Tell me more ×
Role-playing Games Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for gamemasters and players of tabletop, paper-and-pencil role-playing games. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 8 down vote favorite

In D&D 4e, there are superior "masterwork" versions of armour types, like "feyleather" for leather armour or "wyrmscale" for scale armour. They have a higher armour bonus, but a minimum enhancement bonus, and a price of "special".

How exactly do masterwork armours work? Does any leather armour of +4 or greater qualify to be feyleather for a free +1 armour bonus? Is all +6 plate armour essentially Godplate?

share|improve this question

1 Answer

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Armor should always be the best masterwork version its +X bonus allows. Some later books add additional kinds of masterwork armor, in which case any of the kinds with the a minimum +X bonus equal to the item's +X bonus should be OK, but armor should never be of a lower quality than it could be. If you're allowing players to upgrade the enchantments on a piece of armor, the armor should automatically improve to match the appropriate masterwork quality.

The masterwork armors are essentially a math fix: WotC realized player AC lagged behind monster attack bonuses at higher levels, so they put in masterwork armor to make up the difference.

share|improve this answer
Is there a rule for automatic upgrades? My old DM loves to sink money out of us trying to get us to upgrade the base material of the armor. – Brian Ballsun-Stanton♦ May 20 '12 at 23:42
Given that masterwork armours were included in even the PHB1, I have to disagree that they're a 'fix'. – ioanwigmore May 20 '12 at 23:55
@ioanwigmore: Consider the math for a heavy armor character without masterwork. Monsters gain +29 attack (1 per level) going from level 1 to level 30. Players get +15 (half level), +6 (enhancement), maybe +1 more from the original paragon tier feat bonuses to AC for a gain of +22 over 29 levels, a difference of 7. That means if you were getting hit on an 11 on the die at level 1, you're getting hit by a 4 on the die at level 30. – Oblivious Sage May 21 '12 at 0:16
@BrianBallsun-Stanton: Unfortunately the descriptions of them are vague at best. Your best bet is to show him the math and point out that he's essentially charging you for bonuses that the game designers assumed you'd get for free. Remember, 3.5e item rewards were balanced on the idea that you'd get random stuff nobody wanted, sell it for 20% of its value, then buy the stuff you wanted. In 4e, the basic wealth per level math assumes players usually get what they want, and always get something they'll use rather than pawning the first chance they get. – Oblivious Sage May 21 '12 at 0:17
@ObliviousSage Stuff usually sold for 50% of its value in 3.5, but other than that you make an excellent point. – GMJoe May 21 '12 at 6:06
show 4 more comments

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.