Using a barrel

[NickChaisson]

Ok, so my entire party just watched the new Hobbit movie and I have a question relating to something that happened in it.

At one part of the movie, a character wears a barrel like armor and fights with it on. One of my players loved this idea even though we all told him it was stupid. I'm just wondering the statistics of it. He seems to think it would give him full cover and be just as durable as a tower shield. What do you guys think?

[Tommy2255]

I would give him some good AC, but crazy high check penalty, and it would require an extra feat to be proficient (call it Exotic Armor Proficiency (Barrel) or something). It wouldn't give him full cover any more than regular armor would, but maybe if he took a total defense action he could pull his arms and legs in and duck down and then he could count as having full cover.

Unless you want to discourage this kind of nonsense, in which case you can give it terrible stats and not offer a homebrew feat for it. Really it's all up to you. There's no written rules for barrel armor.

[JeenLeen]

I don't think it would give full cover unless you use it like using a tower shield for full cover, i.e., fully planting it between you and the enemy (or, in this case, hiding inside the barrel.)*

So he shouldn't have full cover while actively fighting in it. Since other armor doesn't give cover, I would imagine this shouldn't give any, either. Just AC.

I agree with Tommy2255's ideas, and would add to make it heavy armor. I would imagine it'd be somewhere in the lower end of the heavy armor range of AC. A wooden barrel is still a wooden barrel, and wouldn't provide as much as full plate.

*disclaimer: never used tower shields, but I think I remember reading that's how it works. I may be incorrect.

[GutterFace]

Please for the love of god cram a bunch of Small races in here

http://dndtools.eu/items/dungeon-masters-guide-v35--4/apparatus-kwalish--119/

[NickChaisson]

Thank you. As much as I dislike nonsense things like this, I also like to give my players options and such. I'll take your homebrew ideas ^_^

[Sidmen]

Honestly, I'd say that its just cover (the arms and legs are still clearly visible targets) that imposes a -2 circumstance penalty to his skill rolls and attacks.

Just remember, the dwarves in the Hobbit were level 5 Fighters facing off against generic goblins/orcs.

[Mutazoia]

Also keep in mind that barrels are not hardened against sword/axe/mace attacks (just watch old prohibition footage). You would get one, maybe two hits then the whole shebang would be sundered.

[Phelix-Mu]

Yeah, I agree. A common barrel would make terrible armour. You could custom-make one to be better at protecting oneself without breaking, but then you should probably just buy some real armour.

Quick/Dirty Fix: Glamour enchantment/harmless curse on a normal set of masterwork banded mail makes it look like a barrel. I'd price it as masterwork banded plus, say, 100gp, since the enchantment is interesting, but doesn't do anything more than hide the fact that you are wearing armour (while also making you look like a moron).

[Hand_of_Vecna]

Also keep in mind that barrels are not hardened against sword/axe/mace attacks (just watch old prohibition footage). You would get one, maybe two hits then the whole shebang would be sundered.

I always assumed those were cheap barrels used by bootleggers. If you look at the beginning of this video of a barrel being destroyed at the beginning of prohibition rather than in a sting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAPvs7jEEKY you'll see repeated swings of an axe only putting enough of a hole in it for the booze to spill out and thats an axe made for splitting wood which should be better suited to the job than a combat weapon.

Not trying to defend the viability of this silly combat mode, just sayin.

[Averis Vol]

Thank you. As much as I dislike nonsense things like this, I also like to give my players options and such. I'll take your homebrew ideas ^_^

Dont forget that sir tons of fun also only wore that armor for about 10 seconds before it got chopped away by orcish weapons, and he subsequently went tumbling away.

So, yea, I'd tell him its more like a one time use improvised armor.

[Mutazoia]

I always assumed those were cheap barrels used by bootleggers. If you look at the beginning of this video of a barrel being destroyed at the beginning of prohibition rather than in a sting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAPvs7jEEKY you'll see repeated swings of an axe only putting enough of a hole in it for the booze to spill out and thats an axe made for splitting wood which should be better suited to the job than a combat weapon.

