Hide armor and creatures' Restitances/Immunities

[Unoriginal]

Would you allow an hide armor made from the skin of a creature with a Resistance or Immunity to a type of damage to grant this protection, partially or full, if it was handled by a competent enough craftsperson, à la Nemean Lion pelt?

Personally, I would probably not allow it (after all, it's the whole being who's resistant/immune thanks to the background magic of reality, their corpses aren't particularly tough), but I would likely rule that such hides can be used in the magic item formula for armors with that kind of propriety (ex: resist element), or rule that such a magical hide armor using the skin of those beings can be made cheaper.

What do you think?

[Hyde]

I could see doing something like the Flail Snail Shell- It gets the cool thing for awhile, but it fades into a more standard enchantment (or none at all).

[lunaticfringe]

Immunity no way.

How is using it as an ingredient or reducing the cost of Magic Armor that grants resistance different from making the hide into armor?

Mithril & Adamantine Armor are Magic Items but are they enchanted or are the just created by a skilled craftsperson from extraordinary materials?

I swear if this is an AMF thing you guys are getting hit with AMF way too often...just sayin'.

[Bahamut7]

Would you allow an hide armor made from the skin of a creature with a Resistance or Immunity to a type of damage to grant this protection, partially or full, if it was handled by a competent enough craftsperson, à la Nemean Lion pelt?

Personally, I would probably not allow it (after all, it's the whole being who's resistant/immune thanks to the background magic of reality, their corpses aren't particularly tough), but I would likely rule that such hides can be used in the magic item formula for armors with that kind of propriety (ex: resist element), or rule that such a magical hide armor using the skin of those beings can be made cheaper.

What do you think?

I am doing just this in my current group. My Dragonborn Sorcerer has decided to collect body parts from creatures to make his attire. His leather coat is made from the hide of a Fire Serpent, with the spinal cord and bones of a rodent of unusual size along the back. He will be adding Orc skulls as pauldrons.

Granted I did warn him unless a master artisan who deals with magical wears does the job, the component wouldn't add immunities (in the case of the fire serpent). I allowed a percentage roll and gave him 25% reduction to fire damage for thinking outside the box. If he finds a tailor that specializes in magical armor or Artificer, than I will grant him the full 50 % reduction.

You don't let the party go crazy with mad science and taxidermy but do reward them for creativity. In the end, I will grant his "armor" as +1 with fire resistance. Not broken or horrible as I can always up the creatures they encounter with better accuracy or whatever.

[Unoriginal]

How is using it as an ingredient or reducing the cost of Magic Armor that grants resistance different from making the hide into armor?

First you make the hide into armor, then you can enchant it (with maybe a reduced cost).



Mithril & Adamantine Armor are Magic Items but are they enchanted or are the just created by a skilled craftsperson from extraordinary materials?

The second one.



I swear if this is an AMF thing you guys are getting hit with AMF way too often...just sayin'.

What? No, not at all.

I just think the visual could be cool.

Imagine a Sorcerer trying to burn a huge Ogre Boss to crisp, yet get grabbed at the throat through the inferno as the Ogre is wearing a Hell Hound hide.

[Alerad]

Yes!

it's flavorful and I did something similar. My players didn't use it so far. But if your players want it, go ahead. Hide armor, resistance to one element. Many races, classes or abilities give resistance, it's not game breaking.

My only suggestion is not to go into bookkeeping. Stick with resistance, maybe allow for 2-3 pelts to be stitched together with higher DC. Don't make it too hard to obtain or the players won't use it.

[lunaticfringe]

Okay I tend to simplify things.

Acquire Hide->Jump through Hoops and/or Pay a Higher Cost->Resistance Armor is how I would handle it. However you want to explain the middle part is up to you. I wouldn't allow it to be turned into Resistance Armor for the low, low cost of bog standard Hide Armor if that's what you meant. Also you can't go around skinning every scrub monster from the MM, only certain monsters.

[Hyde]

I'd argue that anything with a (natural armor) tag could be theoretically skinned and processed. Why not?

[Tanarii]

Sure!

1) find a formula for the magic item.
2) gather needed resources for magic item.
3) spend time and money to create magic item.
4) ???
5) profit!

Luckily for the PCs, they've already accomplished step 2.

[JackPhoenix]

I'd say that the armor/item itself is immune/resistant (which may or may not be useful in itself), but it doesn't grant the same benefit to the wearer normally. After all, just because you wear fireproof underwear doesn't mean the rest of you is just as protected (the underwear is exaggeration, but still, hide armor doesn't cover you head to toe). But I would agree that it's usable as a component for armor of resistance, and you could get one made for lower price.


