Who Has Sacrificed AC for Roleplaying Purposes?

Camus34

For instance, my current character is duel wielding katanas (the +1 and the mundane katana). Instead of full plate I have him wearing chain mail +3, because I see plate as being too cumbersome for a character who has to be more nimble.

Philhelm

I've done something similar with my Priest of Lathander. I used EE Keeper to give him the Thief paper doll since I thought he looked cool with a hood. The Thief paper doll defaults to the Fighter paper doll when ever plate armor is worn, so I wore the best chain/splint armor I could find.

PnP would at least provide some balancing factors between the armor types, such as movement penalties, fatigue for sleeping in armor, and time to equip armor. Frankly, and adventurer in plate armor, while cool, isn't very realistic. It would make more sense to wear leather or chain armor when traveling.

Jarrakul

Closest I've come in an IE game is not wearing both armor and bracers of armor at the same time in Icewind Dale. One of my characters was a barbarian, and after spending most of the game wearing nonmagical splint mail, she found bracers of armor AC 2. Now, technically, the best thing to do would be to wear both the bracers and the armor, because while the armor's base AC would be overridden, its conditional bonuses against specific damage types wouldn't be. But that's dumb, and I would've felt dirty taking advantage of it, so I didn't.

I also self-imposed druid armor restrictions in Neverwinter Nights 2, but that's not an IE game. Also, it was partially a reaction to druids being hideously powerful in that game, and to one particular type of hide armor looking super cool.

Philhelm

Jarrakul wrote: »

I also self-imposed druid armor restrictions in Neverwinter Nights 2, but that's not an IE game. Also, it was partially a reaction to druids being hideously powerful in that game, and to one particular type of hide armor looking super cool.

The cool thing about Neverwinter/3rd edition is that unconventional builds can be justified. Perhaps Simon Belmont is a Paladin with a flail and leather armor. No problem, just increase his DEX, since DEX bonuses to AC are capped with heavier armor.

Tad_Has_A_Cold_Olive

I was thinking for a Fighter->Mage run that I might have said PC only wear Chainmail Armor so that the transition to wearing Elven Chain feels a little more natural.

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OlvynChuru

I generally like my characters to have either as good AC as possible or as bad AC as possible. Thus, when I'm using a warrior, either I give them good dexterity, the best armor and plenty of other AC items, or I make them a kensai with 3 dexterity.

Jarrakul

True, although hide armor is strictly worse than breastplate, so there was no way to modify my build such that it was a better (or even equal) choice. That said, NWN2 gives druids a feat that lets them spend a wild shape use to get +7 to AC for 10 minutes, which activates so fast that you can turn it on while the game is paused and it will come into effect before immediately, before you even unpause the game. Also they get access to entire line of Stoneskin spells. So I figured I was gonna be tank enough, and decided to forgo metal armor because that just felt like a bit much.

Elendar

I usually sacrifice roleplaying purposes to lower my AC. :P

AstroBryGuy

Camus34 wrote: »

For instance, my current character is duel wielding katanas (the +1 and the mundane katana). Instead of full plate I have him wearing chain mail +3, because I see plate as being too cumbersome for a character who has to be more nimble.

Too cumbersome? Properly fitted plate armor would actually be less cumbersome than a chain hauberk. The plate armor, although heavier, would have its weight better distributed, being directly fastened to the body and limbs. A chain hauberk is worn like a shirt so the weight is largely carried by the shoulders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1YEkuWYUKM

kansasbarbarian

Even though I have done it occasionaly, a berserker shouldn't wear fullplate. There is 2 thought camps about where the term berserker comes from. Either bear shirt or bare sark. Myself I think both camps have valid arguments. So I try to wear hide or leather for my berserkers for rp purposes. But when I don't rp I use full plate.
This argument could also apply to Minsc since he is a ranger though I don't think that fits him.

Smaug

kansasbarbarian wrote: »

Even though I have done it occasionaly, a berserker shouldn't wear fullplate. There is 2 thought camps about where the term berserker comes from. Either bear shirt or bare sark. Myself I think both camps have valid arguments. So I try to wear hide or leather for my berserkers for rp purposes. But when I don't rp I use full plate.
This argument could also apply to Minsc since he is a ranger though I don't think that fits him.

