Outsiders get what ever armor proficiency is "described" for their race.
Only Description I've seen for Neraphim:
Neraphim also prefer to wear strangely colorful body-covering bone spiked leather
What Armor Proficiency do Neraphim get?
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3 Answers
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No automatic armor proficiency for Neraphim
As per the Neraphim description in the Planar Handbook (p. 12-13 reproduced on the Wizards archive), the Neraphim get no armor proficiencies just for being Neraphim.
But natural armor
But they do get +2 to AC from natural armor, as per the same entry, and can take armor proficiencies from classes or feats as normal.
answered Apr 29, 2015 at 1:32
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To quote your question:
Outsiders get what ever armor proficiency is "described" for their race.
I assume this statement is based on the SRD's description of the outsider type (emphasis added):
Proficient with whatever type of armor (light, medium, or heavy) it is described as wearing, as well as all lighter types. Outsiders not indicated as wearing armor are not proficient with armor.
This means that if the example stat block included with the neraphim's creature entry says that it has armor as part of its equipment (which would be calculated into its Armor Class), then that example creature has whatever armor proficiency would be required to wear that kind of armor.
However, if you're creating a character with class levels and assigning the neraphim race, then they get whatever armor proficiency is normally provided by their class.
answered Apr 29, 2015 at 1:27
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1\$\begingroup\$ Note that if the Neraphim (or other outsider) has racial hit dice, they get proficiency with the armour they're described as wearing in addition to the armour proficiencies provided by their class. \$\endgroup\$– GMJoeApr 29, 2015 at 1:32
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\$\begingroup\$ @GMJoe Does that apply to a creature entry where racial HD is mixed with class levels, when GM/player advances a NPC/PC with both racial HD and class levels, or both? Is there a SRD or book citation for how that works? \$\endgroup\$ Apr 29, 2015 at 3:56
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5\$\begingroup\$ @GMJoe Racial hit dice are not necessary to benefit from the racial proficiencies of the Outsider type. A monster statblock that actually describes the creature as using a certain type of armor, however, is. \$\endgroup\$– KRyanApr 29, 2015 at 4:14
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1\$\begingroup\$ @AgentAquarius Upon looking at the SRD, it looks like KRyan is correct. I should have said "Note that the Neraphim (or other outsider) gets proficiency with the armour they're described as wearing in addition to the armour proficiencies provided by their class." It's a little hard to find a citation for this, save for the general observation that if a creature gets armour proficiency from any source, it doesn't lose it as a result of taking a class. \$\endgroup\$– GMJoeApr 29, 2015 at 4:15
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You didn’t complete your quote:
neraphim also prefer to wear colorful bone-spiked leather (made of stabilized and cured chaos beast hide).
(Planar Handbook, neraphim physical description, pg. 12
The description of neraphim describes them as wearing a type of hide armor, which is a type of light armor.
Neraphim have the outsider type, which means they have all the traits of the outsider type, which means they have this trait:
Proficient with whatever type of armor (light, medium, or heavy) it is described as wearing, as well as all lighter types.
Since neraphim are described as wearing hide armor, a light armor, neraphim are proficient in all armors of that “type” (light), and would be proficient in any armors lighter than that, if there were any.
It isn’t relevant that this goes unmentioned in the neraph racial traits listed in the Planar Handbook. It is not necessary for racial features to spell out all the benefits of standardized features like type; unless something says otherwise (as, for example, with warforged; cf. Eberron Campaign Setting pg. 21), you get everything associated with your type without requiring the racial traits to say anything beyond the fact that you have the type. For the outsider type, that includes a number of proficiencies (neraphim are also proficient with all martial weapons from their outsider type).
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\$\begingroup\$ Good answer. While proficiencies usually come in packages (light/medium/heavy), they don't always (see e.g. cleric weapon proficiencies). I think this answer is reasonable, but I'm curious whether you have a basis for saying "light armor" instead of just "tie-dye chaos hide." \$\endgroup\$– fectinNov 19, 2023 at 21:55
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\$\begingroup\$ @fectin Weapon proficiencies can be specific lists (though monk would be a better example than cleric). Armor proficiencies, however, are always by category. \$\endgroup\$– KRyanNov 19, 2023 at 22:18
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\$\begingroup\$ I deliberately picked cleric instead of monk, because "monk weapons" is arguably a discrete category (and avoided "elf" for the same reason). That's an odd distinction though, even though I can't think of any counterexamples. Likely worth a real question. \$\endgroup\$– fectinNov 19, 2023 at 22:33
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\$\begingroup\$ @fectin “Special monk weapons” is a category (though a categorization orthogonal to the simple/martial/exotic axis), but not all the weapons a monk is proficient in are “special monk weapons.” So as far as proficiency is concerned, monk is a good example, in my opinion, but bard, rogue, and wizard work pretty well too. As for armor, in addition to my point about it always coming by category, the outsider trait explicitly says it works by weight category, saying “Proficient with whatever type of armor (light, medium, or heavy) it is described as wearing, as well as all lighter types.” \$\endgroup\$– KRyanNov 20, 2023 at 2:33
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\$\begingroup\$ I missed that parenthetical before; this is even more clearly correct now. Bravo, as usual. \$\endgroup\$– fectinNov 20, 2023 at 3:38