Not trying to defend the viability of this silly combat mode, just sayin.

Yeah but they are using fire axes which, believe it or not, are not designed to do a lot of cutting, but instead is designed to break down downs and windows. They are usually not very sharp. A Sword or battle Ax is weighted for destruction and sharp as a razor.

Plus a barrel full of liquid will have a bit more re-enforcement than one worn by a person, as the liquid inside will not compress much and absorb the impact to a degree, as opposed to an empty (or worn) barrel having nothing to push back against the force of the blow.

[MonochromeTiger]

have you ever seen that kids toy with the pirate in the barrel where you stick in tiny plastic cutlasses until one makes the pirate fly out? I'd personally explain that using a barrel as armor would be like that except the thing that flies out is blood.

[Hand_of_Vecna]

Yeah but they are using fire axes which, believe it or not, are not designed to do a lot of cutting, but instead is designed to break down downs and windows. They are usually not very sharp. A Sword or battle Ax is weighted for destruction and sharp as a razor.

Actually, a fire ax as a lot more heft that a sword. Have you ever swung a sword at a wooden target? It's not that impressive. You can take a slice off of a pillar, but you won't cut through it anytime soon.

You can certainly break boards held up for youwith a sword, but fists can do that. Another thing, all of those barrels in the vintage footage are either on the ground being swung down at or braced in place and broken from the side. If it could defuse rocking with blows a barrel might fair better.

[Darth Stabber]

He should just use it as a weapon, it one hits italian plumbers (the trouble is landing the hit), bonus if you're naked aside from a neck tie.

[Sam K]

Actually, a fire ax as a lot more heft that a sword. Have you ever swung a sword at a wooden target? It's not that impressive. You can take a slice off of a pillar, but you won't cut through it anytime soon.

You can certainly break boards held up for youwith a sword, but fists can do that. Another thing, all of those barrels in the vintage footage are either on the ground being swung down at or braced in place and broken from the side. If it could defuse rocking with blows a barrel might fair better.

Even a quality barrel wouldn't have much structural integrity once you knocked out the bottom for the legs and made holes for the arms.

The AC penalty would be horrible. It's completely rigid, heavy, and not shaped to fit your body (well, maybe some dwarven bodies...). The AC wouldn't actually be very good either, since it's made to contain liquids, not absorb blows. I'd give it maybe AC +4, no dex bonus, -15 armor check penalty (you think a tower shield is bad? This is the equivilent of tying several towershields to your body). As a full round action you can withdraw your arms into it and duck, giving you full cover. However, because a empty barrel with holes in it lacks structural integrity, I would only give it hardness 5 and 1 or 2 hitpoints. Sounds harsh, but there's a REASON armor is expensive, and it's that using improvised items to protect yourself doesn't work so well.

However, if you're capable of wingless flight, I would let it give a +5 circumstance bonus to execute a... barrel roll!

[georgie_leech]

However, if you're capable of wingless flight, I would let it give a +5 circumstance bonus to execute a... barrel roll!

Rabbits aside, that was probably the more effective use for it anyway. The barrel seemed kind of incidental to his Tasmanian Devil routine at the end.

[Neknoh]

Cutting wooden planks with a quilted garment behind them is significantly difficult to do with a combat weapon. Of course, it is even harder to cut plate (which is why chainmail, thick quilted garments, splints and plate armour was used). However, it should still give plenty of protection against most anything if we are looking at it in a realistic way.

What would likely happen, however, would be that the individual planks would come loose by being knocked out of the strapping iron and then they'd just slide down. You wont cut throug half an inch of wood with padding behind it, especially not several individual planks, not irl.

Then again, we are talking about people shooting arrows wrought from exotic materials straight through dragonscale whilst wearing trinkets that somehow make them better marksmen. So really, it's at the discretion of the GM.