Dragonhide - what's the point except for druids?

[Andezzar]

Why would anyone wear dragon armor, except for cool looks?

- It costs twice as much as steel armor.
- It is not harder than steel.
- It does not provide other cool features.
- For every suit of medium Dragonhide Full Plate or Breast Plate a colossal dragon must be slain. Only Red Gold and Silver dragons even become colossal, at Wyrm or Great Wyrm age. Yet by the availability rules you should be able to buy one in every small city? Breastplates even in small towns.
- You need the skin od a larger dragon to maufacture a breastplate than a half-plate, which is a breastplate+greaves+shoulderguards+chainmail :smallconfused:

[Glimbur]

It does look pretty cool. I think you missed the most significant downside (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/resurrection.htm) of it though. Sure, it takes some work to set up, but if you Resurrect the BBEG's dragonhide armor you win.

[lord_khaine]

It does look pretty cool. I think you missed the most significant downside of it though. Sure, it takes some work to set up, but if you Resurrect the BBEG's dragonhide armor you win.

"Some work" doesnt begin to cover it, how does you get past the 10 min casting time on ressurect? :smallconfused:

[Divayth Fyr]

Depending on the DM, the fact it doesn't rust could also prove useful ;)

[danzibr]

It does look pretty cool. I think you missed the most significant downside (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/resurrection.htm) of it though. Sure, it takes some work to set up, but if you Resurrect the BBEG's dragonhide armor you win.
That's awesome. Never thought of that.

[IncoherentEssay]

It's a touch spell so you could just hold the charge. Or just duplicate it with Wish or Miracle if you don't have the prep time.
Though i suspect that any BBEG's armor has been dead conveniently long enough to be immune :smalltongue:.

As for actual use for the armor, the dragonhide does retain whatever elemental immunity it had when it was alive, even if it doesn't grant it to the wearer (Draconomicon p.116). So you have some pretty neat oven mittens at least.

[Asheram]

Why would anyone wear dragon armor, except for cool looks?

- It costs twice as much as steel armor.
- It is not harder than steel.
- It does not provide other cool features.
- For every suit of medium Dragonhide Full Plate or Breast Plate a colossal dragon must be slain. Only Red Gold and Silver dragons even become colossal, at Wyrm or Great Wyrm age. Yet by the availability rules you should be able to buy one in every small city? Breastplates even in small towns.
- You need the skin od a larger dragon to maufacture a breastplate than a half-plate, which is a breastplate+greaves+shoulderguards+chainmail :smallconfused:

As others in the thread has already said, It's pimp.

Also, it's a great RP opportunity, walking down the street in some chromatic dragonhide armor and Everyone will know your name.

[Andezzar]

As for actual use for the armor, the dragonhide does retain whatever elemental immunity it had when it was alive, even if it doesn't grant it to the wearer (Draconomicon p.116). So you have some pretty neat oven mittens at least.How does that even work. If you expose yourself and the armor to an elemental effect, what good it it that the armor does not suffer, if you burn/freeze/melt etc.?

BTW, do dragons shed their skin like reptiles? Could you make more then one suit out of a dragon over a period of time? This would make the cost a lot more reasonable.

[Andezzar]

Also, it's a great RP opportunity, walking down the street in some chromatic dragonhide armor and Everyone will know your name.I'd prefer to attach single dragon scales to mithral or adamantine armor like campaign ribbons. If everyone knows you if you walk around in a suit of red dragonhide Full Plate what happens if you have a whole rainbow on your chest?

[IncoherentEssay]

How does that even work. If you expose yourself and the armor to an elemental effect, what good it it that the armor does not suffer, if you burn/freeze/melt etc.?

I think it's mostly a fluff thing. It would be silly if you could burn a red dragon's hide. There is also the (commonly ignored) rule for how rolling a 1 on saves vs spells can damage your gear. Shield and Armor are generally the most likely to be affected, so shrugging off the wear and tear from fireballs and such can be useful (assuming the DM both remembers and decides to use such a fiddly rule).
You could also use the armor/shield as an improvised container for hazardous materials or do other MacGyveresque hijinks (if you don't mind the ambient heat, you could go lava-sledding on a red dragonhide shield :smalltongue:).

[Tokiko Mima]

It does look pretty cool. I think you missed the most significant downside (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/resurrection.htm) of it though. Sure, it takes some work to set up, but if you Resurrect the BBEG's dragonhide armor you win.

Not that this downside is not specific to dragonhide: you can hit any leather/hide/cloth/organic-based armor with it, and ressurect the cow/sheep/etc. that it was created from.

And there are ways to protect yourself from this; you could, for example, harvest the dragonhide while the dragon is still alive.

[AmberVael]

Not that this downside is not specific to dragonhide: you can hit any leather/hide/cloth/organic-based armor with it, and ressurect the cow/sheep/etc. that it was created from.

