Best way to get arcane casting in heavy armor

[pabelfly]

I'm interested in building a character that has arcane spellcasting (preferably Sorcerer) that can cast with no Arcane Spell Failure while wearing heavy armor. What's the most efficient to go about this? I'm hoping there are better options than Still Spell.

[Akal Saris]

This should really be part of the gish guide, considering what a common question it is!

Here's a very standard pathway:
Twilight - +1 Armor Special Ability from Book of Exalted Deeds (p.112): reduces arcane spell failure by 10%
Mithril - armor special type (DMG), reduces arcane spell failure by 10%
Thistledown suit (Races of the wild) - can be added to padded armor, or any metal armor with padding underneath. It increases ACP by 1, but reduces arcane spell failure by 5%
Spellsword - a prestige class (Complete warrior) which is very commonly taken as a 1-level dip since it offers full casting at first level, along with: reduces arcane spell failure by 10%

That brings you to a total of 35%, which is the ASF rate for full plate. This will set you back 14,750GP (+1 Twilight Mithril Full Plate with Thistledown padding) plus 1 level in Spellsword.

There's some other special materials you can try instead of mithril; like Blended Quartz (from Arms and Equipment Guide) which reduces ASF by 20%, but then you're walking around in quartz armor, which is a bit odd.

A popular alternative is a single level in the Runesmith PrC (Races of Stone - dwarves only), which removes all somatic components from your spellcasting. For a sorcerer, you would want to be a Desert Dwarf, which doesn't have a penalty to Charisma.

[Seward]

EDIT - Runesmith only works for PREPARED spells, so a sorcerer would have to take spell preparation, scribe scroll, heavy armor proficiency (this is several feats without multiclassing) to both qualify for the class and use the runecasting class feature.

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Alternately if Warmage is close enough to the kind of sorcerer you want to play....

Get to level 8 (no spell failure with medium armor) and get mithril fullplate (considerably cheaper than the whole twilight armor thing described in prior post but, you're a warmage, not a sorcerer)

You can do actual fullplate if you take both battlecaster and heavy armor proficiency feats, but most folks prefer to pay an extra 9k for mithril than 2 feats.

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Dragon Devotee at level 3 lets you ignore all ACF on any level of armor but only for L0-1 spells, and costs a caster level to get there (also needs bab5, speak draconic, kn arcane 1 level). That's more an option for a gish with an arcane dip though, for kind of obvious reasons (ie, you need armor proficiency from somewhere and a decent BAB and aren't concerned about ACF on higher level spells)

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Suck it up. Focus on spells without somatic components and take something else (like draconic heritage/breath) to convert spells known into generically useful offense. There are some pretty decent spells that are either somatic only or can be cast before you put on your armor and last all day (light, truestrike, swift xp retreat, feather fall, blur, displacement, dimension door teleport etc for verbal only or verbal+material/focus along with 24 hour spells like endure elements, most hour/level spells some 10min/level spells if you're willing to have "casting time" = "1 round plus time to get out of and into armor etc).

Supplement with wands for any other spells you want, especially low level spells.

Take still spell at some point if you must for when swapping out your armor is inconvenient.

When you can afford it, get a ring of arming (MIC 6k, lets you swap armor+weapons between 2 configurations with std) or quick release (AEG) called (MIC) armor, which isn't that expensive (like 2000gp for called, a couple hundred for quick release), letting you exit armor as a full round action, and call it back to equip you after you are done buffing.

Of course the problem with this approach is getting armor proficiency. This approach is only 3 feat tax (light, med, heavy armor proficiency) or finding a PRC that grants heavy armor prof without losing caster levels.

[Blackhawk748]

There's some other special materials you can try instead of mithril; like Blended Quartz (from Arms and Equipment Guide) which reduces ASF by 20%, but then you're walking around in quartz armor, which is a bit odd.

