I am currently creating an artificer armorer and I was wondering something. Image my char having a strength of 10, but due to the power armor feature can still use heavy armor If it is turned in to power armor. For roleplay wise, I would love to play a character that hasn't has his power armor constantly activated (missing arm). But then it is just heavy armor for which he doesn't meet the requirements.
I am not sure why a character with a missing arm would want to wear heavy armor that is not powered (to replace the limb). There may be occasions when he wants to not wear heavy armor and only have one arm but why does he not want to have his armor permanently as powered.
You could have some medium armor to wear if you wanted to wear non power armor, if you needed to carry your heavy armor around you kight needva bag of holding to avoid encumberance.
Alternatively you can still wear heavy armor if you do not met the strength requirement you speed is just reduced by 10.
I have a gnome armourer with strength 8. When ever he wears his armor it is one variant of power armor so the strength is never an issue, he has 2 arms but I can not see the difference there.
The main reason would be that I have the feeling it wouldnt be comfortable to constantly wear it, but i agree with your points and I'm indeed just going with the infiltrator mode normally, when they aren't planning on going into a fight!
Personally, I think it makes sense that the armour would be more comfortable when powered, especially the infiltrator model.
Here's my reasoning: The power armour feature removes the strength requirement. This suggests that the armour is either lighter or, more likely, it sort of carries itself. Either way, it is much easier to wield. The armour also expands to cover your body (and replaces any missing limbs). This suggests that the armour is essentially like a custom made suit, so it would fit you perfectly. This is especially true with the infiltrator model, since it form-fitting enough to wear under your clothing.
One thing I noticed about the Guardian armor model is that it doesn't compensate for the armor's weight, whereas Infiltrator armor explicitly states the weight is negligible. This can be a huge problem for low-strength characters becoming over-encumbered at level 3, before artificers have access to gauntlets of ogre power. It's especially bad with variant encumbrance rules.
To answer OP's question, one reason could be that roleplay-wise the armor needs to be repaired or otherwise maintained between adventures, and one can't really do that while wearing it. If it's thoroughly destroyed (or if you upgraded from chainmail to splint and later to plate), it would need to be replaced.
Another reason to take off the armor is more number-crunchy; regaining hit dice and recovering from exhaustion.
I think it was mentioned in XGtE that wearing armor when taking a long rest cuts the hit dice you would regain in half and you don't lose any exhaustion levels. That's pretty big if the party takes lots of short rests to recover hit points or if they're traveling through unforgiving circumstances (extreme heat/cold, forced marches, etc).
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I am currently creating an artificer armorer and I was wondering something. Image my char having a strength of 10, but due to the power armor feature can still use heavy armor If it is turned in to power armor. For roleplay wise, I would love to play a character that hasn't has his power armor constantly activated (missing arm). But then it is just heavy armor for which he doesn't meet the requirements.
How would you guys tackle this situation?
I am not sure why a character with a missing arm would want to wear heavy armor that is not powered (to replace the limb). There may be occasions when he wants to not wear heavy armor and only have one arm but why does he not want to have his armor permanently as powered.
You could have some medium armor to wear if you wanted to wear non power armor, if you needed to carry your heavy armor around you kight needva bag of holding to avoid encumberance.
Alternatively you can still wear heavy armor if you do not met the strength requirement you speed is just reduced by 10.
I have a gnome armourer with strength 8. When ever he wears his armor it is one variant of power armor so the strength is never an issue, he has 2 arms but I can not see the difference there.
The main reason would be that I have the feeling it wouldnt be comfortable to constantly wear it, but i agree with your points and I'm indeed just going with the infiltrator mode normally, when they aren't planning on going into a fight!
Thanks guys!
Personally, I think it makes sense that the armour would be more comfortable when powered, especially the infiltrator model.
Here's my reasoning:
The power armour feature removes the strength requirement. This suggests that the armour is either lighter or, more likely, it sort of carries itself. Either way, it is much easier to wield.
The armour also expands to cover your body (and replaces any missing limbs). This suggests that the armour is essentially like a custom made suit, so it would fit you perfectly. This is especially true with the infiltrator model, since it form-fitting enough to wear under your clothing.
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One thing I noticed about the Guardian armor model is that it doesn't compensate for the armor's weight, whereas Infiltrator armor explicitly states the weight is negligible. This can be a huge problem for low-strength characters becoming over-encumbered at level 3, before artificers have access to gauntlets of ogre power. It's especially bad with variant encumbrance rules.
To answer OP's question, one reason could be that roleplay-wise the armor needs to be repaired or otherwise maintained between adventures, and one can't really do that while wearing it. If it's thoroughly destroyed (or if you upgraded from chainmail to splint and later to plate), it would need to be replaced.
Another reason to take off the armor is more number-crunchy; regaining hit dice and recovering from exhaustion.
I think it was mentioned in XGtE that wearing armor when taking a long rest cuts the hit dice you would regain in half and you don't lose any exhaustion levels. That's pretty big if the party takes lots of short rests to recover hit points or if they're traveling through unforgiving circumstances (extreme heat/cold, forced marches, etc).