Treating Armor as Lighter on the Cheap?

[Rossebay]

So, I've got 10,000 gold to spend. We're level 6, and I'm necropolitan, so I deducted that from my gold.

I'm playing an armored Battle Sorcerer gish, with Battle Caster for heavier armor. I want +1 heavy armor, but I want to be able to treat it as medium for a low, low cost.

That said, I've taken Item Familiar and Bonded Weapon to apply to my Longsword. I also have a Tower Shield.

Anyway, I'm looking for around +9 or +10 AC for about, oh, 5,000 gold. I need the lighter armor, but I also have a +1 tower shield and a weapon with a Magebane enchantment.

Also, I'd like the armor to be magical in some way. Mechanus Gear will NOT work, as it slows me a bit too much, and I really don't have any way to increase my speed, it seems. Also, it's not available in our Faerun campaign. Any ideas?

[Siosilvar]

I think you're out of luck; +1 mithral plate is 11650 and I don't remember any other category-decreasing properties off the top of my head.

That said, a +1 breastplate, amulet of natural armor +1, and ring of deflection +1 adds up to +8 AC for 5350gp, and MIC lets you add the latter two properties to your other neck- and ring-slot items. To get +9, you're looking at another 3000gp for +2 armor, 4000gp for Bracers of Dexterity, 5000gp for an ioun stone, or 6000gp to increase the bonus on the ring or amulet.

EDIT: Are you crafting your own? Your magebane weapon needs to be +1 before you can add extra properties, and that's 8000gp total.

[Rossebay]

I think you're out of luck; +1 mithral plate is 11650 and I don't remember any other category-decreasing properties off the top of my head.

That said, a +1 breastplate, amulet of natural armor +1, and ring of deflection +1 adds up to +8 AC for 5350gp, and MIC lets you add the latter two properties to your other neck- and ring-slot items. To get +9, you're looking at another 3000gp for +2 armor, 4000gp for Bracers of Dexterity, 5000gp for an ioun stone, or 6000gp to increase the bonus on the ring or amulet.

Shoot... I'll have to keep looking around. With the +9 I was talking about, my level 6 AC was 30 (+5 Tower, Charisma to AC for +3, +9 Armor, +3 Dex).
I'll have to keep looking around for lighter materials to use.


EDIT: And no, I'm not crafting my own. Via Imbued Staff Longsword, it became +1 without me having to pay for that. Thankfully.

[Darrin]

I want +1 heavy armor, but I want to be able to treat it as medium for a low, low cost.


Try Darkleaf Heavy Plate:

+2000 Heavy Plate (Races of Stone)
+3000 Darkleaf (A&EG/Races of the Wild)
+150 Masterwork
+1000 Enhancement +1

6150 GP

[Rossebay]

Try Darkleaf Heavy Plate:

+2000 Heavy Plate (Races of Stone)
+3000 Darkleaf (A&EG/Races of the Wild)
+150 Masterwork
+1000 Enhancement +1

6150 GP

Wow. That's perfect. And all I have to do is refluff it as metal, haha.
Awesome, thanks. :D

[Darrin]

Wow. That's perfect. And all I have to do is refluff it as metal, haha.
Awesome, thanks. :D

Oh, and when you can afford it:

Durable property (+500 GP, Dungeonscape): Armor is immune to rusting/acid/ooze/green slime attacks. 1000 GP cheaper than Blueshine.

Restful property (+500 GP, Dungeonscape): Sleep in medium/heavy armor with no penalty, and leaves your augment crystal slot open.

Easy Travel (+1500 GP, MIC). Carry a medium load as if it were a light load, effectively doubling your carrying capacity before you take any movement penalties.

Anti-Impact (+2000 GP, Complete Warrior). Take half damage from falling, crushing, constriction, and some other full-body non-weapon types of damage (mostly traps).

Crystal of Alacrity (3500 GP, MIC). Can only be added to medium/heavy armor, but adds a +5' morale bonus to your land speed (stacks with fast movement and enhancement bonuses). It's not listed among the other armor crystals, you can find it hidden in the Five Virtues set on page 195. If speed isn't really your thing, Lesser Rubicund Frenzy (2000 GP) or Lesser Iron Ward Diamond (2000 GP) are both very nice.

For your tower shield, get a Lesser Crystal of Arrow Deflection (2500 GP, MIC) on there ASAP: +5 untyped AC bonus against all ranged attacks.

[Rossebay]

Oh, and when you can afford it:

Durable property (+500 GP, Dungeonscape): Armor is immune to rusting/acid/ooze/green slime attacks. 1000 GP cheaper than Blueshine.

Restful property (+500 GP, Dungeonscape): Sleep in medium/heavy armor with no penalty, and leaves your augment crystal slot open.

Easy Travel (+1500 GP, MIC). Carry a medium load as if it were a light load, effectively doubling your carrying capacity before you take any movement penalties.

Anti-Impact (+2000 GP, Complete Warrior). Take half damage from falling, crushing, constriction, and some other full-body non-weapon types of damage (mostly traps).

Crystal of Alacrity (3500 GP, MIC). Can only be added to medium/heavy armor, but adds a +5' morale bonus to your land speed (stacks with fast movement and enhancement bonuses). It's not listed among the other armor crystals, you can find it hidden in the Five Virtues set on page 195. If speed isn't really your thing, Lesser Rubicund Frenzy (2000 GP) or Lesser Iron Ward Diamond (2000 GP) are both very nice.

For your tower shield, get a Lesser Crystal of Arrow Deflection (2500 GP, MIC) on there ASAP: +5 untyped AC bonus against all ranged attacks.

Well, my character is undead, so some of those things don't matter as much... But I really want that Durable crystal, and the Impact part. And the Tower Shield arrow deflection one is beautiful, too.
And the Alacrity one is nice.
It's also another 8,500 gold to spend. D:
I want more money so badly, haha.

[Jeff the Green]

Easy Travel (+1500 GP, MIC). Carry a medium load as if it were a light load, effectively doubling your carrying capacity before you take any movement penalties.

I don't think that Easy Travel will do much on this particular armor. It will have a maximum dex bonus and check penalty worse than medium encumbrance, and they don't stack, you just take the worse value.

[Rossebay]

I don't think that Easy Travel will do much on this particular armor. It will have a maximum dex bonus and check penalty worse than medium encumbrance, and they don't stack, you just take the worse value.

But it raises my movement speed to 30' from 20'.

[Agent 451]

Actually I don't think it works that way. It states: "Reductions apply only to penalties for the load you carry, not any reduction in speed caused by the armor itself."

[Rossebay]

Actually I don't think it works that way. It states: "Reductions apply only to penalties for the load you carry, not any reduction in speed caused by the armor itself."

Oh. I figured they also meant Armor with load, but it makes more sense that they would not. Oh well.

[Agent 451]

If you want enhanced land based movement, take a look here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=179171).