You say odd, I say cool. Also it saves you a level as Twilight and Thisltedown will get Blended Quartz Full Plate down to 0 ASF.

Be a dwarf for added style points.

[Seward]

You say odd, I say cool. Also it saves you a level as Twilight and Thisltedown will get Blended Quartz Full Plate down to 0 ASF.

Be a dwarf for added style points.

It's 1000gp more costly but doesn't require that you be an elf with bab4, kn arcane 6 etc. As spellsword requires light/med/heavy proficiency you don't even get to save a feat by going with mithril-as-medium armor.

So I think Blended Quartz/Thistledown/Twilight is the best approach for GMs good with AEG+MIC content.

If you want to save on cash (and enchantment costs for the armor if you aren't using a cleric casting Magic Vestment for enhancements above+1), then my approach of "focus on spells without somatic components or longer durations and get quick release/called armor when you can spend a few thousand gp" will work until you can get the cash together for this approach. I'm not sure spending 3 feats on a sorcerer for the privilege of expensive heavy armor is ideal, but you do you. (I am after all somebody who recently spent a couple days fooling around with optimizing flame-arrow, so who am I to talk?)

[Blackhawk748]

It's 1000gp more costly but doesn't require that you be an elf with bab4, kn arcane 6 etc. As spellsword requires light/med/heavy proficiency you don't even get to save a feat by going with mithril-as-medium armor.

So I think Blended Quartz/Thistledown/Twilight is the best approach for GMs good with AEG+MIC content.

If you want to save on cash (and enchantment costs for the armor if you aren't using a cleric casting Magic Vestment for enhancements above+1), then my approach of "focus on spells without somatic components or longer durations and get quick release/called armor when you can spend a few thousand gp" will work until you can get the cash together for this approach. I'm not sure spending 3 feats on a sorcerer for the privilege of expensive heavy armor is ideal, but you do you. (I am after all somebody who recently spent a couple days fooling around with optimizing flame-arrow, so who am I to talk?)

Im assuming this is for a Sorc Gish and so the Heavy Armor Prof is coming from like 2 Fighter levels or something. Otherwise, yes I agree. Quartz is monetarily expensive but it occupies no build space so its worth it in my opinion. And you can grab some Blended Quartz Full Plate earlier and enchant it later, leaning on spells without Somatic components until that happens.

[Saintheart]

Level in cleric, load up on arcane ACFs, take arcane caster levels, take Alternative Source Spell. Cast all arcane spells as divine, no ASF, use Divine Metamagic freely, wear any armor freely.

[pabelfly]

Thanks for the ideas everyone, much appreciated. Especially appreciate the materials recommendations to help reduce ASF percentage.

Question - do armors like Mithril, Thistledown Armor or Blended Quartz come with a penalty for not having an Exotic Armor Proficiency?


Im assuming this is for a Sorc Gish and so the Heavy Armor Prof is coming from like 2 Fighter levels or something.

No idea how I'd build this concept yet, was looking for build ideas for a concept and spare build resources can round the build out. A level or two in Fighter would come with a bonus feat or two, but Paladin 2 comes with Divine Grace.


Level in cleric, load up on arcane ACFs, take arcane caster levels, take Alternative Source Spell. Cast all arcane spells as divine, no ASF, use Divine Metamagic freely, wear any armor freely.

This is an interesting suggestion. I'm not sure how this would work, because the feat is really short on mechanical information or examples. Like, if I went Cleric 1/Sorcerer 8 and wanted to cast, say, Orb of Acid as divine magic, would I be able to do it, or would I be declined since I don't have fourth-level divine spell slots on hand? I could imagine my DM would decline given the power level of what is being asked for here, especially if I started wanting to get in on Divine Metamagic (ab)use.

[Maat Mons]

If you're okay with psionics, Psion has a lot of the same feel as Sorcerer.

If you're okay with Dragon magazine, issue 355 has an ACF for 1st-level Fighters that cuts the spell failure chance of any armor you wear in half.

