My party was given the Bronze skin armor, we had a small discussion about who could use it. I began to wonder what the official rule is, can anyone help me out?
That seems an awful lot like metal to me, but I don’t really know the full context. From a balance perspective, Druids can wear metal fine, but when it comes to flavor/lore that’s really up to you and your DM to decide.
"Can"? Yes. The Druid restriction against equipment made of metal is philosophical, not mechanical. There is no official punishment for failing to adhere to this.
"Will"? Maybe. I interpret the "metal" philosophy to be about opposing industrialization rather than having an issue with metal itself. The Molten Bronze Skin isn't traditional armor and exists within a grey space. I would be interested in seeing it flavored as liquified dragon scales/essence, which would make it iconically "natural".
Think of a good in-game justification for the Druid to use it and talk to your DM. If they allow you to use it, it could cause balance issues when combined with Wildshaping, so weigh that when considering whether you should use it.
Druids don't have proficiency in heavy armour so that's the first obstacle. Second of all, bronze is a metal and so a strict RAW druid wouldn't wear it.
Memnosyne makes a point about it not being part of the industrialization that druids oppose and, while I don't disagree with the argument in and of itself, it opens up for a whole bunch of shennanigans with magical armour. If you go by RAW it's a no-no. If you have some sort of ingame justification that works in your campaign world then it might work. Personally I'd say that it's a no.
EDIT: Missed the part that it was a case of a half-plate. I'd still say no due to the fact that it's still a metal armour.
The visual of Moon Druid turning into bronze animals with this is so cool I want a druid to be able to wear it and keep the benefits throughout wildshape. Unfortunately I don't think any of that is possible when following the letter of the law.
"Will"? Maybe. I interpret the "metal" philosophy to be about opposing industrialization rather than having an issue with metal itself. The Molten Bronze Skin isn't traditional armor and exists within a grey space. I would be interested in seeing it flavored as liquified dragon scales/essence, which would make it iconically "natural".
I have a player running a wildfire druid in one of my games. We flavored it as reclaiming metal for nature. It started on their wishlist and the player had a habit of taking things like picks and axes and melting them down. We had a talk about the "metal restriction" which is something that I really leave that up to the player to decide how far they want to go with that. Anyways I added this to their random loot table and when it rolled mentioned that they found a beautifully inlaid axe as i knew that she would want to melt it down. My player does their thing melting it in her hands and i described the molten metal running over her skin. at first she (the player) was freaking out thinking it was going horribly wrong, but then i described how her 20+ melted axe heads that she kept as trophies also flowed out of her bag and onto her skin and how it wasn't burning at all. end result, she got her magic armor, it just so happens to be made out of axes and the armor was a little gift from a nature diety.
"Will"? Maybe. I interpret the "metal" philosophy to be about opposing industrialization rather than having an issue with metal itself. The Molten Bronze Skin isn't traditional armor and exists within a grey space. I would be interested in seeing it flavored as liquified dragon scales/essence, which would make it iconically "natural".
I have a player running a wildfire druid in one of my games. We flavored it as reclaiming metal for nature. It started on their wishlist and the player had a habit of taking things like picks and axes and melting them down. We had a talk about the "metal restriction" which is something that I really leave that up to the player to decide how far they want to go with that. Anyways I added this to their random loot table and when it rolled mentioned that they found a beautifully inlaid axe as i knew that she would want to melt it down. My player does their thing melting it in her hands and i described the molten metal running over her skin. at first she (the player) was freaking out thinking it was going horribly wrong, but then i described how her 20+ melted axe heads that she kept as trophies also flowed out of her bag and onto her skin and how it wasn't burning at all. end result, she got her magic armor, it just so happens to be made out of axes and the armor was a little gift from a nature diety.