I'd argue that anything with a (natural armor) tag could be theoretically skinned and processed. Why not?

I just got a fit of laughter when I noticed your name. It's spelled differently, but c'mon...

[Blackhawk748]

I'd say that the armor/item itself is immune/resistant (which may or may not be useful in itself), but it doesn't grant the same benefit to the wearer normally. After all, just because you wear fireproof underwear doesn't mean the rest of you is just as protected (the underwear is exaggeration, but still, hide armor doesn't cover you head to toe). But I would agree that it's usable as a component for armor of resistance, and you could get one made for lower price.

Hide armor could qiote easily cover you head to toe, just look at any Lamellar armor.

In any event id be fine with it on some level. Probably at half the given effectiveness or so and it would be more costly than typical Hide, but way cheaper than the enchantment.

[Tanarii]

But I would agree that it's usable as a component for armor of resistance, and you could get one made for lower price.Why? I mean, a DM can rule creating magic items any way they want. But the new Xanathar's downtime rule specifically references finding exotic components and going on adventures for them. IMO it should be required to make the magic item at all, not reduce the cost of it.

[Hyde]

I just got a fit of laughter when I noticed your name. It's spelled differently, but c'mon...

(The idea is "Jekyll and", but yes, I agree the coincidence is amusing)

[JackPhoenix]

Why? I mean, a DM can rule creating magic items any way they want. But the new Xanathar's downtime rule specifically references finding exotic components and going on adventures for them. IMO it should be required to make the magic item at all, not reduce the cost of it.

I run Eberron, "exotic components" aren't required, magic item creation cost comes in form of the dragonshards. Though some materials are better suited for certain enchantments, and you can get away with using less dragonshard dust/lower quality dragonshards if you use it.

In my own settings, I have 3 different ways to make magic items, with different results, cost and time requirements. "Exotic components" are part of one way (the priciest one, but relatively fast and reliable).

Just to explain:
- First way ("the boring way") to make magic items is just enchanting the item. It's moderately expensive and doesn't require much skill, but it takes a very long time. On the plus side, you'll get exactly what you want, and the item is reliable.
- Second way ("the expensive way") requires material with affinity to the enchantment you want to put on the item. Enchanting itself doesn't take much time, but the material required are expensive (not just the main component itself, but other reagents), it requires more skill to set up things properly, and you may get side effects related to the source of the material: if you use red dragon's heart to make Flame Tongue sword, you may find out that the resulting item also gives you fire resistance, or gives the attuned user dragon's greed as a flaw, or similar. And though these items last a long time, they'll lose their magic in time (though we're talking decades or centuries).
- Third way ("the morally dubious way") includes binding a creature's soul to the item. It's cheap and fast, but it requires very skilled mage, and of course, the soul. The result is always sentient item, so good luck using it if the soul is unwilling, and you almost always get side effects. The resulting items may be powerful and often with unique abilities, but don't keep their magic for long, years at most. Best results if the soul is willing and the item is used for specific purpose (i.e. paladin sacrificing himself to create weapon capable of permakilling a demon lord even on a material plane).

[Tanarii]

I run Eberron, "exotic components" aren't required, magic item creation cost comes in form of the dragonshards. Though some materials are better suited for certain enchantments, and you can get away with using less dragonshard dust/lower quality dragonshards if you use it.Okay checks out. My assumption even before checking the new Xanathar's Downtime rule for creating magic items was exotic components would be required, not reduce pricing. But then, I'm used to really old school difficulty in creating magic items, questing for a bunch of hard to obtain components being a necessary step.

[Unoriginal]

The Xanathar's rules are nice.

[Kalashak]

It's an interesting idea, and with the right group it's something I'd definitely allow. My most recent group would have viewed it as something to try and exploit though, so I've gotten into the habit of saying no to this sort of thing.
But with another group it's got a lot of potential. I'd probably just let them use it to make an X resistant suit of hide armor, and maaaaaybe at high levels give them the chance to make something to give them immunity to a damage type

[the_brazenburn]

I have done this for a ranger in Tyranny of Dragons. When they killed Glazael in Skyreach Castle, I allowed the ranger to make a Survival check to remove its feet, skin, and teeth without destroying them. Later, he grafted the scales onto a suit of leather armor to get scale mail with cold resistance, made the feet into boots that give the Ice Walk feature, and made the teeth into swords and daggers that dealt cold damage.