If you're okay with Pathfinder, the Psychic bloodline for Sorcerer lets you cast your spells without verbal or somatic components.

If it's only the aesthetic you care about, Dungeon 105 has Ceremonial armor, which has half the spell failure chance of the base armor, but also half the AC bonus.

If the AC bonus is what you care about, Thaalud Stone Armor (A:TEoS, p108) has a +12 bonus, but probably isn't compatible with special materials. Mechanus Gear (Planar Handbook) is +10.

If you're really desperate, you could play a Battle Sorcerer, and upgrade your ability to cast spells in light armor with feats.

[Jervis]

I’ll add onto this. Blended Quartz (-20%)+ Thistledown (-5%) + Githcraft (-5%) gets you too -30%. Caster Armor from Eberron (I think, I know it has one and dragon mag has another with the same effect but a different name) is another -5% for a 0ASF without class levels or magic enhancements. Githcraft also gives a Concentration bonus on top.

[Gruftzwerg]

If you're really desperate, you could play a Battle Sorcerer, and upgrade your ability to cast spells in light armor with feats.

I second this. You get (a lil crippled) Sorcerer casting and with the Battle Caster feat (assuming you get medium armor proficiency somehow), you can use "medium Armor". By using the mitral version of heavy armor, they count as medium. Low investment (unless you are feat starving).

[pabelfly]

If you're okay with psionics, Psion has a lot of the same feel as Sorcerer.

If you're okay with Dragon magazine, issue 355 has an ACF for 1st-level Fighters that cuts the spell failure chance of any armor you wear in half.

If you're okay with Pathfinder, the Psychic bloodline for Sorcerer lets you cast your spells without verbal or somatic components.

If it's only the aesthetic you care about, Dungeon 105 has Ceremonial armor, which has half the spell failure chance of the base armor, but also half the AC bonus.

If the AC bonus is what you care about, Thaalud Stone Armor (A:TEoS, p108) has a +12 bonus, but probably isn't compatible with special materials. Mechanus Gear (Planar Handbook) is +10.

If you're really desperate, you could play a Battle Sorcerer, and upgrade your ability to cast spells in light armor with feats.

Some really good suggestions in here, thanks. I really like the Armored Savant ACF you suggest, that makes Fighter a really good choice for a dip.

A psychic class like Psion is also really tempting since you can get Heavy Armor Optimization (likely from a Fighter dip that also gets you heavy armor proficiency) and the Deflective Armor feat to get a huge boost to touch AC.

I do like Battle Sorcerer, that seems like the least complicated way to do this type of build. I'd be interested in seeing what other options there are though.

[Seward]

Question - do armors like Mithril, Thistledown Armor or Blended Quartz come with a penalty for not having an Exotic Armor Proficiency?


They do not. They're treated as normal armor in every way except what the special material says. To need exotic armor proficiency you need actually exotic armor.

It is the same reason a cold iron longsword isn't an exotic weapon.

Re: Battle Sorcerer - it is still a lot of feats, but saves your wealth. You still need to buy 2 armor proficiency feats and 2 battle caster feats to get all the way up to heavy armor. You can get by with medium armor proficiency and one battle caster feat if you spend on mithril fullplate, but the difference between that and the quartz/thistledown/twilight option is only 1250gp for the quartz/thistledown and an extra +1 enchantment for twilight, which is not an amount of wealth that usually would be worth 2 feats and the limitations Battle Sorcerer has compared to Sorcerer.

[pabelfly]

They do not. They're treated as normal armor in every way except what the special material says. To need exotic armor proficiency you need actually exotic armor.

It is the same reason a cold iron longsword isn't an exotic weapon.

