Stone shape spell to make breastplate armor

[Belier]

Hello, as you guys knows, for rp reasons a druid wont wear metal thus it is hard to find any use for medium armor proficiency with mundane items. I had the idea of wearing a leather base armor covering my body and adding a brestplate on top of it(I expect it would be more practical to wear leather under stone).

The breastplate would be made of stone shaped with stone shape spell. I feel like half plate stone armor would not be practical because of the way half plates are made and the nature of stone, however, a breastplate is one big shell that cover the organs ans seems suitable for stone. I'd look for a 20pound stone piece to shape and would add it on top of a 10 pound set of leather for a total of 30 pound armor, 4ac 2 dex.

Does that make sense? as far as I am concern it is creative and is not OP and is a way to improve a druid AC once you reach level 7 or if you pay a caster to shape the breastplate for you at earlier levels.

[MaxWilson]

Hello, as you guys knows, for rp reasons a druid wont wear metal thus it is hard to find any use for medium armor proficiency with mundane items. I had the idea of wearing a leather base armor covering my body and adding a brestplate on top of it(I expect it would be more practical to wear leather under stone).

The breastplate would be made of stone shaped with stone shape spell. I feel like half plate stone armor would not be practical because of the way half plates are made and the nature of stone, however, a breastplate is one big shell that cover the organs ans seems suitable for stone. I'd look for a 20pound stone piece to shape and would add it on top of a 10 pound set of leather for a total of 30 pound armor, 4ac 2 dex.

Does that make sense? as far as I am concern it is creative and is not OP and is a way to improve a druid AC once you reach level 7 or if you pay a caster to shape the breastplate for you at earlier levels.

As a DM I'd be a bit skeptical that this would work. Stone isn't as tough as metal. I'd probably make it twice as heavy and -1 AC relative to a metal breastplate.

For something equal to or superior to metal, I'd point you in the direction of dragonhide armor instead.

[Belier]

As a DM I'd be a bit skeptical that this would work. Stone isn't as tough as metal. I'd probably make it twice as heavy and -1 AC relative to a metal breastplate.

For something equal to or superior to metal, I'd point you in the direction of dragonhide armor instead.

Well breasplate is 20 pound, 40 pound is the weight of half plate and it has disadvantage pn stealth, may be keep AC same as breastplate and give it other stats of full plate.

Dragon hide isnt exactly common and my DM ain't a fan of giving magical stuff any way, I was looking for creative way with the druid kit to obtain something that makes sense rp wise.

Beside my druid is not a moon circle so I think that looking for alternatives to raise AC is not a bad thing.

[MaxWilson]

Well breasplate is 20 pound, 40 pound is the weight of half plate and it has disadvantage pn stealth, may be keep AC same as breastplate and give it other stats of full plate.

I'm thinking 40 lb. and AC 13.

I could see 100 lb. and AC 14 if you try to make something akin to half-plate.


Dragon hide isnt exactly common and my DM ain't a fan of giving magical stuff any way, I was looking for creative way with the druid kit to obtain something that makes sense rp wise.

Dragon hide, bulette hide, dragon turtle shell... it shouldn't be THAT rare to meet supernaturally-tough creatures in a D&D game.


Beside my druid is not a moon circle so I think that looking for alternatives to raise AC is not a bad thing.

Being proactive is good. But in my judgment, stone is not a good material for armor, and I'd reflect that in the stats of the hypothetical stone breastplate.

[dejarnjc]

I think you'd have to make it porous otherwise it would simply weigh too much. It could probably work though because of magic. It'd still be heavy and fragile though even if it was porous.

[Level2intern]

Is your DM not keen on dragonhide because you would have to purchase it? That I could understand. It probably isn't something you can just buy in any hamlet general store. Maybe ask about other monsters that have tough hide or carapace that may be more common. Ankheg, wyverns, giant scorpions, dinos.

If you kill the monster yourself I would allow harvesting the materials with a check (leatherworkers tools or survival maybe?) Then creating the armor with a separate check and whatever crafting rules you use.

The druid restriction is 100% fluff and jumping through a few extra hoops seems reasonable to me. The game doesn't break if a druid wears a breastplate. Unless your DM just likes saying no...

