Crafting Magic Armor

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Creating Magic Armor

To create magic armor, a character needs a good heavy workshop. There must be a powerful heat source such as a blown forge or magical fire. There must be a strong anvil and high-quality tools of many, many kinds. There must be adequate room to work, with benches and tables. Finally, there should be a supply of materials, the most obvious being the armor or the pieces of the armor to be assembled. A good forge can be a cozy affair, or a massive workshop that sprawls and rambles through many rooms of a castle. In no case is any workspace ever portable.

Armor to be made into magic armor must be masterwork armor, and the masterwork cost is added to the base price to determine final market value. Additional magic supply costs for the materials are subsumed in the cost for creating the magic armor—half the base price of the item. If the character has a Craft:Armor skill they can roll to make their own masterwork armor, although it is usually fastest to purchase a masterwork item from a less-skilled NPC smith.

Creating magic armor has a special prerequisite: The creator's effective caster level must be at least three times the enhancement bonus of the armor. If an item has both an enhancement bonus and a special ability, the higher of the two caster level requirements must be met. Magic armor must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus to have any armor or shield special abilities.

If spells are involved in the prerequisites for making the armor, the creator must have either 1) prepared the spells to be cast (or must know the spells, in the case of a sorcerer or bard), 2) Purchased scrolls of the spells, 3) Have the spells otherwise available such as in a wand, or 4) have worked out with the GM in advance any allowed substitutions (a jug of red dragon blood from a dragon of the proper challenge rating to substitute for a meteor swarm spell, for example) and must provide any material components or focuses the spells require. The act of working on the armor triggers the prepared spells, or integrates any allowed substitutes. The spells are not available to cast, and the substitutes are consumed in making the item. (Those spell slots are expended from the caster's currently prepared spells, just as if they had been cast.)

Creating some armor may entail other prerequisites beyond or other than spellcasting or substituted materials. See the individual descriptions for details.

• Time Required: Crafting magic armor requires one day for each CL of the item, minimum of seven days.

• Feat(s) Required: Creator.

• Skill(s) Required: Divinity, Naturalism, Reason, Spellcraft, Spycraft or Warcraft

Allowed Enchantments

Magic armors have three types of improvements that may be applied to them:

Armor Enhancement Bonus

• Armor Enhancement Bonus

Magical enhancements range from +1 to +9. As a firm rule, the maximum enhancement an armor may have is equal to one quarter of the campaign level, round up. This maximum Enhancement Bonus cap must not be exceeded at normal play levels to maintain balance. Any attempt to wear armor more magically enchanted than this results in the character taking a non-proficiency penalty, with the possibility of even more dire consequences (such as insanity, or becoming dominated by the armor's will). At level 36 and higher all restrictions are lifted, and armor may be enchanted in any way the characters can afford.

While armor enhancement bonuses are nearly always used to increase the AC bonus, some armors contain innate properties from special materials, which may also be increased via the enhancement bonus. An example of this is the adamantine armor's DR 3/- property. Players may dedicate enhancement bonuses to increasing these innate properties instead of the armor's AC bonus. However, the armor's total enhancement bonus is always the sum of any of these, and no armor may ever have an enhancement bonus greater than +9 before the Apotheosis. For details on special material innate properties, and the effects of using enhancement bonuses to increase them, see the Dweomermetals And Other Special Materials page. Enhancement bonuses may never be used to apply a property that the armor does not already have innately from its special materials.

Magic Armor Properties

• Magic Properties - Armor
• Magic Properties - Epic Armor and Shields

Magic Armor Properties are additional traits, bonuses or effects that magic armors grant or perform on top of the normal functionality of that armor. Armor must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus before any magic armor properties may be added to them. The limit to the total value of all armor properties that may be added to a suit of armor is one quarter of the campaign level, rounded up. This maximum Magical Properties cap must not be exceeded at normal play levels to maintain balance. No item may ever have the same property twice. At level 36 and higher all restrictions are lifted, and armor may be enchanted in any way the characters can afford and the referee will allow.

Dweomermetals and Special Materials

• Dweomermetals And Other Special Materials

Mundane armors are assumed to be made of forged iron. Fragile armors are usually made of crude iron, bronze, or bone. Masterwork armors are assumed to be made of good quality steel, similar to historical Damascus or Wootz (forging good steel was often a happy accident before the chemistry was fully understood). Armors made from fantastic materials are possible as well, such as the classic mithril and adamantine.

In all cases, only ONE material may be used in the construction of a single suit of armor, even after the Apotheosis at level 36. Unless the referee allows it, of course.

Special Rule: Absolute Bonus

By adding together the plus values of the Enhancement Bonus and Magical Properties of a suit of armor you determine the armor's Absolute Bonus. For example, a +2 Expeditious Plate Mail has a +4 Absolute Bonus, since the Expeditious property has a +2 cost associated with it. The Absolute Bonus plus the special material costs (if any) determine the total magic item cost of the item. The maximum possible Absolute Bonus of any magic weapon, armor or shield is +18, though the maximum allowed in a given campaign varies by the campaign's current player level (See the tables below for details). At level 36, all restrictions are lifted, and weapons, armors and shields may be enchanted in any way the characters can afford.

Restricted Enchantments

Armor cannot have any other magical enchantments placed on them besides the three listed above: armor enhancement bonus, magic armor properties and dweomermetals/special materials. For the sake of heading off questions, a list of what is NOT allowed is provided below. Note that there are magic armor properties and dweomermetals which can provide some of the effects below. However, except by using those properties or materials, these effects cannot be directly enchanted into armor.

