[3.5] Riverine Mechanus Gear

[Thurbane]

OK, so say I want to have a character in Riverine Mechanus Gear armor.

It's going to cost a hefty 26,750gp pre-enchantments; +0 max DEX, -9 check penalty, 50% ASF, and max move of 15 feet.

My question is - what can I do to minimize the penalties? Tooth of Savnok or being a Dwarf will take care of the movement issue. Being a Dread Commando will help with with check penalty. So what other feats, enchantments or abilities will help with max DEX, check penalty and ASF? Assume it's not for any specific character.

Cheers - T

[Vknight]

Masterwork means it applies half the penalties normally applied, I believe.
I really need to reread my 3e and 3.5 stuff.

[Thiyr]

There's the nimble enhancement out of magic item compendium, which reduces ACP and increases max dex by...2 and 1 respectively, i think?

[Claudius Maximus]

Halfweight will make it count as light armor. Great for Evasion and such. It's in Underdark.

Nimbleness will increase Max Dex by 1.


Masterwork means it applies half the penalties normally applied, I believe.
I really need to reread my 3e and 3.5 stuff.

Masterwork only reduces ACP by one.

[Vknight]

Thank you I actually checked afterwards to confirm if I was correct or not.

No need to put an edit though so here.

Master Work.
Reduces it to Negative 9. helps ease the pain along with the other things suggested.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

The feats Heavy Armor Optimization and Greater Heavy Armor Optimization in Races of Stone increase the AC bonus and reduce the armor check penalty of any heavy armor you wear.

You could also just take the feat Deflective Armor in Races of Stone and your armor bonus will apply to your touch AC when psionically focused.

[CockroachTeaParty]

I always have trouble visualizing something made out of riverine. What would a suit of riverine mechanus gear look like? Would it resemble wearing a bunch of really thin aquariums?

[true_shinken]

Champion of Corellon Larethian would fix most of your issues, if not all of them.

[Thurbane]

OK, so...a character with 9 levels of CoCL, 4 levels of Dread Commando, (Greater) Heavy Armor Optimization and wearing +1 Nimbleness Riverine Mechanus Gear would have:

AC bonus +13 (+6 of which is Deflection)
Max Dex +4
No speed penalty
ACP 0

...a lot of resources spent, of course, so probably not very practical.

[Bonecrusher Doc]

What is Riverine? What book is it in?

[Claudius Maximus]

Riverine is a special material that consists of highly pressurized water held between planes of magical force. It is therefore basically indestructible.

It can be found in Stormwrack.

[Sorc]

Masterwork means it applies half the penalties normally applied, I believe.
I really need to reread my 3e and 3.5 stuff.

It's - 1 to penalty, not half

[Sith_Happens]

I feel like reversing the question a bit: What kind of character wears heavy armor but cares particularly much about the penalties?

[Erik Vale]

I always have trouble visualizing something made out of riverine. What would a suit of riverine mechanus gear look like? Would it resemble wearing a bunch of really thin aquariums?

Empty, but yes.

[Darrin]

Empty, but yes.

Not exactly empty... it's full of water from the Elemental Plane of Water under extremely high pressure. However, the fact that you have entirely encased something in walls of force pretty much renders any discussion about the surrounded substance to be somewhat pointless. Although I suppose if you took out the water, then there'd be no point in calling the material "Riverine".

[Zanos]

I feel like reversing the question a bit: What kind of character wears heavy armor but cares particularly much about the penalties?
The movement speed penalty (almost) always relevant.
Increasing maximum dex is nice because you could always get a +dex item at some point.

The ACP/Spell Failure probably isn't relevant though. I guess you could be a gish, but they generally have better ways of boosting AC.

[Gildedragon]

Item of Legend from War of the Lance will reduce the ACP by 5 (it is an improved version of masterwork)
+750gp (rather than 150)

Segmented: dr 350, gives +1 max dex for +300gp

[Erik Vale]

-snip-

No, Riverine Mechanicus gear would look like avempty aquarium. However you could always try putting things in the water as decorations, which would look really really cool.

[Gildedragon]

No, Riverine Mechanicus gear would look like avempty aquarium. However you could always try putting things in the water as decorations, which would look really really cool.

oooh or undead fish. that'd be cool... or living fish with tiny necklaces of adaptation

[Alent]

I always figured Riverine looked like shaped, clear, possibly tinted, acrylic sheets with a rippling water pattern:
http://www.acrylite-shop.com/pix/rendered/1600x1200/PL0A000B___3,00.jpg

I also got the idea the water pressure was too dense to put anything in the Riverine other than particulate matter?

[Regissoma]

If you are fine with 3rd party, there is Weightless a +2 enhancement that makes your armor weigh nothing.
WEIGHTLESS: Armor given this enchantment has no weight at all. In addition to not encumbering the wearer, weightless armor reduces the armor check penalty by 5 (although not to below 0), increases the maximum Dexterity bonus by 4, and reduces the arcane spell failure percentage by 10. Additionally the move rate of the wearer is not reduced by weightless armor.
Caster Level: 7th; Prerequisites: Craft Magic Arms and Armor, levitate; Market Price: +2 bonus.

There is also Half-Weight a +3 enhancement. Makes your armor count as light armor and weighs only 25 pounds. That is from the Underdark.