Any tricks to keep speed high while wearing heavy armor?

[Yogibear41]

Starting an aasimar paladin soon (plan to take the feats to get me wings) I was thinking of starting with a level of monk so I didn't have to wear armor, but I am not sure if that is really worth it in the long run. Are their any tricks that would let met get away with wearing full plate and still having a good speed? At least 30ft. I know of Mithrill but mithrill full plate would still slow me down to 20x4.

A Mithril Breastplate could be doable, but getting my dex to 20 to cap its max dex bonus could be problematic.

[Kudaku]

What sources/systems do you have available?

[Perseus]

If you can build your own race, pathfinder may be able to let you make an Aasimar that has picked up the dwarven trait to not get slowed by encumbrances.

Race builder is pretty nifty.

[atomicwaffle]

when a paladin reaches lvl 4 they gain the ability to turn or rebuke undead. That means, they also gain access to a feat found in the Complete Warrior (p. 108) called divine vigor.

As a standard action, spend one of your turn or rebuke undead attempts to increase your base speed by 10 feet and gain +2 temporary hit points per character level. These effects last a number of minutes equal to your Charisma modifier.

(source: http://dndtools.eu/feats/complete-warrior--61/divine-vigor--675/ )

[Gwendol]

Knights of high enough level ignore armor penalties to speed. Dwarves are never slowed by armor.

[rot42]

Complete Champion also has the Travel Devotion feat for moving as a Swift action, also powered by Turn Undead uses.

A Tooth of Savnok (Tome of Magic 79) gives you Dwarven Step.

Blue Ice from Frostburn reduces armor category while being cheaper than mithril, but neither is affordable in the first several levels.

Some tactical teleportation works at low levels, if that would not interfere with your character concept. Dimension Hop is a first level psionic power (Complete Psionic), or a wand of Benign Transposition could be requisitioned for a friendly spellcaster even if you lack ranks in UMD.

[Person_Man]

Paladins get a Special Mount at 5th level. It is by far the Paladin's strongest class ability, in that your mount can dramatically improve your movement speed, adds at least one more attack, allows you to use a lance-> Spirited Charge to double/triple damage on a charge, can Share Spells, gives your enemies another target (which reduces the number of attacks you take), and there are a number of different prestige classes or Leadership (check out the rules in the DMG for this) which can improve it further. If your worried about your movement speed, just fight while mounted. If you're worried about riding a Large mount while in a dungeon, play a Small race and ride a Medium mount.

If you hate mounted combat for some reason, you can play a Paladin of Freedom. They're Chaotic Good, and get immunity to Compulsion instead of immunity to Fear, which is superior. Then you can go Barbarian1/Paladin 4/Prestige Class X, which will give you +10 movement speed (or Pounce) + Rage.

Protective Imposition spell (Cleric 1/Paladin 1, Forge of War pg 115) lets you trade places with ally as a Swift action. Knight's Move spell (Cleric 3/Paladin 2 spell, Spell Compendium) gives you swift Action movement to any flanking position in range. Paladins can use any Paladin spell trigger item without a UMD check. So buy a Wand, and put it in a wand chamber in your weapon. (Dungeonscape).

Duskling race starts out with 30 movement, 1 point of essentia, and a racial ability which lets you invest essentia into it to improve movement speed. So they basically start with 35 base movement, which goes up if you take any Incarnum class or Feats. And Incarnate 3/Paladin 2/Prestige Class X or Totemist 2/Paladin 4/Prestige Class X would be superior to Monk/Paladin.

Travel Devotion allows you to burn Turn Undead uses to gain free movement. Complete Champion.

Binder 1 can bind Ronove, which grants Monk-ish abilities but with fewer restrictions. +10 movement, Improved Unarmed Strike, Feather Fall, ability to bypass some DR, and at will Mage Hand (which is more useful then you think - you can lift a think sheet of metal and move it around the battlefield as a Swift Action to block line of site, preventing enemies from targeting you from a range). Though Binder/Paladins have some fluff issues.

[Psyren]

I'm pretty sure the Bind Vestige feat (maybe with Practiced Binder?) will let you access Aym's Dwarven Step ability, which removes all speed penalties from armor regardless of weight.

I'm AFB, but if Tooth of Savnok does the same, go with that instead - no slots and no feats!

[Harrow]

You can buy your choice of Light or Heavy Warhorse before you hit level 2 or take the Wild cohort feat at any level to start with an animal companion horse (or camel). Then at level 5 paladins get access to a scaling mount, which is really a lot better than the 'free horse' a lot of people write it off as, and you can feel free to retrain the wild cohort feat into something more useful.

Paladin mounts just get better numbers, getting bonuses the level you get it to natural armor, strength, and hitpoints. From there, it scales well enough on its own and there are rules for replacing it with something stronger for a lower effective paladin level for the mount bonuses. But the real draw here is they start with an intelligence of 6, which means you don't have to worry about animal restrictions any more. No more learning 'tricks', no more handle animal checks.

If you're willing to invest in your mount then it can be more than just something that enables you a good charge while in heavy armor. Items, especially armor, help your mount as much as they help you. Feats can also add a lot, if you want to go full mounted charger. All you really need is the feat Dragon Steed at level 6 to get a dragonnel, which looks awful (it's some sort of draconic horse thing, it's terribly ugly) but has good enough stats, and then Dragon Cohort at level 9, which just gives you a true dragon to use as a mount.

There's also a feat somewhere (can't remember where, would be grateful if someone else can source it. I think it was from dragonlance) that allows a creature to be a mount for someone the same size as them and can be invaluable for dungeoncrawling. Alternatively, a Permanencied Reduce person cuts your damage a little but only costs a handful of gold. You would still have to figure out how to qualify for the spell in the first place : You could choose to go Planetouched instead of Outsider, which not only qualifies you for Reduce Person but also drops the LA of the Aasimar, which is pretty nifty.