I'm glad she used magic to melt metal. It takes a LOT of wood/charcoal to melt metal which means a lot of chopped down trees... ;)
"Will"? Maybe. I interpret the "metal" philosophy to be about opposing industrialization rather than having an issue with metal itself. The Molten Bronze Skin isn't traditional armor and exists within a grey space. I would be interested in seeing it flavored as liquified dragon scales/essence, which would make it iconically "natural".
I have a player running a wildfire druid in one of my games. We flavored it as reclaiming metal for nature. It started on their wishlist and the player had a habit of taking things like picks and axes and melting them down. We had a talk about the "metal restriction" which is something that I really leave that up to the player to decide how far they want to go with that. Anyways I added this to their random loot table and when it rolled mentioned that they found a beautifully inlaid axe as i knew that she would want to melt it down. My player does their thing melting it in her hands and i described the molten metal running over her skin. at first she (the player) was freaking out thinking it was going horribly wrong, but then i described how her 20+ melted axe heads that she kept as trophies also flowed out of her bag and onto her skin and how it wasn't burning at all. end result, she got her magic armor, it just so happens to be made out of axes and the armor was a little gift from a nature diety.
There's "plowshares and pruning hooks," and then there's that. I love it.
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My party was given the Bronze skin armor, we had a small discussion about who could use it. I began to wonder what the official rule is, can anyone help me out?
That seems an awful lot like metal to me, but I don’t really know the full context. From a balance perspective, Druids can wear metal fine, but when it comes to flavor/lore that’s really up to you and your DM to decide.
"Can"? Yes. The Druid restriction against equipment made of metal is philosophical, not mechanical. There is no official punishment for failing to adhere to this.
"Will"? Maybe. I interpret the "metal" philosophy to be about opposing industrialization rather than having an issue with metal itself. The Molten Bronze Skin isn't traditional armor and exists within a grey space. I would be interested in seeing it flavored as liquified dragon scales/essence, which would make it iconically "natural".
Think of a good in-game justification for the Druid to use it and talk to your DM. If they allow you to use it, it could cause balance issues when combined with Wildshaping, so weigh that when considering whether you should use it.
Druids don't have proficiency in heavy armour so that's the first obstacle. Second of all, bronze is a metal and so a strict RAW druid wouldn't wear it.
Memnosyne makes a point about it not being part of the industrialization that druids oppose and, while I don't disagree with the argument in and of itself, it opens up for a whole bunch of shennanigans with magical armour. If you go by RAW it's a no-no. If you have some sort of ingame justification that works in your campaign world then it might work. Personally I'd say that it's a no.
EDIT: Missed the part that it was a case of a half-plate. I'd still say no due to the fact that it's still a metal armour.
Cheers!
The visual of Moon Druid turning into bronze animals with this is so cool I want a druid to be able to wear it and keep the benefits throughout wildshape. Unfortunately I don't think any of that is possible when following the letter of the law.
The metal-restriction on druids is narratively driven, and breaking that restriction is completely a conversation between you and your DM.
I have a player running a wildfire druid in one of my games. We flavored it as reclaiming metal for nature. It started on their wishlist and the player had a habit of taking things like picks and axes and melting them down. We had a talk about the "metal restriction" which is something that I really leave that up to the player to decide how far they want to go with that. Anyways I added this to their random loot table and when it rolled mentioned that they found a beautifully inlaid axe as i knew that she would want to melt it down. My player does their thing melting it in her hands and i described the molten metal running over her skin. at first she (the player) was freaking out thinking it was going horribly wrong, but then i described how her 20+ melted axe heads that she kept as trophies also flowed out of her bag and onto her skin and how it wasn't burning at all. end result, she got her magic armor, it just so happens to be made out of axes and the armor was a little gift from a nature diety.
I'm glad she used magic to melt metal. It takes a LOT of wood/charcoal to melt metal which means a lot of chopped down trees... ;)
Could be metal skin from a creature, reflavor it as construct or golem "hide" I'm sure Druids have no problem taking trophies but just no worked metal
There's "plowshares and pruning hooks," and then there's that. I love it.