D&D General Reasons to prefer magical armor to more effective non-magical one

[77IM]

Magic armor isn't destroyed by a disintegrate spell, so, uh, that's cool for your next-of-kin, I guess.

 

[Dioltach]

There's the intimidation factor. "I'm standing here in my loincloth, and you still can't hit me!"

 

[TarionzCousin]

This thread reminded me that 4E had some interesting/novel armor. Scroll down to Non-standard masterwork armor: Armor

 

[Yaarel]

Heh, the best reason to pick Leather Armor +1 over Studded Leather Armor is, Leather Armor exists in reallife, while Studded Leather is ridiculous nonsense.

 

[mhd]

Leather Armor as a lightweight thief's motor jacket is about as non-sensical as studded leather, though.

Speaking of armor realism, I had a version of this conundrum in a GURPS Ptolus game, where I used most of the "historic" armor rules and assumptions. This meant that rather recently developed hardened steel plate armor was often superior to magically enchanted ancient scale/chain/plate. On the other hand, armor weight was somewhat more important there, and having half-weight scale was a big deal. And you could have easy enough rules about armor being "impervious", where it doesn't save you from the force of the impact, but prevents it to penetrate the armor (in GURPS terms: no impaling damage). Allowed for some interesting trade-offs.

Impervious armor would be harder to do in D&D. Not being able to be critted unless the enemy got a weapon with at least the same bonus might be okay for games/editions where armor is more rare and crits aren't as important (e.g. the AD&Ds).

Now for the settings where magical armor is more common, the idea of just not having regular +1 armor appear is a good idea. I often did that in my 3.x or PF adventures, both for weapons and armor.

Another option I'm seriously considering (albeit this requiring a slight "retcon") for my current PF1 campaign is to merge magical armors with other parts of the "Big Six". It would be easy enough to at least put the saving throw bonus in with the armor. Maybe even an attribute bonus.

 

[Plaguescarred]

Magic armor are usually much more resistant and thus harder to destroy, than mundane armor. Many effects also don't affect it, nor should it rust or corrode easily.

You can also potentially hit creatures requiring magical attacks by elbowing them using your magical armor as improvised weapon. ☺

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I mean this is an issue ultimately caused by the armour table having several pointless trap choices.

 

[Umbran]

Heh, the best reason to pick Leather Armor +1 over Studded Leather Armor is, Leather Armor exists in reallife, while Studded Leather is ridiculous nonsense.

If "ridiculous nonsense" is a problem for someone, I would question D&D as an appropriate pastime for them.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

What are some good reasons, house rules, fluff etc, to prefer e.g. a leather armor +1 to studded leather or even more protective ones? Or +1 scale from the dawn of the Orc Wars vis-a-vis that boring new fangled field plate just developed?
(Beyond the regular encumbrance, check penalty or thief skill rules of the various editions.)

Half weight? Invent armor maintenance rules and then circumvent then with magic armor? Something that interacts with weapons of a lower plus?

In 2E, we had two rules with magic armour:

1) Once identified, you could make it resize itself within reason, whereas normal armour had to be fitted to an individual - it was still sometimes specific to like gnome/halfling, dwarf, elf/human, etc. depending on the whim of the DM when he wrote it up, or sometimes would resize to any humanoid. It would thus also likely be more comfortable than "real" armour (which would be HUGE if you were wearing it all day).

2) Magic armour didn't require any maintenance beyond basic scrubbing to remove substances, and they'd come off fairly easily (i.e. blood etc.). Like, magic leather wouldn't stain or be harmed by oils, magic chain would never rust (so no carrying a barrel of oil/sand to maintain it). This would also mean it was harder for it to smell or get sweaty/uncomfortable or w/e, so it would be easy to justify an NPC as wanting to wear it because of that (esp. if they can't cast Prestidigitation).

It never came up but personally as a DM I always thought it'd be very easy to repair with simple magic, too, or might even mend tears/breaks/bends overnight.

 

[Yaarel]

If "ridiculous nonsense" is a problem for someone, I would question D&D as an appropriate pastime for them.

Heh. You seem to admit that Studded Leather is ridiculous nonsense.