Re: Battle Sorcerer - it is still a lot of feats, but saves your wealth. You still need to buy 2 armor proficiency feats and 2 battle caster feats to get all the way up to heavy armor. You can get by with medium armor proficiency and one battle caster feat if you spend on mithril fullplate, but the difference between that and the quartz/thistledown/twilight option is only 1250gp for the quartz/thistledown and an extra +1 enchantment for twilight, which is not an amount of wealth that usually would be worth 2 feats and the limitations Battle Sorcerer has compared to Sorcerer.

How do you get Battle Caster feat twice? I read through the rule and it said nothing about being able to get the feat multiple times.

[Seward]

Having never actually used that feat, I just assumed you could.

Guess the Battle Sorcerer/Battle Caster concept needs to go with Mithril then.

[Mordaedil]

I got there by starting as battle sorcerer, multiclassing into Warblade or fighter, getting battle caster feat, investing in a mithril full plate and eventually getting into Abjurant Champion and then later either Jade Phoenix Mage or eldritch knight depending on what you want to prioritize. You lose more spellcasting with JPM, but you get more maneuvers with it.

[pabelfly]

Having never actually used that feat, I just assumed you could.

Guess the Battle Sorcerer/Battle Caster concept needs to go with Mithril then.

If I were DMing, I'd house-rule that you could take it twice. It's not an overpowered setup - armor spells are better - and the opportunity cost of giving up two feats, one spell slot from each spell level, and a level of spellcasting to get heavy armor proficiency seems like a pretty reasonable trade to be decked out in heavy armor. But I'm playing this as a character and I'd rather propose a character concept to the DM without any house rules.

[Saintheart]

This is an interesting suggestion. I'm not sure how this would work, because the feat is really short on mechanical information or examples. Like, if I went Cleric 1/Sorcerer 8 and wanted to cast, say, Orb of Acid as divine magic, would I be able to do it, or would I be declined since I don't have fourth-level divine spell slots on hand? I could imagine my DM would decline given the power level of what is being asked for here, especially if I started wanting to get in on Divine Metamagic (ab)use.

It wouldn't, in that case, because it says the spells are "prepared" normally, so that takes Arcane Preparation in the case of a Sorcerer. Otherwise, it's the casting of an arcane spell that causes Arcane Spell Failure chance, not how it was prepared. A.S.Spell says it uses up a slot from "the class that normally grants the spell." Don't need a fourth-level divine spell slot, just the arcane spell slot that it normally derives from. Only restriction is that it's cast as if it were 1 CL lower. Which of course makes it doubly hilarious if you're creating magic items with low CL, but anyway. On review, DMM probably could be ruled out on the basis that DMM explicitly works only on "divine spells that you know", but you don't know the arcane spell in its divine form, it's just prepared that way. But then if it comes to that, it's time to rule out all DMM for every cleric who ever lived, because clerics don't "know" any spells, although spontaneous divine casters like Favored Soul do. Otherwise - plenty of consensus around the boards here and elsewhere that A.S.S. does, by RAW, get you around A.S.F.

[pabelfly]

It wouldn't, in that case, because it says the spells are "prepared" normally, so that takes Arcane Preparation in the case of a Sorcerer. Otherwise, it's the casting of an arcane spell that causes Arcane Spell Failure chance, not how it was prepared. A.S.Spell says it uses up a slot from "the class that normally grants the spell." Don't need a fourth-level divine spell slot, just the arcane spell slot that it normally derives from. Only restriction is that it's cast as if it were 1 CL lower. Which of course makes it doubly hilarious if you're creating magic items with low CL, but anyway. On review, DMM probably could be ruled out on the basis that DMM explicitly works only on "divine spells that you know", but you don't know the arcane spell in its divine form, it's just prepared that way. But then if it comes to that, it's time to rule out all DMM for every cleric who ever lived, because clerics don't "know" any spells, although spontaneous divine casters like Favored Soul do. Otherwise - plenty of consensus around the boards here and elsewhere that A.S.S. does, by RAW, get you around A.S.F.

Fair enough. Thanks for clarifying.

