the campaign i'm going to be running in the fall. The thing is I have no idea if it's balanced or not, so any helpwould be appreciated. So without further ado...

Stahltuch:
The creation of this strange and and magical cloth is a closely guarded secret of the dwarves of sturmberg. Said to be woven from the roots of the mountains themselves, this cloth is soft to the touch but is as hard as steel when struck. The strange nature of the cloth means that only mages of exceptional skill have the abilty to enchant any thing made from Stahltuch. The more protective the clothing is, the more material is involved. A simple shirt & pants would provide a relatively small amount of protection, while a shirt, cumberbund, vest, and overcoat would provide much more protection.

Armor made from Stahltuch is extremly flexible, as such they have no movement penalties, arcane spell failure chance, or maximum dex bonus. Armor check penalties for armor made from Stahltuch are halved rounded down. For all intensive purpose any thing made from Stahltuch is not considered armor, although the bonus to AC remains an Armor bonus. Weight remains the same.

Any type of armor may be made from this material, however the processe is extremly expensive. The base cost of the armor is multiplied by the AC bonus the arrmor provides as are the costs of any magical abilities that are placed on the armor. Armor enchantments may not excede a +5 bonus, and the cost of each enchantment is multiplied by the AC bonus of the armor. All armor made from Stahltuch must be of masterwork quality.

For example, if one was to craft a suit of +2 scale mail from Stahltuch it would cost 16,350 gold (200 base cost+150 masterwork+16,000 for enchantments)

Fizban
2006-08-08, 05:24 AM
Hmm, like the idea. Comment: this is like the susalian chainweave agument (can't remember what book), a suit of chain shirt or chainmail of this grants DR 3/piercing, for an insane price (16,000-32,000 I think). Now, Definitly should not be making metal armors out of this, just. no. I would say non metal armors such as padded, leather, studded leather, hide, and any other similar armors in your game. Really though, if you inted a thick suit of this to be armor, it needs to be it's own armor type, not a modified suit of another armor. If it tightens and blocks blows when struck, it's going to hamper movement a bit. Here's my idea:
Stahltuch suit: +2 AC, +6 max dex, 0 check penalty, 5% spell failure, wearer gains DR 2/piercing. Cost: somewhere around 10,000gp, costs 2,000gp more to enchant (just like cold iron and weapons).
Stahltuch Bundling: +4 AC, +3 max dex, -2 check penalty, 20% spell failure grants DR 3/piercing, costs 25,000gp, enchantments costs +5,000gp

I completely made those up on the spot, so take em' with a grain of salt.
Unfortunatly, I have issues with most of your interperetation: the movement penalty is because the armor is medium/heavy, so what you want is a reduction in armor category, and that should be no more than 1 (full plate restricts movement, period). Spell failure should not be removed, only lowered, materials which have done this are mitril (-10%), and some thing in races of the wild (-5%, works with more types of armor). Max dex bonus applies even to padded armor, all armors have a max dex bonus, period (anything thick enough to protect you is going to hinder you IMO). Weight remains the same: so 50lbs of cloth full plate isnt going to interfere with movement? And finally: enhancment cost: would be a great balancing factor, except it costs too much.

Hmm, trying to be constructive...
I think what you want is like mitril on crack, so how about this?:
Stahltuch: any armor can be enhanced with stahltuch, replacing relative amounts of normal materials. padded, leather, and studded leather are replaced completely, all other armors are enhanced with thick layers of the cloth, replacing some parts of the armor, and thinning others. Armor enhanced with stahltuch is considered one step lighter (heavy to medium, medium to light, light to light), has it's max dex bonus increased by 3, it's armor check penalty halved, rounded down, min 1 for medium armors, has it's spell failure chance reduced by 15%, and has it's weight reduced to 1/3 normal. Cost +2,000 light, +7,000 med, +12,000 heavy, and an additional 2,000 for magic enhancement, as the material resists magic. Combining Stahltuch with mithril increases it's max dex bonus by +1 (to a total of +4), allows med armor to have no check penalty, reduces spell failure by another 5% (total -20%), and reduces the weight to 1/4 normal. Using mithril with Stahtuch costs 2,500 light, 8,000 med, and 15,000 for heavy.
Wheee, also completly on the fly.
Just my thoughts, take em or leave em.

illathid
2006-08-08, 03:49 PM
Maybe there should be some penalties besides the ridiculous cost. I'll think about it.

The thing I didn't write up above is the equivalent clothing to each tye of armor. The Stahltuch equivalent to Padded armor is a beater or undershirt. A tunic and pants would be the same as chainmail, while a the medieval equivalnt of a suit or tuxedo would be the same as full plate, ect.

Part of the point of this is I want to make monarchs that the PC's can't kill easily or quickly. Having monarchs constantly wearing full plate while holding court would be a litle silly, so i came up with this.

NullAshton
2006-08-08, 05:28 PM
But armor can have the glamer quality, which makes it look, feel, and smell like clothing.

illathid
2006-08-08, 05:46 PM
But armor can have the glamer quality, which makes it look, feel, and smell like clothing.

But still takes the same amount of time to don, and appears as regular armor with true seeing.

martyboy74
2006-08-08, 05:46 PM
But armor can have the glamer quality, which makes it look, feel, and smell like clothing.
Ah, but it still doesn't make going to the bathroom any easier.