Dragonscale Armor

[teaman]

One of my players had dragonscale armor made from a dragonkill.

Any thoughts on how to stat this? I said take plate mail AC for now, but wanted to see if I should beef that up or add some kind of fire resistance.

Thoughts?

[Seven]

That sounds reasonable.

It's basically an enchanted scale armor.
Compared to plate, it should be lighter.
+1 to saves vs fire, including dragon breath, would make sense, assuming it's red.

[SmootRK]

In terms of BFRPG's 3 tier armor (ie Plate, Chain, Leather), I would make this equivalent to plate but weigh and move related issues like chain.
If using Equipment Emporium or other expanded options, it can be fine-tuned a little more.

Without magical enhancement, I would agree with the simple +1 saves vs the appropriate attacks. That said, such a prize should be further enchanted and I would increase the saves along with the magical "plus" and perhaps even adding (with enchanted suit) a half-damage (failed save) or 1/4 damage with successful save against magical attacks/breath weapons... and immunity to normal attacks of that type.

This is similar to the cold-immunity mechanic that I built into several FG2 creatures that I developed for setting I am using that has a lot of Northern/Cold environs. Jotenkin, Polar Boar, Northern Owlbear, etc.... just spun into the different attack types (ie fire, acid, etc).

[daryen]

Don't forget the negatives, too!

Any dragon (whether good or evil) is going to react negatively. Very negatively. No one is going to react well when someone is wearing the skin of their own kind. It's one thing to defeat them in battle; quite another to then skin them and wear their skin as a trophy for all to see.

Also, anyone who is dragon-philic will also react negatively. Probably not as harshly as an actual dragon would, but again, dragons are supposed to be an apex life form and those who revere them will not look favorably on someone who wears a dragon's skin like that of a dumb animal.

Just sayin' ...

[teaman]

Thanks for the input so far folks. Good points. I like the extra bonus to fire damage and will check out the Equipment Emporium a little more.

Also, I hadn't thought about negative reactions. That's good. I'm definitely going to weave that in (though this particular fighter will LOVE it if the dragon comes at him first).

[Seven]

Conversely, a lot of weaker, intelligent creatures could be intimidated by the Dragon Armor, maybe even leading to a bonus on Reaction Rolls.

I my campaign, dragons are selfish and don't care for individuals outside of their immediate family, but they would not underestimate someone wearing a dragon trophy.

[daryen]

I my campaign, dragons are selfish and don't care for individuals outside of their immediate family, but they would not underestimate someone wearing a dragon trophy.

I want to use this quote to stress something: Just because the reaction roll utterly fails does NOT mean they immediately attack. It simply means they hate you. Wearing a dragon trophy will tell the dragon that this is a dangerous person, but also a person that needs to be dealt with. So, while the dragon might attack immediately (red dragons aren't known for thinking things through), smarter dragons won't. In that case, they will remember you and work to hunt you down when you are more vulnerable. It isn't just an immediate threat; it can become a longer term threat.

(Which, BTW, is a *good* thing for the GM. Now the party/character has a powerful enemy working against them in the background, waiting to strike when it will be most effective.)

And even a gold dragon is going to not react well to someone wearing armor from a red dragon.

(Which, again, is a great thing for the GM. Just image when a party's gold dragon patron abandons them to their own devices once he gets what he wants. Especially if the party didn't know their patron is a gold dragon.)

This only really applies to intelligent dragons. In settings where dragons are bestial, then this is irrelevant, as they are basically dumb brutes.

[Dimirag]

There are lots of options to choose, you can base it on the dragon itself, on how the armor was made

I would consider it a non-metal plate armor with half damage reduction from sources similar to the dragon's breath.

A penalty on reaction rolls and on some dragon's morale (up to some HD value, related to the original dragon's HD) its not something too far fetched.

Finally, there is always the option of the "wow" factor, whenever the character interacts with an npc they could react amazed if they realized what the armor is made of, specially leathersmiths, armorsmith and such characters. It can also be viewed as a symbol of status, bravery and combat prowess, which means that npc and monsters could see the pc as a worthy opponent.

[Snarkythekobold]

I wouldn't give that high of an AC bonus though - +1 AC; protection again dragon breath . . . not much more than that. It's the cool factor of the armor that counts

It's hard to think up of any penalties that would offset the bonuses of such armor. I mean, it's dragon scale . . . what's the down side?

But . . . if I was a dragon and I saw a dude wearing armor made out of dragon scales, I think I would be furious and target said fellow. Also, said PC will stick out in a crowd and some less than moral folks might just get jealous of that armor and try to get it somehow

[teaman]

Thanks for the additional comments folks. All great advice! Especially that the roleplaying aspect may actually be the most important part!