[Biggus]

I’ll add onto this. Blended Quartz (-20%)+ Thistledown (-5%) + Githcraft (-5%) gets you too -30%. Caster Armor from Eberron (I think, I know it has one and dragon mag has another with the same effect but a different name) is another -5% for a 0ASF without class levels or magic enhancements. Githcraft also gives a Concentration bonus on top.

Caster armor (-5% ASF) is in Dragon 358, p.39-40. Only costs 400-1000GP too. Never heard of the Eberron version, would be interested if anyone can give a reference.

[RandomPeasant]

If you're okay with psionics, Psion has a lot of the same feel as Sorcerer.

That would be my recommendation. Or just playing a divine spellcaster who can already cast in full armor. Or, depending on what sort of spells they want to cast, starting from Warmage or Beguiler rather than Sorcerer. While it's possible that whatever OP wants to do can only be achieved as a Sorcerer, it would be better to specify what they want the character to do, rather than what they want them to be, and see if there's a way to do that without jumping through all the hoops involved in getting heavy armor as an arcane spellcaster.

[nedz]

You can just choose to take spells which do not trigger ASF: There are a surprising number of Gish type spells which fit this category.

What goes for Warmage also goes for Dread Necromancer or Beguiler BTW - if you want different spell lists.

You can also do this with Bard into Sublime Chord.

[Remuko]

I second this. You get (a lil crippled) Sorcerer casting and with the Battle Caster feat (assuming you get medium armor proficiency somehow), you can use "medium Armor". By using the mitral version of heavy armor, they count as medium. Low investment (unless you are feat starving).

this was gonna be my suggestion too. battle sorcerer with battle caster (i think thats the feat that lets you cast in armor 1 higher) and then just use mythril full plate. fairly simple.

[Gruftzwerg]

Since you would prefer a Sorcerer, we should also mention the combo Contingency + (Greater) Arcane Fusion as workaround.

While this is mostly limited to start of combat (as possible trigger for the Contingency), you can cast 2 buff spells at no action cost and with 0% fail change due to armor.

If you are fine with removing the armor between fights to recast Contingency (and being limited to it while wearing armor) this can be a very cheap workaround. I mean, most Sorcerer builds already will pick the spells, so there is no downside.
It's very crippled, but for a gish it might be enough and comes very cheap (build resources).

[pabelfly]

Since you would prefer a Sorcerer, we should also mention the combo Contingency + (Greater) Arcane Fusion as workaround.

While this is mostly limited to start of combat (as possible trigger for the Contingency), you can cast 2 buff spells at no action cost and with 0% fail change due to armor.

If you are fine with removing the armor between fights to recast Contingency (and being limited to it while wearing armor) this can be a very cheap workaround. I mean, most Sorcerer builds already will pick the spells, so there is no downside.
It's very crippled, but for a gish it might be enough and comes very cheap (build resources).

Wasn't aware of the Contingency and Arcane Fusion combo, thanks.

[Troacctid]

Skin of ectoplasmic armor (MIC) is effectively full plate that counts as light armor. If you can get the ability to cast in light armor, whether through battle sorcerer or knight phantom or switching to warmage or whatever, it works pretty well, and it doesn't have the Frankenstein factor of twilight caster thistledown blue ice blended quartz mithral githcraft feycraft blorbo armor.

[pabelfly]

Skin of ectoplasmic armor (MIC) is effectively full plate that counts as light armor. If you can get the ability to cast in light armor, whether through battle sorcerer or knight phantom or switching to warmage or whatever, it works pretty well, and it doesn't have the Frankenstein factor of twilight caster thistledown blue ice blended quartz mithral githcraft feycraft blorbo armor.

Oh, that Skin of Ectoplasmic Armor is a really good recommendation. Thanks.

