Plate Armor

[Preppy]

Are there any plate armors in the game ? So far I haven't come across any .

[Arlen]

Originally posted by B Rad Mojad:

I didn't even find any chain mail until right near the end of my first playthrough, heavy armour is sorely lacking in the game so far. Considering chain mail is starting gear for some classes you would think it would at least be available from the druid grove smith.

yeah - I figure by the time you are hitting the Goblin Camp you should get some splint mail, either as a drop or from the smith in druid grove. The Smith sells +1 Scale mail, The druid +1 leahter, the Zhent +1 studded leather, there are two sets of halfplate in the game - but not a glint of heavy armor better then the least one until you are nearly done with the EA. You have to waste points putting it into dexterity which really puts a hamper in the multiclassing later on.

[wendigo211]

The Zhent merchant in the goblin camp should have chain mail for sale. The other set you get from the Duergar in the Underdark.

[Ytsuhen]

there are mods on nexus that bring the plate and other armors from game files, look it up

[Arlen]

Originally posted by Ytsuhen:

there are mods on nexus that bring the plate and other armors from game files, look it up

yeah - takes a bit of messing around with the files though, kinda PITA when they do hotfixes. I am sticking to what I can do with Candor

[schuggerbaby]

Best armor you can get provides AC16, best medium armor provides AC15 allowing you to get to AC 19 providing you have DEX 14 and a shield - this isunbuffed!
Frankly, I don`t see no point in being able to create virtually untouchable adventurers right from the getgo in Act One, unless you guys really want to see the AI throwing more barrels, flasks and other sorts of AoE attacks at you , just to be able to create at least a dent in your health pool.

[SkeletalArm]

Originally posted by dani0805:

Don't worry you don't need armor. Just get to high ground and use a bow ...

But I wanna kill stuff with my massive axe!

[Arlen]

Originally posted by schuggerbaby:

Best armor you can get provides AC16, best medium armor provides AC15 allowing you to get to AC 19 providing you have DEX 14 and a shield - this isunbuffed!
Frankly, I don`t see no point in being able to create virtually untouchable adventurers right from the getgo in Act One, unless you guys really want to see the AI throwing more barrels, flasks and other sorts of AoE attacks at you , just to be able to create at least a dent in your health pool.

the problem with having to bump dexterity to take advantage of armor is multiclassing, which larian has said they will implement.

[Auburn2]

Originally posted by BW022:

Originally posted by Coldhands:

If the game is using the 5e economy, plate armor is prohibitively expensive for low level adventurers.

I've yet to see a 5e party which couldn't scrape together enough gold by 3rd or 4th-level to afford plate. Nearly every Adventure League game easy has plate by 3rd or 4th. In any 5e game, anyone could trade any of the two dozen magical items you find for a suit.

No studded leather? Rogues, warlocks, and dex-heavy rangers immediately get hit 20-30% more often. Why? It is only 45gp. It also normally found in starting.

No breast plate or half-plate for sale. This caps medium armor characters massively. Rangers have to either pay the stealth penalty (and use scale). Clerics and such are stuck in chainshirt through nearly the entire first act with only stealing from the Gith or a Gith combat.

In games I have played a breastplate and halfplate is rare for 3rd level characters, sometime halfway through 4th level is about where that would become somewhat common. I have not played with any 5e group that had full plate at 4th level.

By the rules selling magic items in 5e is very difficult, so there is no option to trade 2 dozen magic items for a suit. A party could scrape enough together to purchase a suit of plate at 3rd level, but it would take an investment by the whole party and few are going to do that. Most parties don't allow one player to buy plate while the rest are not getting better gear. Also things like scribing spells, paying guides or guild fees and buying adventuring gear like healing potions, tack for your horses, holy water, poision, insect repellent, parchment, spell components etc. That eats up a lot of money.

That said there is both studded leather and chainmail for sale in BG3. Also with studded leather vs leather rogues and rangers will get hit 5% less, not 20-30% less.

Scale is also widely available in the game (and magic scale is even available). Clerics can use that instead of a chain shirt.

Right now I am playing a game and I have Wyll running around in magic scale, shadowheart in gith half plate and the PC thief in studded leather. Gale rounds out my party with mage armor. At level 4 we just beat the minitaurs and the hook horrors without resting between, without using a single exploding barrell or arrow and without hiding once.

[NixAhmose]

Originally posted by Dazzle:

That is sad to know . I hope the developers add full plate in the future .

