Armor Penalty question

[Metko]

Im still unsure about that penalty, if i read it correctly this doesnt affect Attack/Damage roll right?

Im still thinking about Pillars of Eternity style where it affects Combat/spell speed and clearly reduces my damage. So im unsure about carrying heavy armor.

My question would be, will this penalty affect any attack or speed?

[Dynellen]

No. Armor penalty only affects certain skills like Athletics and Mobility.

[Finrod]

Attack value: no
Number of attacks per turn (or attack speed): no

Movement speed and charge reach: yes (unless you are a dwarf, they are already slower) (not a real number penalty, just a specified maximum speed per armor.)
Fighters non dwarf can move faster with heavy armor (not at level 1)
Barbarian can move fast but if equipped with heavy armor they lose that benefit

Armor check in the game affects mostly athletic, mobility, and disarm traps abilities

[Metko]

thanks for the info.

[Rage]

so on an armor check penalty which is the better a -6 or a -4? D&D terms would be the lower the number the better the armor (thinking like 3rd edition rules or something, though I may have it backwards, where back then it was the higher the number meant the better armor class thus better protection from melee and arrows

[=[NK]= Col. Jack O'Neil]

Originally posted by Rage:

so on an armor check penalty which is the better a -6 or a -4? D&D terms would be the lower the number the better the armor (thinking like 3rd edition rules or something, though I may have it backwards, where back then it was the higher the number meant the better armor class thus better protection from melee and arrows

Lower is better.

[Bob of Mage]

It's a penalty for skills that require freedom of movement, and thus could be hampered by heavy or poor-fitting armour. For example while full plate is pretty much the heaviest armour, it doesn't have the worst penalty. This is due to the fact that it is very well designed compared to other heavy armours.

Speed tends to be effected by class of armour. Light has no effect, while heavy has the worst. Dwarves as mentioned, don't play by these rules. Their normal speed is equal to an armoured human (20 instead of 30), but they can't be reduced below that by wearing armour, or carrying too much gear. This means you can pretty much load them to their limit without much of a downside (there's even jokes about their only use in the PnP game is to carry the whole party's supplies like some sort of pack mule).

Max DEX will impact your chance to hit and damage is you use weapons that relay on that stat. So ranged attacks will not get any boost to hit (they can still get a penalty if you have <10 DEX). Melee weapons that use weapon finesse to add DEX to attack, in a few cases damage will also be capped.

Max DEX, and the armour check penalty are both tied to how well you can move in your armour so expect them to both be low or high.

There are also a rare few other bits of armour that will lower your to hit chance. The only one I think that is in this game is tower shields. They are just so big that I guess it is hard to swing a sword while using one. Heck you can use them in the PnP game to give yourself full cover!

[Falaris]

Originally posted by Bob of Mage:

Max DEX will impact your chance to hit and damage is you use weapons that relay on that stat. So ranged attacks will not get any boost to hit (they can still get a penalty if you have <10 DEX). Melee weapons that use weapon finesse to add DEX to attack, in a few cases damage will also be capped.

I would like to mention that that is not how it works in the pen and paper game. Max dex only affects your AC, not your attack rolls for ranged or finesse weapons. From the rulebook:

Originally posted by Paizo:

This number is the maximum Dexterity bonus to Armor Class that this type of armor allows. Dexterity bonuses in excess of this number are reduced to this number for the purposes of determining the wearer’s Armor Class. Heavier armors limit mobility, reducing the wearer’s ability to dodge blows. This restriction doesn’t affect any other Dexterity-related abilities.

For a check on the rest of the rules, feel free to check here:
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment/armor/

Now, I cannot guarantee that this is how it works in-game, because I haven't actually tried it out, but as Paizo is co-creator of the game, it seems likely that is how it works.

[Procrastinating Gamer]

Originally posted by Rage:

so on an armor check penalty which is the better a -6 or a -4? D&D terms would be the lower the number the better the armor (thinking like 3rd edition rules or something, though I may have it backwards, where back then it was the higher the number meant the better armor class thus better protection from melee and arrows

The -6 is the more severe penalty. Pathfinder is based on DnD 3.5 so you want all your numbers as high as possible.