[Particle_Man]

If your DM allows, you could take the divine version of the generic spellcaster from unearthed arcana to cast divine versions but with a spell list that can draw from sorcerer (and wizard and druid and cleric) spells. No free familiar though and since your spells would be divine it might be harder to get one.

https://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/genericClasses.htm#spellcaster

[Endarire]

Why focus on wearing heavy armor when light armor (like a +1 Mithril Twilight Chain Shirt) is mechanically wonderful?

[pabelfly]

Why focus on wearing heavy armor when light armor (like a +1 Mithril Twilight Chain Shirt) is mechanically wonderful?

Rule of cool.

[Jack_Simth]

There's some other special materials you can try instead of mithril; like Blended Quartz (from Arms and Equipment Guide) which reduces ASF by 20%, but then you're walking around in quartz armor, which is a bit odd.

...
Blended quartz is odd.
Costs an extra 10k for heavy armors, but an extra 2k per pound for shields. And it doubles the weight.

So... does that base 15 pound heavy steel shield cost an extra 30k or 60k? And why does a base 15 pound heavy steel shield cost 3 to 6 times as much to make into blended quartz than a base 45 pound full plate set?

But hey: If you're a low-dex Wizard, for just cash on technically mundane items, you can purchase a githcraft masterwork caster armor blended quartz full plate and a blended quartz heavy steel shield, and walk around with +10 mundane AC!
... if you can carry the 120 pounds of weight....

[Seward]

...
Blended quartz is odd.
Costs an extra 10k for heavy armors, but an extra 2k per pound for shields. And it doubles the weight.



Mithril's like that too. +1000 whether it is a buckler or a heavy shield, but 500gp/lb for anything else (in Pathfinder I like Mithril Spiked Gauntlets because mithril = silver without the -1 damage and they cost only a bit more than masterwork, less than masterwork for a size small character, but a 10lb weapon made mithril costs 5000gp, not the 1000gp of a 10 lb steel heavy shield...and 25lb of anything costs 12500gp, not the 1000gp of a chain shirt. Economies of scale?)

[Jervis]

...
Blended quartz is odd.
Costs an extra 10k for heavy armors, but an extra 2k per pound for shields. And it doubles the weight.

So... does that base 15 pound heavy steel shield cost an extra 30k or 60k? And why does a base 15 pound heavy steel shield cost 3 to 6 times as much to make into blended quartz than a base 45 pound full plate set?

But hey: If you're a low-dex Wizard, for just cash on technically mundane items, you can purchase a githcraft masterwork caster armor blended quartz full plate and a blended quartz heavy steel shield, and walk around with +10 mundane AC!
... if you can carry the 120 pounds of weight....

Don’t forget the thistledown! Jokes aside this isn’t a bad setup for a strength Gish wizard and there are plenty of magical ways to deal with weight

[Darg]

Never forget your Savnok Tooth of Dahlver'Nar at home. Not really relevant to trying to get full casting in heavy armor, but it is useful in letting you move without the movement penalty once you do.

My addition would have to be geometer (CArc). When you cast a prepared spell using a spell glyph it acts as if it were affected by the still spell feat. You can also use the arcane preparation feat if you are a spontaneous caster to prepare your spells.

[Particle_Man]

My addition would have to be geometer (CArc). When you cast a prepared spell using a spell glyph it acts as if it were affected by the still spell feat. You can also use the arcane preparation feat if you are a spontaneous caster to prepare your spells.

Don’t spell glyphs act as the Silent Spell feat (which is nice but won’t help with the arcane spell failure chance from wearing armor problem)?

[pabelfly]

Don’t spell glyphs act as the Silent Spell feat (which is nice but won’t help with the arcane spell failure chance from wearing armor problem)?

Having read through the class, it looks like you can prepare spells in advance as glyphs. You could prepare the spells in your downtime when you're not in armor when you don't have to worry about ASF, and cast it when you are wearing armor but your ASF would then be irrelevant.

[Seward]

Spellglyphs replace material and verbal components, but, strangely, not somatic.



