[3.5] Wild Armor and Check Penalties?

[Unusual Muse]

Per the SRD, "the wearer of a suit of armor or a shield with this ability preserves his armor bonus (and any enhancement bonus) while in a wild shape." Do armor check penalties apply?

[ericgrau]

Any gear worn or carried by the druid melds into the new form and becomes nonfunctional. When the druid reverts to her true form, any objects previously melded into the new form reappear in the same location on her body that they previously occupied and are once again functional. Any new items worn in the assumed form fall off and land at the druid's feet.

Since the armor still melds into your form you aren't actually wearing it. You only get the armor bonuses.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

The armor still melds into your form when you wild shape, only the armor bonus is preserved, but nothing else at all. No special armor properties like Fortification, no encumbrance, no slowed movement, no check penalty, and you don't even count as wearing armor at all. That means you can combine it with a Monk's Belt and you'll get to add your Wis bonus to AC when wild shaped.

[Vaz]

I opened the thread; saw AC bonus is added; I knew that, then I saw that the other attributes (thinking the mundane stuff like Dex mod etc) didn't work and I was all hellueah; then saw you didn't get the whole Enchantments.

2 Questions;

1 Would Dancing Armour Spikes be included in the transformation? If not what about if you told them to dance then wildshaped?

2; Is there any kind of Wildshaping Monk available?

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

1 Would Dancing Armour Spikes be included in the transformation? If not what about if you told them to dance then wildshaped?

2; Is there any kind of Wildshaping Monk available?

1. No, the armor spikes would still meld into your form and stop functioning, just the same as if you wild shaped while holding a weapon.

2. Master of the North Wind, Dragon 314, 10/10 divine casting, 10/10 Monk abilities, 5/10 Wild Shape progression, Air domain halfway through. Requires 3rd level divine spells, Ki Strike (magic), Wild Shape into a flying creature, Climb 10 ranks. That Ki Strike prerequisite is killer, since you normally need Monk 4 to get it. Just forget the Monk class even exists and wear a Monk's Belt with a Wilding Clasp so it still functions when you wild shape.

[Coidzor]

There's a wildshape variant of monk from dragon magazine that gets wildshape a level late and I think has the same size restrictions as wildshaping rangers, but I would recommend doublechecking that.

[Unusual Muse]

The armor still melds into your form when you wild shape, only the armor bonus is preserved, but nothing else at all. No special armor properties like Fortification, no encumbrance, no slowed movement, no check penalty, and you don't even count as wearing armor at all. That means you can combine it with a Monk's Belt and you'll get to add your Wis bonus to AC when wild shaped.

Is this inferred from the text (or lack thereof) describing the Wild property, or is it from some other book? Would vanilla magical bonuses still be in effect?


There's a wildshape variant of monk from dragon magazine that gets wildshape a level late and I think has the same size restrictions as wildshaping rangers, but I would recommend doublechecking that.

Wild Monk in Dragon 324 gets Wild Shape that is slightly behind Druid in progression but, unlike the Ranger variant, progresses beyond Small and Medium creatures.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Is this inferred from the text (or lack thereof) describing the Wild property, or is it from some other book? Would vanilla magical bonuses still be in effect?

The general rule is that any gear carried or worn melds into your form and becomes nonfunctional, effectively nonexistent. A suit of armor worn would no longer be a suit of armor, nor would it be worn, as it would simply become a part of you. The exception to this rule stated by the Wild armor property is that you retain the armor bonus (and enhancement bonus) of that armor, but nothing else about that armor is preserved.