• Ability Damage
• Ability Scores
• Alternate Movement Types
• Alternate Senses
• Base Attack Bonus (BAB)
• Caster Level Checks
• Circumstance Bonuses
• Class-Specific Abilities
• Combat Maneuver Bonus (CMB)
• Combat Maneuver Defense (CMD)
• Damage Resistance (DR)
• Deflection AC
• Dodge AC
• Elemental Damage
• Energy Resistance (ER)
• Feats
• Hit Points
• Increased Movement
• Initiative
• Magic Shield Properties
• Magic Weapon Properties
• Natural AC
• Other Classes’ Class Features
• Racial Abilities
• Ranged Damage
• Reach
• Saving Throws
• Shield Enhancement Bonus
• Skill Bonuses
• Skill Ranks
• Spell Effects
• Spell Resistance
• Spell Save DC
• Status Conditions
• Temporary Hit Points
• Touch Attacks
• Traits
• Weapon Enhancement Bonus

Other Magic Armor Considerations

Full Suits

Armor is always created so that if the type of armor comes with a pair of boots, a helm, or a set of gauntlets, these pieces can be exchanged for other magic boots, helms, or gauntlets. It even looks good! Isn't magic great?

Caster Level for Armor

The caster level of magic armor with a special ability is given in the item description. For an item with only an enhancement bonus, the caster level is three times the enhancement bonus. If an item has both an enhancement bonus and a special ability, the higher of the two caster level requirements must be met. As always, caster level can either be a character's 'native' caster if they actually cast spells, or their Effective Caster Level they gain from having the Creator feat and ranks in either Divinity, Naturalism, Reason, Spellcraft, Spycraft or Warcraft. Note that even spell casters have to have the Creator feat to make magic items.

Hardness and Hit Points

Each +1 of a magic weapon’s enhancement bonus adds +2 to its hardness and +10 to its hit points. See also Table: Weapon, Armor, and Shield Hardness and Hit Points. Weapon properties usually have no effect on hardness or hit points, but some do, so refer to these specific rules for the effects of each property. Special materials almost always have an effect on a weapon's hardness and hit points. See the tables below and on the Dweomermetals page for details.

Table: Weapon, Armor and Shield Hardness and Hit Points

Weapon or Shield	Hardness 1 4	Hit Points 2 3
Light blade	10	2
One-handed blade	10	5
Two-handed blade	10	10
Light metal-hafted weapon	10	10
One-handed metal-hafted weapon	10	20
Light hafted weapon	5	2
One-handed hafted weapon	5	5
Two-handed hafted weapon	5	10
Projectile weapon	5	5
Armor	special4	armor bonus × 5
Buckler	10	5
Light wooden shield	5	7
Heavy wooden shield	5	15
Light steel shield	10	10
Heavy steel shield	10	20
Tower shield	5	20

• ¹ Add +2 for each +1 enhancement bonus of magic items.
• ² Divide by 2 for each size category of the item smaller than Medium, or multiply it by 2 for each size category larger than Medium.
• ³ Add 10 hp for each +1 enhancement bonus of magic items
• ⁴ Varies by material. See below and Dweomermetals for details.

Table: Substance Hardness and Hit Points

Substance	Hardness	Hit Points
Glass	1	1/in. of thickness
Paper or cloth	0	2/in. of thickness
Rope	0	2/in. of thickness
Ice	0	3/in. of thickness
Leather or hide	2	5/in. of thickness
Wood	5	10/in. of thickness
Stone	8	15/in. of thickness
Iron or steel	10	30/in. of thickness
Argent	15	40/in. of thickness
Ambergold	18	30/in. of thickness
Bloodgold	5	25/in. of thickness
Bloodsilver	20	40/in. of thickness
Cuprium	adds +3 to base	adds +9 to base
Mithral	15	30/in. of thickness
Peacemetal	15	35/in. of thickness
Puremetal	12	30/in. of thickness
Adamantine	20	40/in. of thickness
Dolemetal	25	50/in. of thickness
Truemetal	30	50/in. of thickness
Paramount	40	60/in. of thickness
Glassteel	10	30/in. of thickness

Interaction between Shields and Armor

Shield enhancement bonuses stack with armor enhancement bonuses. Shield enhancement bonuses do not act as attack or damage bonuses when the shield is used in a shield bash. The bashing special ability, however, does grant a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls (see the special ability description).

A shield can be built such that it also acts as a magic weapon. This requires the shield to be equipped with shield spikes, and is handled as if the shield was a double weapon, namely, two sets of enhancements are applied to the shield and the costs are tracked as though they were two separate items, even though they aren't. Because shield spikes on a shield are really only one item, it is important to remember that like bonuses do not stack on the same item. For example, a property which grants an armor bonus to AC from the shield spikes would not stack with the armor bonus provided by the shield itself. Also, as a note, some magic weapon properties, such as the Defending magic item property, require you to use your shield or armor as a weapon to gain its benefit of the property. The GM may rule that when using the shield or armor spikes as a weapon means you lose the actual shield or armor bonuses until the start of your next turn, just as if you used your shield for a shield bash.

Magic properties built into a shield add to the market value in the form of additions to the bonus of the shield, although they do not improve AC. A shield cannot have an absolute bonus (enhancement plus special ability bonus equivalents) higher than +18. A shield with a special ability must also have at least a +1 enhancement bonus.

Activation of Armor and Shields

Usually a character benefits from magic armor and shields in exactly the way a character benefits from non-magical armor and shields: by wearing them. If armor or a shield has a special ability that the user needs to activate, then the user usually needs to utter the command word (a standard action).

Armor for Unusual Creatures

The cost of armor for non-humanoid creatures, as well as for creatures who are neither Small nor Medium, varies. The cost of the masterwork quality is also affected to the same degree. IE, if armor costs four times as much because it is size large, it costs 4 times as much to make it masterwork. The cost to enchant a size large suit of armor is unchanged, however, nor does the armor's size increase the time required for enchantment.