I've always leaned toward baresark and I've interpreted "no armor" to mean literally no armor a la Conan the Barbarian. Even though it doesn't make a ton of sense that a Norseman would be running around Scandinavia w/o nothing on, but hey, maybe that's how they got their reputation.

kansasbarbarian

@Smaug I sort of lean toward baresark to. Probably didn't feel the cold due to mead and the magic mushrooms they supposedly ingested before battle.

wubble

AstroBryGuy wrote: »

Camus34 wrote: »

For instance, my current character is duel wielding katanas (the +1 and the mundane katana). Instead of full plate I have him wearing chain mail +3, because I see plate as being too cumbersome for a character who has to be more nimble.

Too cumbersome? Properly fitted plate armor would actually be less cumbersome than a chain hauberk. The plate armor, although heavier, would have its weight better distributed, being directly fastened to the body and limbs. A chain hauberk is worn like a shirt so the weight is largely carried by the shoulders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1YEkuWYUKM

Maille is still pretty mobile, if correctly fitted to the wearer and worn with a belt to let half of the weight settle at the waist. people in my reenactment group that wear maille are still pretty quick they just need to do some training with the maille on to make sure they're used to the weight.

BelgarathMTH

@AstroBryGuy , I watched your video without sound, and for some reason, I put "Six Million Dollar Man" bionics sound effects to all his moves. This struck me as funny. "Small minds are amused by small things."

SirBatince

Never ever used a magic helm because none of them use the plume model. Thats my only criteria

Grum

In BG1 my elven fighter/Mage never upgraded from elven mail to the robe of the archmage
In BG2 he used the elven mail that makes you immune to normal weapons even after he got his own immunity.

Because wearing elven chainmail just felt right.

O_Bruce

I do that often when creating character. Not every character should have perfect dexterity score.

JuliusBorisov

I recently created a kensai. The moment he brethed the Candlekeep air, I sacrificed AC for RP purposes. And no, I won't dualclass him. He's a dwarf, I called him Odin.

Heindrich

I do that kinda thing all the time. I don't with fancy difficulty mods or even anything harder than Core Rules, so I introduce my own challenge by various roleplaying restrictions like limited rest, limited pre-buffing etc... part of that is also itemisation like no slings on my mages. If I were roleplaying a samurai-type character, I'd stick with Splint Mail, as that's the closest BG equivalent to samurai armour.

Grum

bengoshi wrote: »

I recently created a kensai. The moment he brethed the Candlekeep air, I sacrificed AC for RP purposes. And no, I won't dualclass him. He's a dwarf, I called him Odin.

Please tell me that he will eventually rock the dwarven thrower. 2d4+3 damage throwing hammer...nothing to sneeze at! Crom main hand...



Edit: sorry...I suppose I was thinking Thor

Archaos

Not just in BG but I NEVER put plate or metal armor on my Druids. EVER.

ThacoBell

Whenever I roll a ranger, I like to give him lighter armor. I always thought it made more sense for a nimble dual wield build that would the edges of the battlefield.

AstroBryGuy

Archaos said:

Not just in BG but I NEVER put plate or metal armor on my Druids. EVER.

Unless it's Ankheg or Umber Hulk...

Archaos

@AstroBryGuy

Yeah, meant metal plate.
Ankheg Plate is made from its carapace and Umber Hulk from its hide.

Lateralus

Never. In fact when I am fighter/mage I'll wear full plate until I can cast 3rd level spells. You can still read from scrolls and use wands with full plate on. PnP is one thing but video games like BG, I go for the advantage because so much doesnt make sense as it is.

For example: nobody should ever be able to cast a spell while wielding a weapon/shield or two weapons. If I start down that road of realism where should it stop? Do I have to sheath my weapons while in a temple? Do i have to take my armor off before resting (sleeping in chain is not possible either)? It would take too much fun away, for me anyways.

znancekivell

Oh yes, I will.

I prefer my character to resemble (as closely) as possible to the character I have in my mind. If that character isn't wearing full plate, then I don't give them full plate. I'll find other items that suit the theme but otherwise try to shore up any weaknesses of the build. Rings, helmets, gloves, etc.

I am most OCD about Character Portraits. I try and match the colours of whatever I am wearing as closely as possible to my portrait in order to maintain consistency. Sadly this is not always possible - my Bard is wearing Eleven Chain Mail with black clothing underneath. The darker colours help the pixel look closer to the image I have, but not by much. Haha.