The downside isn't so much "oh no, I lost my armor," as it is "oh crap, my armor turned into the dragon I killed to make it." I will kill that cow or sheep to make my armor again, no problem- the probably angry dragon is gonna be a bit more problematic.

[docnessuno]

How does that even work. If you expose yourself and the armor to an elemental effect, what good it it that the armor does not suffer, if you burn/freeze/melt etc.?

BTW, do dragons shed their skin like reptiles? Could you make more then one suit out of a dragon over a period of time? This would make the cost a lot more reasonable.

Assuming you are very friendly with such dragon (or you somehow subjugated it) and the dragon is old enough i see no reason why any DM would veto that, considering the minimal non-aesthetic benefits.

One of my old characters was a psion raised by a Crystal dragon. He used a cloak made od crystal scales gathered that way.

On a semi-related note: nothing says badass like dragonhide-bound spellbooks.

[Acanous]

Well, not really- I mean, if you killed a dragon and made armor out of it, you're pretty badass. You could probably do it again. The adventuring party AND a dragon, however, while you're also not wearing armor, could be problematic.

[Andezzar]

The downside isn't so much "oh no, I lost my armor," as it is "oh crap, my armor turned into the dragon I killed to make it." I will kill that cow or sheep to make my armor again, no problem- the probably angry dragon is gonna be a bit more problematic.It will still be pretty annoying if you do that to any +10 organic armor. Then again it is 100,000+ gp down the drain for the victor as well.

[Hand_of_Vecna]

It does look pretty cool. I think you missed the most significant downside (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/resurrection.htm) of it though. Sure, it takes some work to set up, but if you Resurrect the BBEG's dragonhide armor you win.

Aside from the setup involved this requires adjudication. The armor is an attended object, so the "see text" saving throw may transfer to the wearer who will respectfully decline.

I had another amusing side thought. Since to cost is fairly low considering that a colossal dragon has to be killed for every set of full plate maybe most Draconic armor is made from the corpses of multiple creatures that died of old age polymorphed into large dragons.

[rot42]

It gives the DM a good excuse to have the dragon attack the heavily armored person. They do have a vested interest in not being commonly viewed as a convenient source for components, after all.

[Namfuak]

Aside from the setup involved this requires adjudication. The armor is an attended object, so the "see text" saving throw may transfer to the wearer who will respectfully decline.

I had another amusing side thought. Since to cost is fairly low considering that a colossal dragon has to be killed for every set of full plate maybe most Draconic armor is made from the corpses of multiple creatures that died of old age polymorphed into large dragons.

I always sort of assumed that dragonhide armor wasn't necessarily made out of the same dragon. So, for example, killing a bunch of large dragons could give you enough hide for full plate the same way killing a colossal one does.

[Ashiel]

Remember that dragonhide armor just has to come from dragons. Not merely true dragons. Stuff like wyverns and half-dragons work just fine. If skinning dragons wasn't bad enough, someone might just skin your neighborhood Dragon Disciple. :smalltongue:

That being said, some folks might breed half-dragon giant vermin. You can get some incredibly large mindless dragons that way. As mindless vermin, there's a lot less issue with the morality of raising them for materials.

[Lactantius]

I can't remember where I read it but we used to give a dragonhide armor the correspondend enery resistance 10 (acid = black hides, fire = red hides and so on).

This gives the dragonhides what they are supposed to do: emulating some sorta dragon resistances (= energy).

[Andezzar]

Remember that dragonhide armor just has to come from dragons. Not merely true dragons. Stuff like wyverns and half-dragons work just fine. If skinning dragons wasn't bad enough, someone might just skin your neighborhood Dragon Disciple. :smalltongue:Unless you somehow get the (half-)dragon to colossal side that is not much hide. Hmm grig armor from kobolds...


That being said, some folks might breed half-dragon giant vermin. You can get some incredibly large mindless dragons that way. As mindless vermin, there's a lot less issue with the morality of raising them for materials.Just in case that is possible ..ewwww!



I always sort of assumed that dragonhide armor wasn't necessarily made out of the same dragon. So, for example, killing a bunch of large dragons could give you enough hide for full plate the same way killing a colossal one does.Unfortunately there is no such rule.

[Suddo]

You can make headbands out of it I think its the best material you can do that with. Same with spell component pouch and a couple of other items. Basically its flexible and hard.

[ericgrau]

"Some work" doesnt begin to cover it, how does you get past the 10 min casting time on ressurect? :smallconfused:

Wish or miracle. Or the questionably cheesy way is to hold the charge on the touch spell.

At high levels an extra 1500 gp isn't a big deal so anyone could get it just for the flavor. It also is immune to rusting attacks, repel metal, etc. I know someone who always pays the money for blueshine rust immunity out of fear of harsh DM (who usually provide a fun challenge not a stupidly hopeless one btw). But yes right in the item description it suggests using it for druids.