Zaydos
2015-04-19, 07:41 PM
Cold Iron, magic resistant, spell bending, traditionally able to ward off the powers of fay* and black magic. In D&D it is regulated to simply an offensive weapon, where traditionally it was a defensive one, a warding presence that kept magic from touching you. While I don't think it should grant full fledged spell resistance I feel that armor made of cold iron should give some advantage for the well equipped mage slayer or faerie hunter.
So here is what I propose
Cold Iron Armor Advantages: When wearing light armor made from cold iron you gain a +1 competence bonus on Will saves against Enchantments, Illusions, and the supernatural, spell-like, and spells of creatures with the fey type. Medium armor increases this bonus to +2. Heavy increases it to +3. A cold iron shield grants a +1 as long as it is not animate (it must be in close proximity to work), and stacks with the bonus provided by cold iron armor but not other competence bonuses.
Cold Iron Armor Cost: Like a cold iron weapon, cold iron armor (and shields) costs twice as much as regular steel armor of that type and costs an additional 2000 GP to enchant.
So the question is: Is this a fun/good effect to have? It's much cheaper than mithral or adamantine for the heavier armor types (2200 for medium, 3500 for heavy as opposed to 4000 for medium up to 9000 for adamantine heavy) but its benefit is probably also significantly less. The other concern is that as a resistance bonus it'd be useless (Cloak of Resistance >>> this) but as a competence bonus it might be a little underpriced. What do you, the playground have to say?
*Fey technically means Fated to Die, D&D confused it with Fay which means faerie, so while I will use the D&D term for mechanics sometimes I want to use the proper one.
So here is what I propose
Cold Iron Armor Advantages: When wearing light armor made from cold iron you gain a +1 competence bonus on Will saves against Enchantments, Illusions, and the supernatural, spell-like, and spells of creatures with the fey type. Medium armor increases this bonus to +2. Heavy increases it to +3. A cold iron shield grants a +1 as long as it is not animate (it must be in close proximity to work), and stacks with the bonus provided by cold iron armor but not other competence bonuses.
Cold Iron Armor Cost: Like a cold iron weapon, cold iron armor (and shields) costs twice as much as regular steel armor of that type and costs an additional 2000 GP to enchant.
So the question is: Is this a fun/good effect to have? It's much cheaper than mithral or adamantine for the heavier armor types (2200 for medium, 3500 for heavy as opposed to 4000 for medium up to 9000 for adamantine heavy) but its benefit is probably also significantly less. The other concern is that as a resistance bonus it'd be useless (Cloak of Resistance >>> this) but as a competence bonus it might be a little underpriced. What do you, the playground have to say?
*Fey technically means Fated to Die, D&D confused it with Fay which means faerie, so while I will use the D&D term for mechanics sometimes I want to use the proper one.