Also, I know dnd ignores reality, but a thin sheet of stone is going to crack super easily if hit by anything. I envision a sheet of slate being hit by a hammer and shattering into a hundred pieces.

Just my 2 coppers.

[Cespenar]

Bit of a needless engineering nitpicking time:

Even though some stones, like granite, can reach the levels of strength/density ratio of steel, they are still brittle. Brittle, in this case, means that while their strength may be "high", their capacity to absorb energy is quite low. Which is something you'd like an armor to do: absorb energy.

Which is why a stone breastplate is a really terrible idea, realism-wise. A couple of more plausible workarounds:

1) If your DM simply handwaves that the Stone Shape spell also "imbues" the stone to be tough enough, that's the easy, no headache solution.

2) If you're more keen on "realism" and still want to utilize some stones for your armor, you could fashion stone into rectangular plates/lamels and attach them to your gambeson or something. So that it becomes a makeshift splint mail.

All in all, I don't think a AC of 13-14 is unreasonable anyway, so the DM theoretically shouldn't create too much trouble for you.

[Quoxis]

In the „storm king‘s thunder“ and „princes of the apocalypse“ campaign books there’s mention of plate armor made of elemental earth or something, maybe look into that.
I think it wouldn’t break anything to allow a breast plate on a druid, i find the „no metal“ rule stupid anyway.

[Crgaston]

See if the DM will let you research something like the Ironwood spell from previous editions. Have someone carve a wooden breastplate. Looks awesome, thematic, win win.

[strangebloke]

Thin stone is basically weak glass.

If this is pre campaign, just offer to spend an increased gold cost to get bullet-carapace breastplate. I would definitely allow such a thing.

[nickl_2000]

The DMG lists special materials for magical items. So it certainly isn't an unknown thing.

My DM allowed me to buy armor made out of Dragonhide in one of the big cities for an extra 200gp for half plate of breastplate (which kinda sucks, but hey I'm a moon druid and magic items are already weird for me). I asked him early to think about it and it just makes sense to allow it.

[Tubben]

Studded Leather has AC 12.
+ Shield AC 14

Thats mundane without Dexbonus / Ring of Protection / Shield +1/2/3 or the Studded Leather +1/2/3.

As a bonus you get your full dex Bonus and still wear leather.

+1 Shield is uncommon and a dexbonus +1/2/3 is not that rare also :)

[Corpsecandle717]

See if the DM will let you research something like the Ironwood spell from previous editions. Have someone carve a wooden breastplate. Looks awesome, thematic, win win.

This is essentially what I'm doing. I've been collecting other magic items for trade bait so when we start interacting with the kingdom of the elves I can pick up some wooden armor. In the meantime I'm training for pan B case the elves don't have any (DM is being a bit cagey about it). The plain is to study woodworking tools and research a 'treatment' of some sort to for wood to make it behave more like iron wood like so I can craft my own. The 'treatment' is intentionally vague at this point to allow my DM to figure out how he would like to implement it. Hopefully it'll be an ironwood like spell, but I'd be happy with an alchemal or herbal bath as well.

There were rules in 3.5 for dwarven stone armor, but even those describe it as mostly ceremonial. If remember correctly it gave some pretty decent defenses, but weighed so much you basically needed to be a dwarf with their special encumbrance trait in order to move around in it.

[The Jack]

Didn't there used to be a way to make wood as hard as steel, or to acquire wood that's as hard as steel?
Now for stone... Go find a Dao (genie) and have a chat. They're your best bet, even if they're evil and'll want to enslave you.

If you want to ignore fantasy materials
-You can treat leather to make it really hard,layer it well, and could thus make a breastplate of comparable protection to a steel one. You could at least get something as good as scale (which is as protective, but weighs more and disadvantages stealth)
-Padded cloth? If someone makes that right and thick enough, it could venture into medium armour territory. Padded armour IRL was way better than it's depicted in fantasy games... but you are playing a fantasy game so it depends on your dm.

If you want to go fantasy for fun:
Wear a flail snail. Dazzle your opponents.
Wyvern. Discount dragon.
Dragon- Note; Dragonscale armour isn't magical till you make it so, but the unenchanted properties aren't given so you could have anything between scale and scale+2. If it's at least scale +1, I'd let you wear just the torso with breastplate stats.
Chitin or hide of any creature with impressive natural armour.

