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balistafreak
2010-07-28, 11:27 PM
Wracking my brains, and using the best of my googlefu, but I can't find a way to do this:

I need to reduce the ACP of a shield an additional -1. I cannot make it out of another material to reduce it; masterwork has already been applied. Going for the Nimbleness enhancement (MiC) would work, but would require 4000 gold, too expensive.

I cannot use class levels, so no Dread Commando.

No 3rd-party.

Does anyone have a solution?

Lhurgyof
2010-07-28, 11:30 PM
Wracking my brains, and using the best of my googlefu, but I can't find a way to do this:

I need to reduce the ACP of a shield an additional -1. I cannot make it out of another material to reduce it; masterwork has already been applied. Going for the Nimbleness enhancement (MiC) would work, but would require 4000 gold, too expensive.

I cannot use class levels, so no Dread Commando.

No 3rd-party.

Does anyone have a solution?

Try Dwarvencraft items.

balistafreak
2010-07-28, 11:36 PM
Try Dwarvencraft items.

Okay, checking...

Dwarvencraft items are "always of masterwork quality", so no gain there.

Vangor
2010-07-28, 11:38 PM
What are you reducing the ACP for specifically, because you could simply raise the other in some manner cheaper than Nimbleness.

I suppose I should ask the obvious though, have you used mithril to make the shield?

balistafreak
2010-07-29, 12:04 AM
The shield already is made of super-duper-invincible Aurorum, the material that always fixes itself up. So no mithral. :smallannoyed:

I'm just looking for a way to reduce the ACP because it just... bugs me. And if I can get a cheap mundane way to do it, hey, why the heck not? :smallwink:

Vangor
2010-07-29, 12:24 AM
The only two ways I know of besides classes (nimbleness is armor strictly if not houseruled otherwise) are materials which are mithral and blue ice.

However, seeing as nimbleness would be a +1 to price and you mentioned 4,000gp being too steep, does this mean you currently only have a +1 shield made of aurorum which costs 4,000gp itself? Your DM sunder shields that often to spend ~80% of the cost on not permanently breaking?

balistafreak
2010-07-29, 02:46 AM
This is a theoretical character build; the shield is an Item Familiar, so while I can enchant it further as the character levels up, the shield has to be built out of aurorum in the first place.

... blue ice? *looks it up*

Volthawk
2010-07-29, 08:02 AM
In the DMG II, the Hellforged armour template gives -1 to ACP for 1,000 gp.

Marnath
2010-07-29, 12:14 PM
If there's no problem using homebrew / using a feat, there's shield focus in the gaming tab on this site. It lowers the acp of your chosen type of shield.


*edit i just read your post again, i bet Mr. Burlew's work counts as 3rd party, eh? Yay for reading comprehension :smallsmile:

Darrin
2010-07-29, 04:28 PM
In the DMG II, the Hellforged armour template gives -1 to ACP for 1,000 gp.

Minimum of 1, though, so you can't get it down to zero.

Mithral won't work? That reduces ACP by 3. The only shields with an ACP greater than 2 are the tower shield and the extreme shields in Races of Stone. OK, it's made out of Aurorum (eff you, Mr. Sunderpants!), so mithril is not an option.

In Dragon Compendium (p. 117, 50 GP), there's an alchemical substance called Armor Soft that can be applied to any metal armor to reduce the ACP by 1 for one hour. However, there's a 5% cumulative corrosive effect that could ruin the armor after each use. So, try combining this with Blueshine (MIC p. 9, +1500 GP), which renders metal armor immune to acid and rust damage.

Huh. I don't think that will work on shields, though.

herrhauptmann
2010-07-29, 05:12 PM
This is a theoretical character build; the shield is an Item Familiar, so while I can enchant it further as the character levels up, the shield has to be built out of aurorum in the first place.

... blue ice? *looks it up*

If this is a theoretical build, why can't you get a Dwarvencraft shield, rather than a masterwork shield? I had thought at first that the character was already in use, thus things couldn't be changed.
Heck, I've seen quite a few items be both feycraft and githcraft.

Use the homebrew feat to get your ACP to 1, then nimbleness to go the rest of the way.

avr
2010-07-29, 05:16 PM
Get someone else to carry it - a homunculus or unseen servant or something?

balistafreak
2010-07-29, 10:25 PM
In the DMG II, the Hellforged armour template gives -1 to ACP for 1,000 gp.

As Darrin said, it reduces it to a minimum of -1. I cried out in glory at first... then cried in despair when I saw that clause.


In Dragon Compendium (p. 117, 50 GP), there's an alchemical substance called Armor Soft that can be applied to any metal armor to reduce the ACP by 1 for one hour. However, there's a 5% cumulative corrosive effect that could ruin the armor after each use. So, try combining this with Blueshine (MIC p. 9, +1500 GP), which renders metal armor immune to acid and rust damage.

Huh. I don't think that will work on shields, though.

Yeah, I don't think it works with shields, not to mention I consider Dragon Magazine 3rd party anyways. :smalltongue:

(I'll be fair, some of it is good, but the majority of it... :smalleek:)


If this is a theoretical build, why can't you get a Dwarvencraft shield, rather than a masterwork shield? I had thought at first that the character was already in use, thus things couldn't be changed.
Heck, I've seen quite a few items be both feycraft and githcraft.

Use the homebrew feat to get your ACP to 1, then nimbleness to go the rest of the way.

Am I missing something here? All Dwarvencraft improves is object hardness and HP. I fail to see what it has to do with ACP. :smallconfused:

Why yes, I am applying it now that you've pointed it out (:smallbiggrin:) but it doesn't solve my ACP problem.

Homebrew = 3rd party, and Nimbleness = out of my willing price league at the given level, and an extremely egregious expenditure at later levels besides. (That +1 will clog up the shield's full value forever.)


Get someone else to carry it - a homunculus or unseen servant or something?

If unseen servants could carry shields... :smallamused:

(They can't in a meaningful way, anyways.)

There's always getting your caster to cast Shieldbearer on you, but I'd prefer I could hold it myself, so as to not rely on a 3rd party to help out.

herrhauptmann
2010-08-01, 10:47 PM
Am I missing something here? All Dwarvencraft improves is object hardness and HP. I fail to see what it has to do with ACP. :smallconfused:


Ahh, thought someone had said that dwarvencraft would affect ACP. Perhaps one of the other racecraft...

Volthawk
2010-08-01, 10:48 PM
Ahh, thought someone had said that dwarvencraft would affect ACP. Perhaps one of the other racecraft...

Hellforged does.

Also, I just thought, Hellforged has the -1 minimum, and masterwork reduces it by another 1, so you could get to 0 with Hellforged, right?