Ways to Get Heavy Armor Proficiency

[Allanimal]

I am working on a character that will enter the Runesmith prestige class. The only difficulty I am having is the Heavy Armor proficiency prereq. If it matters, the arcane caster bit will come from Wu Jen.

What are the ways to get Heavy Armor Proficiency?
I know of the following base classes granting it at lvl 1:
Fighter, Paladin, Cleric, Samurai, Knight and Duskblade
I know I can take it as a feat, but not thinking that is a good use of my feats.
I'm sure a prestige class would do it, but would rather not go that route.

Are there any other ways?

I'm leaning towards 1 level of duskblade to do it, but just wondering if there is a better way.

Side note: am I reading Runsmith correctly, that any arcane spells can be somatic-component free, not just from the class that runesmith advances spellcasting on?

[Venger]

I am working on a character that will enter the Runesmith prestige class. The only difficulty I am having is the Heavy Armor proficiency prereq. If it matters, the arcane caster bit will come from Wu Jen.

What are the ways to get Heavy Armor Proficiency?
I know of the following base classes granting it at lvl 1:
Fighter, Paladin, Cleric, Samurai, Knight and Duskblade
I know I can take it as a feat, but not thinking that is a good use of my feats.
I'm sure a prestige class would do it, but would rather not go that route.

Are there any other ways?

I'm leaning towards 1 level of duskblade to do it, but just wondering if there is a better way.

Side note: am I reading Runsmith correctly, that any arcane spells can be somatic-component free, not just from the class that runesmith advances spellcasting on?

this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?454553-Lists-of-Stuff-(saved-from-Wizards-Community-Forums)) is a fairly complete list of ways to get heavy armor proficiency

You can't take it as a feat, since you will need light and medium first, which is simply not an option.

Yes, it's all spells.

I don't see runesmith often. what does your build look like? what're you picking as your sla?

[Khedrac]

I was recently looking at how to do a Wu Jen/Runesmith build, though I don't go for particularly high optimization.
One notable thing about Wu Jen is that they end up with a lot of Metamagic feats so being able to use Divine Metamagic would be a bonus leading me to think that going Cleric is a very strong option (as well as opening all cleric wands to your use). What's more, if you are able to take the Planning domain you just gained Exend Spell for free, which puts Divine Spell Power: Persistent Spell just two feats away.

The biggest drawback is you become very MAD: Str to carry your armour, Con to survive in melee, Int for spells and Cha for turn attempts.

[Allanimal]

this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?454553-Lists-of-Stuff-(saved-from-Wizards-Community-Forums)) is a fairly complete list of ways to get heavy armor proficiency

Cool, thanks. That's an incredible list!



You can't take it as a feat, since you will need light and medium first, which is simply not an option.

Yeah, I know - that's why I said it's not a good use of feats.



I don't see runesmith often. what does your build look like? what're you picking as your sla?

I don't have it fully fleshed out yet. I've been thinking about this for a backup character in a long-running campaign where we've just hit 7th level. There are some house rules I have to work around (nothing really big, mostly extra background skill points and giving a few nice things to mundanes) and book limitations (core, no psionics, completes except champion, "races of" books, PHB2 and MiC. Spell Compendium is available, but spells need to be approved, sometimes (rarely) with slight modifications.

So I have only thought about it to 8th level or so. I really like the unique Wu Jen spell list, I really like playing dwarves, and have never played runesmith and this it sounds cool... so looking at a somewhat gishy build, therefore probably going in to abjurant champion at some point.


I was recently looking at how to do a Wu Jen/Runesmith build, though I don't go for particularly high optimization.

Care to share? My group isn't super optimized.




One notable thing about Wu Jen is that they end up with a lot of Metamagic feats so being able to use Divine Metamagic would be a bonus leading me to think that going Cleric is a very strong option (as well as opening all cleric wands to your use). What's more, if you are able to take the Planning domain you just gained Exend Spell for free, which puts Divine Spell Power: Persistent Spell just two feats away.

The biggest drawback is you become very MAD: Str to carry your armour, Con to survive in melee, Int for spells and Cha for turn attempts.

That is a good idea indeed... right now I'm playing the only caster, a spirit shaman, so healing duties fall squarely on me.
FYI the rest of the party is a knight, a mounted combat fighter, a Ninja and a scout/ranger archer.
So, we don't really need another melee-er, but I do want to play a Gish. The duskblade has a lot of INT synergy, but cleric might work out better for the party.

My group rotates between two campaigns, and I am the DM of the other, so I don't get as much opportunity as a PC to try new stuff. We may be doing a one-shot in a few weeks, and so I thought I'd ask here for ideas in case it does happen.

[Khedrac]

Care to share? My group isn't super optimized.
Sorry, I only did a first rough build before deciding it lacked the character 'feel' I wanted.

I think it was Fireblood Dwarf Cleric 1 / Wu Jen / Runemsith / Earthdreamer

[ShurikVch]

One more way is Warbeast Anthropomorphic Animal