[Corpsecandle717]

Didn't there used to be a way to make wood as hard as steel, or to acquire wood that's as hard as steel?

Iron Wood.

Also remembered another interesting spell/alchemal process (depends on the version) from Forgotten Realms. Glass steel. Basically exactly as the name describes.

[Sigreid]

Iron Wood.

Also remembered another interesting spell/alchemal process (depends on the version) from Forgotten Realms. Glass steel. Basically exactly as the name describes.

Glassteel was a spell from the long long ago, before Forgotten Realms was a thing.

[DizzyWood]

Think ceramic! In one of my games the DM let the druid use leather armor fixed with like a billion little ceramic plates. Apparently its a real thing that was used at some point in history and was decently effective. So I am sure you could craft or re-fluf something like that.

[MaxWilson]

This is essentially what I'm doing. I've been collecting other magic items for trade bait so when we start interacting with the kingdom of the elves I can pick up some wooden armor. In the meantime I'm training for pan B case the elves don't have any (DM is being a bit cagey about it). The plain is to study woodworking tools and research a 'treatment' of some sort to for wood to make it behave more like iron wood like so I can craft my own. The 'treatment' is intentionally vague at this point to allow my DM to figure out how he would like to implement it. Hopefully it'll be an ironwood like spell, but I'd be happy with an alchemal or herbal bath as well.

Might be a good idea to draw your DM's attention to this article:


What happens if a druid wears metal armor? The druid explodes.

Well, not actually. Druids have a taboo against wearing metal armor and wielding a metal shield. The taboo has been part of the class’s story since the class first appeared in Eldritch Wizardry (1976) and the original Player’s Handbook (1978). The idea is that druids prefer to be protected by animal skins, wood, and other natural materials that aren’t the worked metal that is associated with civilization. Druids don’t lack the ability to wear metal armor. They choose not to wear it. This choice is part of their identity as a mystical order. Think of it in these terms: a vegetarian can eat meat, but the vegetarian chooses not to.

A druid typically wears leather, studded leather, or hide armor, and if a druid comes across scale mail made of a material other than metal, the druid might wear it. If you feel strongly about your druid breaking the taboo and donning metal, talk to your DM. Each class has story elements mixed with its game features; the two types of design go hand-in-hand in D&D, and the story parts are stronger in some classes than in others. Druids and paladins have an especially strong dose of story in their design. If you want to depart from your class’s story, your DM has the final say on how far you can go and still be considered a member of the class. As long as you abide by your character’s proficiencies, you’re not going to break anything in the game system, but you might undermine the story and the world being created in your campaign.

In other words, no need to be cagey--making armor out of non-metal stuff is actually what the game designers expect you to do, for roleplaying reasons.

[Rebonack]

As a DM I'd be a bit skeptical that this would work. Stone isn't as tough as metal. I'd probably make it twice as heavy and -1 AC relative to a metal breastplate.

For something equal to or superior to metal, I'd point you in the direction of dragonhide armor instead.

There's full-plate armor made of literal rocks in the Princes of the Apocalypse module. Weighs a bit more, but offers the same level of protection as normal plate. Ostensibly the earth cultists made it out of normal stone shaped with magic.

As far as the type of rock to use if you care about realism, something like a fine-grained blueschist would probably work fairly decently. The very smell, interlocking grains makes it pretty darn tough.

[Sigreid]

There's full-plate armor made of literal rocks in the Princes of the Apocalypse modal. Weighs a bit more, but offers the same level of protection as normal plate. Ostensibly the earth cultists made it out of normal stone shaped with magic.

Maybe the druid should hunt down some earth cultists to learn their secrets. Sounds like an adventure to me. Not every adventure has to have the pretense that the party is acting on behalf of others.

[Tetrasodium]

Hello, as you guys knows, for rp reasons a druid wont wear metal thus it is hard to find any use for medium armor proficiency with mundane items. I had the idea of wearing a leather base armor covering my body and adding a brestplate on top of it(I expect it would be more practical to wear leather under stone).