Technically speaking it is already in the game files(same with +1 and 2 variants of all armors), but the player will be unable to get their hands on any during Act 1.

[BW022]

Originally posted by Auburn2:

In games I have played a breastplate and halfplate is rare for 3rd level characters, sometime halfway through 4th level is about where that would become somewhat common. I have not played with any 5e group that had full plate at 4th level.

No such thing as full plate in 5e. It is just plate. Fairly common in Adventure League to have splint by 2nd or 3rd, and plate by 3rd or 4th is common. In standard 5e modules... say Horde of the Dragon, a party easily has 1,500gp by 3rd.

By the rules selling magic items in 5e is very difficult, so there is no option to trade 2 dozen magic items for a suit.

No. By the rules selling a magical item is problematic. It then says why... only the most wealthy people have that kind of wealth. No where does it say you can't trade it for mundane items. If someone has a suit of plate, there is no reason they wouldn't trade it for a +1 battle axe. And of course in BG3... everyone buys and sells magical items like crazy.

Most parties don't allow one player to buy plate while the rest are not getting better gear.

Happens all the time in my games. If plate is available and you have a tank-type fighter, paladin, clerics, etc. its the first thing everyone pitches in for. And of course... BG3 is going to allow pooling of money and players routinely do this and buy expensive (magical) items for single party members.

And of course... none of these excesses say why you can't buy chainmail (75gp) or splint (200gp), or breast plate (400gp). Heck, you can start with chainmail or even splint (with optional buy rules). You mean in any campaign you've run, you can't walk into a store which buys and sells magical items... drop a +1 dagger and a +1 suit of ring mail on the table and they won't give you a suit of splint for it?

I can't for the life of me thing why these aren't in the game or they are some sort of rarer than rare magical items -- other than they can't figure out how to balance heavy armor. Even that makes no sense since I've reached AC 18 with half-plate, dex, and shield anyway. It is just bizzare that non-dex characters can't get a reasonable AC.


Also things like scribing spells, paying guides or guild fees and buying adventuring gear like healing potions, tack for your horses, holy water, poision, insect repellent, parchment, spell components etc. That eats up a lot of money.

That said there is both studded leather and chainmail for sale in BG3. Also with studded leather vs leather rogues and rangers will get hit 5% less, not 20-30% less.

Scale is also widely available in the game (and magic scale is even available). Clerics can use that instead of a chain shirt.

Right now I am playing a game and I have Wyll running around in magic scale, shadowheart in gith half plate and the PC thief in studded leather. Gale rounds out my party with mage armor. At level 4 we just beat the minitaurs and the hook horrors without resting between, without using a single exploding barrell or arrow and without hiding once. [/quote]

[Arlen]

Originally posted by Auburn2:

Originally posted by BW022:

I've yet to see a 5e party which couldn't scrape together enough gold by 3rd or 4th-level to afford plate. Nearly every Adventure League game easy has plate by 3rd or 4th. In any 5e game, anyone could trade any of the two dozen magical items you find for a suit.

No studded leather? Rogues, warlocks, and dex-heavy rangers immediately get hit 20-30% more often. Why? It is only 45gp. It also normally found in starting.

No breast plate or half-plate for sale. This caps medium armor characters massively. Rangers have to either pay the stealth penalty (and use scale). Clerics and such are stuck in chainshirt through nearly the entire first act with only stealing from the Gith or a Gith combat.

In games I have played a breastplate and halfplate is rare for 3rd level characters, sometime halfway through 4th level is about where that would become somewhat common. I have not played with any 5e group that had full plate at 4th level.

By the rules selling magic items in 5e is very difficult, so there is no option to trade 2 dozen magic items for a suit. A party could scrape enough together to purchase a suit of plate at 3rd level, but it would take an investment by the whole party and few are going to do that. Most parties don't allow one player to buy plate while the rest are not getting better gear. Also things like scribing spells, paying guides or guild fees and buying adventuring gear like healing potions, tack for your horses, holy water, poision, insect repellent, parchment, spell components etc. That eats up a lot of money.

That said there is both studded leather and chainmail for sale in BG3. Also with studded leather vs leather rogues and rangers will get hit 5% less, not 20-30% less.

Scale is also widely available in the game (and magic scale is even available). Clerics can use that instead of a chain shirt.

