The Broken Economy of Mage Armor [Pathfinder]

[the_gneech]

So last night I'm looking at Obsidian's theoretical future, and examining one of those traditional wizard accoutrements, the bracers of armor. These suckers are prohibitively expensive, especially for the benefit they provide:

Slot wrists; Price 1,000 gp (+1), 4,000 gp (+2), 9,000 gp (+3), 16,000 gp (+4), 25,000 gp (+5), 36,000 gp (+6), 49,000 gp (+7), 64,000 gp (+8)

Why would anyone spend that kind of money when a scroll of mage armor is 25 gp (or 12 gp 5 silver if you craft it yourself) and lasts an hour? Or even better, with the Craft Wondrous Items feat, you could create a robe of mage armor for (best estimate) somewhere around 900 gp (base price 1,800 gp) or even less if you limited it to a certain number of uses/day. That would have the added bonus of going into the body slot, which most wizards/sorcerers never use anyway, freeing up the wrists slot for something potentially more interesting.

I cannot think of an in-game reason why such a magic item doesn't exist. +4 armor, no arcane casting penalty, no armor check penalty, negligible weight? Yes please! With a market cost of 1,800 gp, who in their right mind would ever wear a chain shirt again? Or pay 4,000 gp for bracers of armor +2?

Of course, I can think of a perfectly good out-of-game reason: namely that it's totally broken! 'cause with a market cost of 1,800 gp, who in their right mind would ever wear a chain shirt again? Or pay 4,000 gp for bracers of armor +2?

These are the kinds of issues that reduce game designers to gibbering husks, late at night.

-The Gneech

Comments

[grayalynn.livejournal.com]

One possible solution is to figure out either a story reason or a mechanical reason that Robes only work for arcane spell casters.
Story wise it could be something as simple as an Arcane Artifice Guild's monopoly (something that would work just fine in Ptolus for example).
Mechanics are trickier but as a DM I would allow an arcane spellcaster enchant masterwork cloth robes as if they were armor, which keeps pricing fair. The Robe of Mage Armor might need "charging" everyday- taking up spell slots from the wearer in exchange for a semi-permanent bonus to armor.
If you do decide to go multiclass w/ Bard you could just take the feat that allows you to ignore armor penalty for light armor, since your bard ability wont work on your wizard spells. Then you could have that + 2 mithril chainmail with no problem.

[the-gneech.livejournal.com]

If you're going to charge every day, you're better off just casting mage armor from your daily allotment... by the time you reach 5th level, it will cover most of your "adventuring day" anyhow.

re: feat, I assume you're referring to Arcane Armor Training? Yeah, that's probably worth a feat if you're going to be multiclassing around and wearing armor. (Although in Obsidian's case, she thinks melee is brutish and undignified.)

-TG

[sirfox.livejournal.com]

(Although in Obsidian's case, she thinks melee is brutish and undignified.)

She won't have to melee, it'll just protect her from those uncouth cads who go about carelessly swinging edged weapons hither and yon. Besides, she can get the armor crafted to be both durable and Fabulous

[jamesbarrett.livejournal.com]

(Although in Obsidian's case, she thinks melee is brutish and undignified.)


Something those orcs would do, not an elven lady such as herself? ;)

[hossblacksilver.livejournal.com]

Hmm, just a theory on why it wouldn't work for non-spell casters, the robe's magic is powered by the inherent magical field of the spell caster wearing it. To a fighter, ranger or rogue it's just a robe.
And should one ask why not paladins and clerics? It's like taking your hairdrier on your trip to Europe without an adapter.

[grayalynn.livejournal.com]

The reason it shouldn't work for nonarcane casters is a metagame reason of balance in pricing. Although in actuallity the rules are pretty clear that anything that provides and AC bonus is priced the same way, just like anything that provides a bonus to hit and damage is priced in a manner separate from other magic items.

[hossblacksilver.livejournal.com]

No, I was more looking for an in character reason why the robe wouldn't work for a non-spell caster character and why the fighter should have to wear the bulky steel chest piece while the wizard gets away with only wearing wearing the soft, warm robe. :)

[grayalynn.livejournal.com]

Agreed about the casting for Pathfinder. 3.5 had nerfed it quite a bit but Pathfinder restores its usefulness, although I keep forgetting that.