[Greenish]

If you can build your own race, pathfinder may be able to let you make an Aasimar that has picked up the dwarven trait to not get slowed by encumbrances.

Race builder is pretty nifty.Well, except they didn't make the ability to not be slowed by armour its own trait, they patched it in slow speed (for medium creatures only) to keep dwarves at even approximately same points as other core races.

[Darrin]

The Halfweight property (+3 enhancement, FR Underdark) is expensive, but allows you to treat heavy armor as if it were light.

In Dragon Magazine #355, there's a Fighter ACF called Armored Savant that lets you treat armor as if it were one weight category lighter. Combine that with mithral/darkleaf, and heavy would count as light.

Easy Travel property (+1500, MIC) and Belt of Wide Earth (8000 GP, MIC) can help double or quadruple what you can carry as a "light" load.

[eggynack]

When you hit 8th level, you can start casting luminous armor (BoED, 102), and bypass the issue entirely. It gets you +5 AC, with an extra effective +4 against melee, and has no speed or dexterity restrictions. I dunno if you're at that level, but it's a nifty option that paladins get access to.

Edit: Also, Greater Luminous Armor gets you the +8 AC of actual full plate, but takes being level 14 to cast.

[rot42]

I'm pretty sure the Bind Vestige feat (maybe with Practiced Binder?) will let you access Aym's Dwarven Step ability, which removes all speed penalties from armor regardless of weight.

I'm AFB, but if Tooth of Savnok does the same, go with that instead - no slots and no feats!

Sadly, no; I wonder if the magic item is labeled correctly - Savnok is all about fighting in heavy armor, but Move Ally is his way around the battlefield.

Also from Forge of War (p. 114) is the Paladin spell Knight Unburdened, which does exactly what you want for an hour/level. That book is largely fluff and setting information, but most of the spells and items are seriously well done, as appropriate to a book published later in the life of 3.5.

[Psyren]

Sadly, no; I wonder if the magic item is labeled correctly - Savnok is all about fighting in heavy armor, but Move Ally is his way around the battlefield.

Not Savnok - Aym. She has an ability called Dwarven Step that lets you move at full-speed in armor.

[Andezzar]

When you hit 8th level, you can start casting luminous armor (BoED, 102), and bypass the issue entirely. It gets you +5 AC, with an extra effective +4 against melee, and has no speed or dexterity restrictions. I dunno if you're at that level, but it's a nifty option that paladins get access to.

Edit: Also, Greater Luminous Armor gets you the +8 AC of actual full plate, but takes being level 14 to cast.Don't forget the d2 STR damage at the end of the spell's duration.

[Zanos]

I'm pretty sure the Bind Vestige feat (maybe with Practiced Binder?) will let you access Aym's Dwarven Step ability, which removes all speed penalties from armor regardless of weight.

I'm AFB, but if Tooth of Savnok does the same, go with that instead - no slots and no feats!

Tooth of Savnok prevents you from removing your armor, which means you will be fatigued if you try to sleep. You can remove the tooth, but then you have to wait 24 hours after you put it in again to get the effects again.

[Sith_Happens]

Tooth of Savnok prevents you from removing your armor, which means you will be fatigued if you try to sleep. You can remove the tooth, but then you have to wait 24 hours after you put it in again to get the effects again.

A Restful Armor Crystal costs 500gp and lets you sleep in the armor you attach it to without becoming fatigued.

[Spuddles]

When you hit 8th level, you can start casting luminous armor (BoED, 102), and bypass the issue entirely. It gets you +5 AC, with an extra effective +4 against melee, and has no speed or dexterity restrictions. I dunno if you're at that level, but it's a nifty option that paladins get access to.

Edit: Also, Greater Luminous Armor gets you the +8 AC of actual full plate, but takes being level 14 to cast.

Combine with a monk's belt for best results. Go to solution for my good-aligned divine casters.

[Greenish]

Tooth of Savnok prevents you from removing your armor, which means you will be fatigued if you try to sleep. You can remove the tooth, but then you have to wait 24 hours after you put it in again to get the effects again.Restful as an enhancement (Dungeonscape) or armour crystal (MIC) helps there. I usually get one as soon as I can for the characters with heavy armour, it can save your bacon if you get ambushed in the middle of the night. (I also like to imagine that a full plate enchanted to be pleasant to sleep in is more comfortable than just a bedroll on hard ground.)

[Zanos]

A Restful Armor Crystal costs 500gp and lets you sleep in the armor you attach it to without becoming fatigued.


Restful as an enhancement (Dungeonscape) or armour crystal (MIC) helps there. I usually get one as soon as I can for the characters with heavy armour, it can save your bacon if you get ambushed in the middle of the night. (I also like to imagine that a full plate enchanted to be pleasant to sleep in is more comfortable than just a bedroll on hard ground.)

Need to add that to my list of dirt cheap things that are awesome.

[Psyren]

Oh my mistake - Tooth of Savnok is indeed the one that lets you move at regular speed in armor.

In any event, you are under Savnok's influence, yes - however, the Endurance feat or a restful crystal as others have said will keep your speed intact.

[Uhtred]

Wouldn't the too-expensive-to-be-viable Freedom of Movement armor enchantment do precisely the thing? Or get the party Cleric to cast it on you before combat?

[Psyren]

Wouldn't the too-expensive-to-be-viable Freedom of Movement armor enchantment do precisely the thing? Or get the party Cleric to cast it on you before combat?

Not really - Freedom of Movement lets you move "normally," but reduced speed due to heavy armor or encumbrance is normal.

[Anthrowhale]

If you have wings, consider the 'air heritage' feat for +30' fly.