Question about crafted leather armor

[respawnaholic]

Ok...so when someone makes custom steel armor it grants a +1 to AC and weights 80% of normal. In sum you get a better armor that weighs less for characters that are strength based.

So why is it when you make sturdy studded leather armor with ancient dire bear you get +1 AC/ +2 vs slashing/piercing/bludgening but it weighs TWICE what regular studded leather does? In sum you get a better AC for wearing an armor that is quite likely to put a dex based character over their encumberance limit. Even one made out of troll or ebon tiger weighs 5lbs more. Im assuming this isnt a bug but why?

Im starting to get why I literally cant seem to even GIVE AWAY these armors.

[Dusk]

Chitin still gives weight reduction, IIRC.

I often see those who wear light armor more concerned with their stealth skills than AC, and there's a particular set of leather armor that is much more appealing to this end. Given some time, perhaps the new Parry system will bring more demand for studded leather armor. IMO, it's this number-crunching between the stealth skill and AC that makes crafted studded leather less appealing, and not the weight itself. The way weight is added to these 'sturdy' leathers makes sense to me, in fact.

[respawnaholic]

Chitin still gives weight reduction, IIRC.

I often see those who wear light armor more concerned with their stealth skills than AC, and there's a particular set of leather armor that is much more appealing to this end. Given some time, perhaps the new Parry system will bring more demand for studded leather armor. IMO, it's this number-crunching between the stealth skill and AC that makes crafted studded leather less appealing, and not the weight itself. The way weight is added to these 'sturdy' leathers makes sense to me, in fact.

Chitin reduces weight, and if I ever get around to actually enchanting a suit of armor that will be the one I choose to enchant because Im tired of playing inventory tetris every time I log on, but chitin armor doesnt provide a HARD bonus to AC the way steel does.
Yeah, and I get that most people wearing leather armor are more concerned for their H/MS skills. It just irks me that solid steel full plate armor has a -20% discount to weight whereas sturdy boiled studded leather has a +100% increase to weight (that also isnt listed anywhere). As for what makes sence and what doesnt you can basically rationalise anything. Why should steel have less weight than other metal armor? What is other metal armor actually made out of? Iron? Copper? Lead?

Im just saying that benefits should be relatively uniform for a DC based skill system across the board. If two things have a DC of 54 (yeah...54...seriously) and one provides a hard bonus of +1 to AC with -20% weight while the other provides a hard +1 to AC with a suituational +2 in certain circumstances but has a +100% increase in weight then one crafting skill is clearly better than the other.

[Ercvadasz]

Chitin still gives weight reduction, IIRC.

I often see those who wear light armor more concerned with their stealth skills than AC, and there's a particular set of leather armor that is much more appealing to this end. Given some time, perhaps the new Parry system will bring more demand for studded leather armor. IMO, it's this number-crunching between the stealth skill and AC that makes crafted studded leather less appealing, and not the weight itself. The way weight is added to these 'sturdy' leathers makes sense to me, in fact.

Chitin reduces weight, and if I ever get around to actually enchanting a suit of armor that will be the one I choose to enchant because Im tired of playing inventory tetris every time I log on, but chitin armor doesnt provide a HARD bonus to AC the way steel does.
Yeah, and I get that most people wearing leather armor are more concerned for their H/MS skills. It just irks me that solid steel full plate armor has a -20% discount to weight whereas sturdy boiled studded leather has a +100% increase to weight (that also isnt listed anywhere). As for what makes sence and what doesnt you can basically rationalise anything. Why should steel have less weight than other metal armor? What is other metal armor actually made out of? Iron? Copper? Lead?

Im just saying that benefits should be relatively uniform for a DC based skill system across the board. If two things have a DC of 54 (yeah...54...seriously) and one provides a hard bonus of +1 to AC with -20% weight while the other provides a hard +1 to AC with a suituational +2 in certain circumstances but has a +100% increase in weight then one crafting skill is clearly better than the other.

