MIC- Did the price of mithral change? Is mithral armor too cheap?

[Baramay]

To be clear, my arguement is when comparing the prices of mithral armor and adamantium there is quite a difference in price between light and heavy armor.

Also the price of mithral armor is inexpensive when compared to adamantium or when making magical.

I am not arguing that heavy armor should cost less or not cost more. It is an issue of degree.

From the SRD:
Spell failure chances for armors and shields made from mithral are decreased by 10%, maximum Dexterity bonus is increased by 2, and armor check penalties are lessened by 3 (to a minimum of 0).

Other magic effects that are similar:

Nimbleness (Magic of Faerun)
This type of armor feels lighter and less restrictive than other armor of its type. While the actual weight is unchanged, the maximum Dexterity bonus increases by +2 and the armor check penalty decreases by 1.
CL 8th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, cat's grace; Price: +1 bonus.

Twilight (Book of Exalted Deeds)
This suit of armor, favored by eladrin spellcasters, becomes semi-incorporeal and translucent when donned. It also possesses a faint sunset-colored sheen. The twilight armor reduces the chance of arcane spell failure by -10%.
Faint abjuration; CL 5th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor; Price +1 bonus.

It would seem that to achieve magically the benefits of mithral armor it would cost a +2 bonus. But let's go bare minimum and assume you only need one or the other.

+1 mithral chain shirt 2,250gp-----+1 chain shirt with nimbleness or twilight 4,250gp
+2 mithral chain shirt 5,250gp-----+2 chain shirt with nimbleness or twilight 9,250gp
+3 mithral chain shirt 10,250gp----+3 chain shirt with nimbleness or twilight 16,250 gp

I mentioned earlier that responses from an earlier post, had +1AC being better than DR 1/- so in your opinion what should mithral and adamantium armor cost? Should either of these armors have additional costs to enchant, in the same manner that cold iron weapons require?

 

[QuaziquestGM]

new wrinkle...can you sunder gauntlets?

Doing so won't change the AC of the opponent, but it may deny him an attack if the gauntlet is spiked or bladed or simply being used as an "armed" unarmed attack...

 

[wildstarsreach]

I don't have the Magic Item Compendium but I was wondering if they changed the price of mithral armor. A friend said he did not think it changed. Adamantium is priced 5,000-10,000 and 15,000. Normal armor weighs 25 lbs for light (chain shirt), 30-40 lbs for medium (breastplate and chainmail), and 50 lbs for heavy (half plate or full plate). Full plate is twice as heavy as a chain shirt, thus has twice as much material. I can understand the additional cost entering the picture because adamantium is hard to work with, the benefits of heavy are very good, etc.

This is completely thrown out the window with mithral where light is +1,000, medium +4000, and heavy +9,000. Huh? Heavy armor weighing twice as much as light cost 9 times as much.

Mithral seems to also be in a much higher demand. In another thread I read that MIC has created "common" magic items that don't cost extra when combined with other magic items. The ability enhancing items were the example used. So now everyone can add dexterity modifying enchantments to other magic items to make use of mithral armor. It does not matter if one is the mithral chain shirt rogue or the mithral full plate fighter. Even a fighter with a 10 dex can enhance it to 16 to make full use of mithral full plate.

I would think carrying an additional cost for enchantment as cold iron does would be in line.

So please tell me this was addressed so I can allay my fear that WotC has a room of trained monkeys cutting an pasting old material into new books.

"It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times."

Actually yes it did. Full Platemail is 1500 GP, Masterwork adds 150 GP. However if you add 10000 gp as mithril for heavy armor, the total is 11500 gp. The MIC states that Mithril Full Plate is 10500 total. You save 1000 GP with the MIC. Mithril costs replace the MW costs.

 

[wildstarsreach]

But you can sunder armor.

Read the sundering rules, you cannot sunder the armor that is currently being worn. You could sunder their weapons and shield but not their armor.

 

[wildstarsreach]

That's completely the opposite of the true utility. Mithral makes heavy armors count as lighter, that's a huge benefit. Making Heavy armor count as medium means barbarians can wear it and not lose their +10' movement. Making medium armor count as light means it doesn't reduce normal people's movement from 30 to 20.

The other benefits - additional dexterity maximums and lower armor check penalty is exactly equal benefit across all armor types. One might even say the higher dex modifier is more useful in heavy armors, because a lot more people can take advantage of +2 or +3 total dex modifier than +6.

So... yeah, heavy armors should definitely cost more for mithral from a mechanics standpoint, and from an in-game logic standpoint, they simply use more mass of the material, and should cost more anyway.

-Nate

For Adamantine you get DR from 1-3 based on the type of armor. For Mithril you get that it is lighter and better dex to armor of +2 over standard. Adamantine is is overall better for most fighters. Mithril is better used for the skirmish type fighters.

 

[Diirk]

Actually yes it did. Full Platemail is 1500 GP, Masterwork adds 150 GP. However if you add 10000 gp as mithril for heavy armor, the total is 11500 gp. The MIC states that Mithril Full Plate is 10500 total. You save 1000 GP with the MIC. Mithril costs replace the MW costs.

Actually no, it didn't. Mithril for heavy armour is 9000gp, not 10000gp. Full plate is 1500gp. That's 10500gp.

http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/specialMaterials.html

 

[hong]

The cost of mithral is fine.

NEXT!

 

[Ender_rpm]

Play with semantics all you want, the fact remains that armor can be sundered. Whether you would want to or not is irrelevant. If the initial statement had read "Armor cannot be sundered when worn," then I would be wrong and would freely admit it, but it just said "armor cannot be sundered," and I wanted to make it clear that armor does not enjoy some mystical protection against being destroyed. I think that's been made clear, so there's no further need of this side discussion, is there?

Who's playing semantics here?