Darkwood + Ironwood Spell = Wooden 'Mithral' Armour?

[Malak'ai]

Ok, bit of a wierd one here, at least IMO.

Darkwood is only 50% the weight of of normal wood (I'm assuming the likes of oak or willow) when making a weapon or shireld, so the question is, if my Druid used the Wood Shape spell to makea set a set of plate armour (or barding), then cast Ironwood on it and had the latter made perminant, would the armour (or barding) effectively be the equivalent of wooden 'Mithral' armour?

[Techwarrior]

If I were the DM, I'd allow it, but it's completely house-rule territory. I've actually handed out such items to let players know that it's a possibility in my campaigns before, but I haven't found anything in the rules that would give Darkwood armor the properties of Mithral. The closest I could find is the Darkleaf material (from Eberron Campaign Setting) which doesn't quite do it, but it's close. Can't recall the exact stats, but it gives at least the '1 category lighter' benefit, which is the biggest draw. It also gives max dex +1 (not the +2 of mithral), which is nice.

[TuggyNE]

Ok, bit of a wierd one here, at least IMO.

Darkwood is only 50% the weight of of normal wood (I'm assuming the likes of oak or willow) when making a weapon or shireld, so the question is, if my Druid used the Wood Shape spell to makea set a set of plate armour (or barding), then cast Ironwood on it and had the latter made perminant, would the armour (or barding) effectively be the equivalent of wooden 'Mithral' armour?

Besides the dispel vulnerability, the lack of any max dex increase, and the lack of armor category drop? Yes. :smallwink:

[Malak'ai]

But wouldn't the Max Dex increase and Armour catagory drop coinside with the weight reduction?
I mean, armour made from a lighter material would still be a hell of a lot easier to move in (if still as restrictive as) as the same same armour made from the normal material right? While sure, you still can't bend and twist like you normally could unarmoured, the lighter weight would still make it easier, and less taxing energy wise, to move about/dodge wouldn't it?

Nb: Posting from my phone. Please forgive formatting of sentences.

[Shinken]

It's a kind of reasonable houserule, but not one I'd be using in my games.

[Techwarrior]

But wouldn't the Max Dex increase and Armour catagory drop coinside with the weight reduction?
I mean, armour made from a lighter material would still be a hell of a lot easier to move in (if still as restrictive as) as the same same armour made from the normal material right? While sure, you still can't bend and twist like you normally could unarmoured, the lighter weight would still make it easier, and less taxing energy wise, to move about/dodge wouldn't it?

Nb: Posting from my phone. Please forgive formatting of sentences.

Like I said, the closest there are to actual rules for this are the rules given for Darkleaf.


Darkleaf:
Similar to leafweave armor (see below), darkleaf armor is made of carefully cured and beautifully carved pieces of darkwood, supplemented by alchemically treated leaves from the darkwood tree.

It gets -5% spell failure, -1 ACP over and above the masterwork reduction, and +1 Max Dex. It also gets the 'one category lighter' rule, but you can only start with a metal4 medium or heavy armor. It's not quite as good as Mithral, but it's close enough for non-arcanes, and even some of those it's good enough for (those with Armored Casting).

[Malak'ai]

Like I said, the closest there are to actual rules for this are the rules given for Darkleaf.



It gets -5% spell failure, -1 ACP over and above the masterwork reduction, and +1 Max Dex. It also gets the 'one category lighter' rule, but you can only start with a metal4 medium or heavy armor. It's not quite as good as Mithral, but it's close enough for non-arcanes, and even some of those it's good enough for (those with Armored Casting).

Yeah I can see where you're coming from with the Darkleaf, but I was thinking this would be a cheap and nasty, do in a pinch solution.

[Erik Vale]

Looking at darkleaf I'd probably treat it as dispellable darkleaf armor, however rules wise it'll just be half weight wood armor that's the equivalent of a metal armor.

As to the origional Q, it also doesn't act like silver if you use it as a improvised weapon [not that such is relevant any more].

[Tarqiup Inua]

While remaining natural wood in almost every way, ironwood is as strong, heavy, and resistant to fire as steel.

I believe it can't be done. (if you follow the rules, that is)