Maat Mons
2021-02-08, 04:50 PM
Another thread has gotten me thinking about Bone Knight. In particular, after the 8th level of the PrC, your choice of armor is locked in forever. Unless maybe you die. I think True Resurrection would bring you back without the armor, and you'd to craft and put on a new suit? Anyway, you're mostly not going to be switching your armor.
So what armor should a Bone Knight go with?
Obviously, it should be masterwork. I can't imagine what kind of bone-headed Bone Knight would fuse himself with non-masterwork armor and forever lock himself out of magical enhancements.
I don't think any special materials would be allowed. It has to be bonecraft armor, and near as I can tell, there's no special material compatible with that. In a way, bonecraft almost is a special material itself.
The armor needs to be medium or heavy. Is there any reason to go medium? Light armor might be nice for the unhindered speed. But that's not an option. Medium and heavy armor both slow your movement by the same amount for practical purposes. The only extra reduction for heavy armor applies solely to the run action, which doesn't come up very often.
I suppose full-plate is the most obvious option. But there's always the semi-obscure Mechanus gear for +10 AC / +0 max dex. The even more obscure Thaalud stone armor is, unfortunately, not an option, because bonecraft has that clause about the armor normally being made of metal. Or you could go with great armor (OA) for that Shredder / Vader vibe. … That Shrader vibe.
Which magical enhancements would be best? As a Bone Knight, you already get immunity to critical hits (at 10th level). So I guess there's no point in buying Heavy Fortification just to have it become redundant later. If you could sell the armor later and buy something else, sure. But you're a Bone Knight. Your armor is part of you (from level 8 on).
Looking at the List of Necessary Magic Items, the big things not covered by Bone Knight are Freedom of Movement, Mind Blank, True Seeing, flight, and teleportation. You can get Freedom of Movement on your armor for +5 enhancement bonus with the Freedom special ability. If you have nothing else on the armor (except the prerequisite +1), that's slightly cheaper than the ring. If you put other stuff on the armor, it will quickly become more expensive. But I guess it depends on how much you value that ring slot. And how much you want your armor to be awesome.
I can't find any way to get Mind Blank on your armor. The Exalted special ability gives Protection from Evil for +3 enhancement bonus. And the Masking special ability gives Nondetection for +40,000 gp. But that's really quite inferior. I don't see a way to get True Seeing onto armor either. Is there a way to add flight to armor? It seems like there would be, but I can't think of special abilities for it, just specific armors. Mind Blank, True Seeing, and Flight might just have to be acquired from the usual items.
Restful is maybe a thematic property to put onto armor you can never take off. Bone Knights are immune to fatigue anyway, so there's no mechanical benefit. But 500 gp might be an acceptable cost for a role-playing benefit. I know Restful Crystal is normally preferred over the Restful special ability. But that's just because you can keep the crystal when you get new armor, which isn't a factor here. And this way, you free yourself up for a different armor crystal... at night.
The various armor abilities that give energy resistance might be nice. Oddly though, they're more expensive than getting the same benefit using the table in the back of Magic Item Compendium. Speaking of that table, it also allows for giving the armor a deflection bonus and an enhancement bonus to your natural armor.
What else is there for useful armor abilities that doesn't overlap with the many awesome immunities already provided by Bone Knight? I guess there's Ghost Ward, for a bit of touch AC. And maybe Proof Against Transmutation to guard against Baleful Polymorph and Flesh to Stone.
So what armor should a Bone Knight go with?
Obviously, it should be masterwork. I can't imagine what kind of bone-headed Bone Knight would fuse himself with non-masterwork armor and forever lock himself out of magical enhancements.
I don't think any special materials would be allowed. It has to be bonecraft armor, and near as I can tell, there's no special material compatible with that. In a way, bonecraft almost is a special material itself.
The armor needs to be medium or heavy. Is there any reason to go medium? Light armor might be nice for the unhindered speed. But that's not an option. Medium and heavy armor both slow your movement by the same amount for practical purposes. The only extra reduction for heavy armor applies solely to the run action, which doesn't come up very often.
I suppose full-plate is the most obvious option. But there's always the semi-obscure Mechanus gear for +10 AC / +0 max dex. The even more obscure Thaalud stone armor is, unfortunately, not an option, because bonecraft has that clause about the armor normally being made of metal. Or you could go with great armor (OA) for that Shredder / Vader vibe. … That Shrader vibe.
Which magical enhancements would be best? As a Bone Knight, you already get immunity to critical hits (at 10th level). So I guess there's no point in buying Heavy Fortification just to have it become redundant later. If you could sell the armor later and buy something else, sure. But you're a Bone Knight. Your armor is part of you (from level 8 on).
Looking at the List of Necessary Magic Items, the big things not covered by Bone Knight are Freedom of Movement, Mind Blank, True Seeing, flight, and teleportation. You can get Freedom of Movement on your armor for +5 enhancement bonus with the Freedom special ability. If you have nothing else on the armor (except the prerequisite +1), that's slightly cheaper than the ring. If you put other stuff on the armor, it will quickly become more expensive. But I guess it depends on how much you value that ring slot. And how much you want your armor to be awesome.
I can't find any way to get Mind Blank on your armor. The Exalted special ability gives Protection from Evil for +3 enhancement bonus. And the Masking special ability gives Nondetection for +40,000 gp. But that's really quite inferior. I don't see a way to get True Seeing onto armor either. Is there a way to add flight to armor? It seems like there would be, but I can't think of special abilities for it, just specific armors. Mind Blank, True Seeing, and Flight might just have to be acquired from the usual items.
Restful is maybe a thematic property to put onto armor you can never take off. Bone Knights are immune to fatigue anyway, so there's no mechanical benefit. But 500 gp might be an acceptable cost for a role-playing benefit. I know Restful Crystal is normally preferred over the Restful special ability. But that's just because you can keep the crystal when you get new armor, which isn't a factor here. And this way, you free yourself up for a different armor crystal... at night.
The various armor abilities that give energy resistance might be nice. Oddly though, they're more expensive than getting the same benefit using the table in the back of Magic Item Compendium. Speaking of that table, it also allows for giving the armor a deflection bonus and an enhancement bonus to your natural armor.
What else is there for useful armor abilities that doesn't overlap with the many awesome immunities already provided by Bone Knight? I guess there's Ghost Ward, for a bit of touch AC. And maybe Proof Against Transmutation to guard against Baleful Polymorph and Flesh to Stone.