You further go on to state nonsense about party parity. again, it is manufactured equality, one of the goals of D&D is to find stuff to make your individual character more effective, which in turn makes the collective more likely to succeed, by taking away things for the sake of having that one or two players having to adjust their playstyle to be more effective is silly. Sometimes being able to shine is not killing the monsters directly, but creating opportunities for others to do so

Right now I am playing a game and I have Wyll running around in magic scale, shadowheart in gith half plate and the PC thief in studded leather. Gale rounds out my party with mage armor. At level 4 we just beat the minitaurs and the hook horrors without resting between, without using a single exploding barrell or arrow and without hiding once.

one of my pet peeves regarding selling magic items. Merchants usually have the gold to buy items. A blacksmith would absolutely have the barter equivalent to the price of a magic item, Mages, alchemists exist, so enchanting items is not that rare a thing - the rules regarding trading magic items is a manufactured thing. it makes no sense in the economy of Faerun. Now , if you want to argue stronger enchantments (+2 items, Items that have a spell equivalent beyond level 1 or 2) then yes, the people able to produce such things would dwindle, and the price would rise accordingly. But standard +1 gear is uncommon gear, not rare or legendary, but can be found or traded easily in a town like Beregost, and especially so in a city like Mulmaster, Neverwinter, Baldurs Gate.

On to the Armor issue, while plate might not be readily available until 4th or 5th level, Chain mail and splint mail are very common. and a blacksmith should have these items available for sale, if a smith can make scale mail, he can make splint mail with the same resources available. That this game does not even have the starting eqipment lists for heavy armor characters, is a travesty.

[Auburn2]

Originally posted by BW022:

No such thing as full plate in 5e. It is just plate. Fairly common in Adventure League to have splint by 2nd or 3rd, and plate by 3rd or 4th is common. In standard 5e modules... say Horde of the Dragon, a party easily has 1,500gp by 3rd.

By the rules selling magic items in 5e is very difficult, so there is no option to trade 2 dozen magic items for a suit.

No. By the rules selling a magical item is problematic. It then says why... only the most wealthy people have that kind of wealth. No where does it say you can't trade it for mundane items. If someone has a suit of plate, there is no reason they wouldn't trade it for a +1 battle axe. And of course in BG3... everyone buys and sells magical items like crazy.

And of course... none of these excesses say why you can't buy chainmail (75gp) or splint (200gp), or breast plate (400gp). Heck, you can start with chainmail or even splint (with optional buy rules). You mean in any campaign you've run, you can't walk into a store which buys and sells magical items... drop a +1 dagger and a +1 suit of ring mail on the table and they won't give you a suit of splint for it?

As I mentioned earlier a party of 4 could buy one suit of plate at 1500gp. A party of four is not going to have $6000 lying around at 3rd level which is what it would take to outfit everyone in plate. I played horde of the dragon queen and did not have enough for plate when I finished it at 8th level.

Disagree completely on a "tank type fighter". There is really no such thing as a tank in 5e and pooling your money to give 1 fighter plate instead of splint for 1300gp more is stupid from a party pespective. Your party would be better off with the fighter wearing splint having an armor class on point worse and better gear for everyone all around.

You can buy Chainmain in BG3 and I never said you couldn't or shouldn't. I did say in 5e most characters do not have a breastplate by level 3.

Your battle axe example is laughable. Plate is 1500gp, base value on a battle axe+1 is 500gp (according to the DMG) and according to the rules your offer is going to be lower than that, possibly as little as 10% and 50% on average. So IF the DM waives the investigation check and IF you get average rolls on the valuation you could trade SIX battle axes +1 for a suit of plate. If you get bad rolls on the valuation it could be 30 battle axes +1 for a single suit of plate. That assumes a very liberal DM that does not require the investigation check to even offload it at all. Most armorers are not going to take anything on trade unless they know what it is and that is going to require sages or churches or something like that.

In most games, you are talking about literally three or more entire playing sessions to set up and complete your trade of a dozen magic items to cobble together enough for a suit of plate. Most players would rather be adventuring. In the games I play excess magic items typically get given to an ally or henchman, donated to a church or guild or put into storage.

[Tully]

Originally posted by Platostotle:

Originally posted by Satan:

We can expect a more diverse range of weapons and armors to be added to the game

Agreed. I haven't seen a rapier yet, but it is the weapon Astarion is pictured with. One assumes they will be in the game eventually.

NPC in the Druid grove sells one if I recall correctly.