The breastplate would be made of stone shaped with stone shape spell. I feel like half plate stone armor would not be practical because of the way half plates are made and the nature of stone, however, a breastplate is one big shell that cover the organs ans seems suitable for stone. I'd look for a 20pound stone piece to shape and would add it on top of a 10 pound set of leather for a total of 30 pound armor, 4ac 2 dex.

Does that make sense? as far as I am concern it is creative and is not OP and is a way to improve a druid AC once you reach level 7 or if you pay a caster to shape the breastplate for you at earlier levels.

stone without magical treatments is a poor chose for reasons already given. densified wood (https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-01600-6) could be made with magical/alchemical processes even more effectively than scientific ones no doubt would avoid the no metal sacred cow & work great though. Given how long ironwood was around before 5e it' should not even be controversial.

To be honest though, much like the stereotyped sacred cow that says all druids must be nature loving tree-huggers living in the wilderness protecting it from the incursions of mankind... the no metal one needed to have been executed when they executed the paladin/cleric alignment restriction sacred cows.

If your gm is not happy with letting your druid wear metal armor and insists that nonmetal armor (outside of a darksun type setting where metal armor might as well be magic relics from a past age) is something inferior that you will need to go on drawn out quests to find... play a different class not being punished for the sins of the 3.5 CoDzilla.

[MaxWilson]

There's full-plate armor made of literal rocks in the Princes of the Apocalypse module. Weighs a bit more, but offers the same level of protection as normal plate. Ostensibly the earth cultists made it out of normal stone shaped with magic.

As far as the type of rock to use if you care about realism, something like a fine-grained blueschist would probably work fairly decently. The very smell, interlocking grains makes it pretty darn tough.

If a player made this argument about blueschist to me and went out of his way to find the right kind of stone, I'd probably buy it. It never occurred to me that different kinds of stone might have different durability.

(The argument-from-module precedent holds a lot less weight with me, since I don't really respect WotC's module writers.)

[Tetrasodium]

Maybe the druid should hunt down some earth cultists to learn their secrets. Sounds like an adventure to me. Not every adventure has to have the pretense that the party is acting on behalf of others.

when was the last time you suggested a fighter, paladin, or cleric go on a quest to learn the secrets of the nonmagic armors on phb145? Is this player the only druid in the setting?are you still using the old 2e rules that say there can only be 11(?) druids per "land" & that beyond a certain level they need to battle to the death to advance? has no merchant in your setting ever said "hmm... I bet there is a market for this armor I can make out of $NotMetal" beyond that guy who commisioned me to make it?

By comparison, I had a new player join me & tell me that his nature cleric used to trade wood crafted furniture & stuff for health potions to resell. When I pointed out that House Cannith (http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/House_Cannith) or House Jorasco (http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/House_Jorasco) would churn those out at rates & costs that allow them a near monopoly, he took a sip of his soda & without delay said "yea but mine were made from all natural ingredients"without even realizing I didn't give a fig about the nonmetal armor thing on druids, or that the druid character/player to his immediate right had been wearing metal armor for a few levels.

[Sigreid]

when was the last time you suggested a fighter, paladin, or cleric go on a quest to learn the secrets of the nonmagic armors on phb145? Is this player the only druid in the setting?are you still using the old 2e rules that say there can only be 11(?) druids per "land" & that beyond a certain level they need to battle to the death to advance? has no merchant in your setting ever said "hmm... I bet there is a market for this armor I can make out of $NotMetal" beyond that guy who commisioned me to make it?

By comparison, I had a new player join me & tell me that his nature cleric used to trade wood crafted furniture & stuff for health potions to resell. When I pointed out that House Cannith (http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/House_Cannith) or House Jorasco (http://eberron.wikia.com/wiki/House_Jorasco) would churn those out at rates & costs that allow them a near monopoly, he took a sip of his soda & without delay said "yea but mine were made from all natural ingredients"without even realizing I didn't give a fig about the nonmetal armor thing on druids, or that the druid character/player to his immediate right had been wearing metal armor for a few levels.

Not had any quests or raids for normal items. Had lots of quests where a character's friends helped him or her get an unusual thing they wanted. Including helping with a theft.

If stone armor were on every corner, no worries. Doesn't sound like that's the case in this world. Now if the druid learns the secret, maybe the druid will go down in history for the benefit he was to the order.