He is right in this.
I got a chain armor that gives to two skills bonus (+1, +2), a universal +1 AC, and weighs due to the 80% weight reduction, 20 pounds.
A normal none crafted leather armor weighs 10 pounds, a studded leather weighs 15 pounds....add the extra weight of 100% to it, and you'll see what he is talking about.
My crafted chain armor weighs much less than a crafted studded leather armor, and also the ACP of it is only 2! 1 point of sneak skills reduction for 1 point of bonus AC, and I even gain a huge carry capacity bonus?

[Dusk]

This is a screenshot of the set of crafted studded leather on Inari:



The sturdy boiled component comes from Ancient Dire Bear hide, I believe. I can't recall ever seeing a set of crafted studded leather weighing 30lbs, but I would agree 30lbs is a bit much for studded leather armor.

[urathraviel]

I believe ancient dire bear and ancient dire crocodile add 5 lbs all on their own as a property of the hide.  At least that's what my notes on the craft say. theoretically it could have been changed midway through writing them though.

[respawnaholic]

This is a screenshot of the set of crafted studded leather on Inari:



The sturdy boiled component comes from Ancient Dire Bear hide, I believe. I can't recall ever seeing a set of crafted studded leather weighing 30lbs, but I would agree 30lbs is a bit much for studded leather armor.

That is a studded leather armor made of either gargoyle or ancient dire bear for the "sturdy" quality with ebon tiger for the (hide) trimmings. You will also note that it is 5 pounds heavier than regular studded leather armor by looking at the weight stat....it has a DC of about 45ish. Nowhere in special properties does it mention a penalty to weight.

The specific armor I was talking about is made from completely from Ancient dire bear. it has a DC of 54 with most of the modifiers listed except for an additional +2 vs piercing and a 5% resistance to cold with a 25% reduction vs fire. It has a weight of 30 pounds.

To put it in a bit clearer perspective if you compare the sturdy studded leather made of ancient dire bear aginst steel chainmail you would have an overall HARD bonus to AC of +1 from the chainmail and it would weigh LESS than the leather. The ONLY advantage this armor would give is it allows rangers to utilise their dual wield feat since the leather is considered light armor (which must be a relative concept since it is actually heavier than chainmail.) Oh....and Im reasonably sure the steel chainmail has a lower DC than 54. In sum, and the heart of my discontentment, is a suit of steel chainmail is about 10 DC points easier to make, provides +1 to AC over the sturdy studded leather AND weighs 10 pounds less.

[EberronBruce]

On my ranger I did an experiment. Focused mostly on archery, I commissioned a steel chainshirt with troll hide way back in the day. Then I got some studded leather to try to use his dual wield and to improve his hide/ms.

What I notice is the chainshirt and studded leather both crafted weighed about the same. They both had the same arcane spell failure which I was hoping the studded would have less arcane spell failure. The only benefit with studded over the chainshirt is of the -1 armor check penalty instead of the -2. The chainshirt provides a way better AC over the studded, which were both crafted by players.

[respawnaholic]

On my ranger I did an experiment. Focused mostly on archery, I commissioned a steel chainshirt with troll hide way back in the day. Then I got some studded leather to try to use his dual wield and to improve his hide/ms.

What I notice is the chainshirt and studded leather both crafted weighed about the same. They both had the same arcane spell failure which I was hoping the studded would have less arcane spell failure. The only benefit with studded over the chainshirt is of the -1 armor check penalty instead of the -2. The chainshirt provides a way better AC over the studded, which were both crafted by players.

The one advantage the leather would have over the chain shirt is the chain shirt is considered medium armor and the leather is light armor allowing a ranger character to use his free dual wielding feat. Im also guessing the chain shirt would have a lower Dc check than a comperable suit of leather. (Good leathers are in the mid-40s to mid 50s.)

[Bodhidharma]

This server is lacking in attribute boosts, being encumbered is inevitable.

I would kill for a plain tower shield & full plate with just weight reduction on it.

[respawnaholic]

This server is lacking in attribute boosts, being encumbered is inevitable.

I would kill for a plain tower shield & full plate with just weight reduction on it.

You can get them. They come in steel. The point I was trying to make is that crafted steel items give bonuses and weigh less. The same (equivalent) items in leather still give bonuses but weigh MORE.