[Auburn2]

Originally posted by billybobtexan1000:

one of my pet peeves regarding selling magic items. Merchants usually have the gold to buy items. A blacksmith would absolutely have the barter equivalent to the price of a magic item, Mages, alchemists exist, so enchanting items is not that rare a thing - the rules regarding trading magic items is a manufactured thing. it makes no sense in the economy of Faerun. Now , if you want to argue stronger enchantments (+2 items, Items that have a spell equivalent beyond level 1 or 2) then yes, the people able to produce such things would dwindle, and the price would rise accordingly. But standard +1 gear is uncommon gear, not rare or legendary, but can be found or traded easily in a town like Beregost, and especially so in a city like Mulmaster, Neverwinter, Baldurs Gate.

On to the Armor issue, while plate might not be readily available until 4th or 5th level, Chain mail and splint mail are very common. and a blacksmith should have these items available for sale, if a smith can make scale mail, he can make splint mail with the same resources available. That this game does not even have the starting eqipment lists for heavy armor characters, is a travesty.

On Magic, part of it is the cost and trouble to verify it. You walk in with your +1 sword and try to sell it as a magic sword -

Adventurer: "How much will you give me for this magic sword"
Shopkeeper: "looks like a normal sword to me"
Adventurer: "I'll pay a town sage or church to cast detect magic in front of you" .....
Shopkeeper: "Ok it is magic but how do I know what it does. It could be cursed, it could be a fake"
Adventurer: Ok I will hire an independant wizard cast an identify (which carries a component worth at least 100gp)

At this point you have spent a third of the retail value of an uncommon item just verify what it does so the merchant could value it. Add in the profit for the merchant and how much is left to offer you?

If you have a relationship with a specific merchant, you are a friend or a regular customer where he can take your word, or if you have the guild artisan background and are well known, or if you charm him - sure in those cases he would probably buy a magic item based on your word. Maybe you can also convince the DM to do a Charisma check (intimidation, persuasion, deception) .... but a random adventurer walking into a random shop off the street without resorting to something like that - few merchants would take that risk if it was priced higher than retail on a similar normal common item.

[Arlen]

Originally posted by Auburn2:

Originally posted by billybobtexan1000:

one of my pet peeves regarding selling magic items. Merchants usually have the gold to buy items. A blacksmith would absolutely have the barter equivalent to the price of a magic item, Mages, alchemists exist, so enchanting items is not that rare a thing - the rules regarding trading magic items is a manufactured thing. it makes no sense in the economy of Faerun. Now , if you want to argue stronger enchantments (+2 items, Items that have a spell equivalent beyond level 1 or 2) then yes, the people able to produce such things would dwindle, and the price would rise accordingly. But standard +1 gear is uncommon gear, not rare or legendary, but can be found or traded easily in a town like Beregost, and especially so in a city like Mulmaster, Neverwinter, Baldurs Gate.

On to the Armor issue, while plate might not be readily available until 4th or 5th level, Chain mail and splint mail are very common. and a blacksmith should have these items available for sale, if a smith can make scale mail, he can make splint mail with the same resources available. That this game does not even have the starting eqipment lists for heavy armor characters, is a travesty.

On Magic, part of it is the cost and trouble to verify it. You walk in with your +1 sword and try to sell it as a magic sword -

Adventurer: "How much will you give me for this magic sword"
Shopkeeper: "looks like a normal sword to me"
Adventurer: "I'll pay a town sage or church to cast detect magic in front of you" .....
Shopkeeper: "Ok it is magic but how do I know what it does. It could be cursed, it could be a fake"
Adventurer: Ok I will hire an independant wizard cast an identify (which carries a component worth at least 100gp)

At this point you have spent a third of the retail value of an uncommon item just verify what it does so the merchant could value it. Add in the profit for the merchant and how much is left to offer you?

If you have a relationship with a specific merchant, you are a friend or a regular customer where he can take your word, or if you have the guild artisan background and are well known, or if you charm him - sure in those cases he would probably buy a magic item based on your word. Maybe you can also convince the DM to do a Charisma check (intimidation, persuasion, deception) .... but a random adventurer walking into a random shop off the street without resorting to something like that - few merchants would take that risk if it was priced higher than retail on a similar normal common item.

First, a merchant would have their own verification method, a mere 100g for a reputable merchant for this service would be a standard operating cost, especially when they buy low and sell high (c mon man, even you have seen that merchanys offer less gold for an item then what is the marked price in the description, and sell the same item for much more then the marked price in the description), so if the item's marked value is 600g, you will likely get 300 or less selling to merchants, and have to pay 800 or more for the same item from the same merchant.