Spellglyph (Su): A spellglyph is an arcane diagram that substitutes for a specific spell’s verbal and material components (if any). When a geometer casts a prepared spell in conjunction with a spellglyph scribed for that spell, he can cast the spell as if it were affected by the Silent Spell feat. The spellglyph replaces any material components (other than a focus) normally required by the spell. A geometer chooses at the time of casting whether to use a spellglyph. An expended spellglyph disappears, just like any other material component. Spellglyphs are normally scribed on parchment, much like scrolls. Preparing a spellglyph requires 1 hour and the use of rare inks costing 25 gp per spell level. If the spell normally requires an expensive material component (with a value of more than 1 gp), exotic inks and treatments of equal cost must be used in the preparation of the spellglyph.


I guess you have to get out the diagram as a kind of material component+required foci and wave it around in a somatic way (need a hand free, has ASF etc)

Also the spellglyph is 1 hour per spell, not 1 hour to prep all your spells. That plus the material cost kind of precludes doing all your spells that way, unless you only go adventuring every other day or something, or just make a metric ton of them during longer downtime (note you can't really draw as a free action out of a haversack but you could take a subset of prepared glyphs and put in your spell component pouch I suppose, since you choose at casting time whether or not to use it)

[Bphill561]

I don't think I saw this one, but this enchantment is expensive. Half-weight is in the Underdark book at the cost of +3 but it makes any armor count as light armor and cuts weight by 50%. So I would say it is only useful if you have money to burn and the ability to ignore spell failure in light armor. Mithril breast plate or other options listed previously is much better unless you are starting high level and really want kind of heavy armor.

[Maat Mons]

If you're willing to put up with being a prepared caster, and having a spellbook, Archivist can probably gain access to a lot of the good Sorcerer/Wizard spells.

Oerthblood can, in my opinion, make heavy armor worthwhile... if you've got lots of money to throw around. In a Pathfinder game that doesn't allow 3.5 content, Mind Buttressing is a compelling reason to go with at least medium armor.

[Crake]

Blended quartz, twilight, gith/feycraft is 35% ASF reduction

Mithril, twilight, nimble, gith+feycraft, thistledown padding is -35% ASF +3 max dex and -4 ACP. If you allow pathfinder material, comfort reduces ACP by another 1, so you could have Sectioned Plate (same stats as fullplate but 1 less ACP), that has 0 ASF, 0 ACP (meaning anyone can use it without proficiency at no penalty), and a total max dex of +4.

Pretty good caster armor, though it does have the one downside of counting as medium armor, so it slows down your movement speed. This can be fixed by adding the halfweight enchantment, but it adds a significant extra to the cost.

[Bphill561]

I’ll add onto this. Blended Quartz (-20%)+ Thistledown (-5%) + Githcraft (-5%) gets you too -30%. Caster Armor from Eberron (I think, I know it has one and dragon mag has another with the same effect but a different name) is another -5% for a 0ASF without class levels or magic enhancements. Githcraft also gives a Concentration bonus on top.

The dragon issue is #358, starting on page 38. You can also increase AC by 1, max dex by 1, and reduce weight further just for good measure. There are other options though.

[nedz]

Why focus on wearing heavy armor when light armor (like a +1 Mithril Twilight Chain Shirt) is mechanically wonderful?


Rule of cool.

You could always go for the +1 Mithril Twilight Chain Shirt Glamoured to look like Mountain Plate - or whatever. Glamoured adds 2,700 gp to the cost (DMG).

[pabelfly]

You could always go for the +1 Mithril Twilight Chain Shirt Glamoured to look like Mountain Plate - or whatever. Glamoured adds 2,700 gp to the cost (DMG).

Ectoplasmic Skin of Armor costs 6,150 gold pieces for a masterwork suit. +1 Mithril Twilight Chain Shirt Glamoured costs 10,850 gold pieces if I've done the maths correctly. I'm not really seeing the benefit of your choice.