Theoretically you could put armor on either one, but it would probably have to be custom-made at significant expense. Also, neither are proficient with armor so they'd take the penalties for that.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
For RAW, armor does NOT stack. No armor ever stacks, so you want to pick whichever armor gives you the highest AC calculation, and that depends on its AC formula. You can put armor on the drake, but only the higher AC calculation will apply. Drakewarden's drake AC formula is 14+PB, and characters have a minimum PB of 2, so that AC is 16 (from level 3 to 4), 17 (level 5 to 8), 18 (level 9 to 12), 19 (level 13 to 16), and 20 (level 17 to 20). That means from level 3 to 4, only splint (AC=17) and plate (AC=18) give you any benefit; from level 5 to 8, only plate gives you any benefit; from level 9 onwards, there is no benefit to wearing armor.
For Steel Defender, their AC is 15, so you want armor with 16 or higher. That means chain mail (16), splint (17), plate (18), and half plate (16=15+1).
You could get armor for them at 4x the cost of the armor in question.
The barding would count as an AC calculation not a bonus.
For the Drake companion Splint is a better choice until 5th level and Full-Plate is good until 9th, +1 Full-Plate until 13th, +2 Full-Plate until 17th, and +3 Full-Plate at 20th level.
For Steel Defender +3 Chain Mail is the best you can get. Unless the Steel Defender can attune to a magic item the increases their strength score to at least 15 so the can wear Splint or Full-Plate. Or see if you can get Mithral Splint or Full-Plate +1 or above.
im glad i asked for the drake i knew it would take over the armor but i thought it would just be the drakes natural armor of 14 so with plate as an exapmle it would have been 18(plat)+ PB= then the total
Of course, if your drake is ever dismissed, killed or resummoned, anything it was carrying is dropped instantly - armor, saddles, travelpouches... gathering up your drake armor after a battle is kinda important, and if plot forces a retreat, you may not be able to reclaim those items.
at level 10 an artificer could make the armor for half the cost tho
They can make magic items at half cost. They still have to pay full price for the nonmagical armor that's a required component of crafting magical armor.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Nothing in Magic Item Adept's description says anything about reducing the cost of raw materials or nonmagical gear. It costs half the normal price to turn a suit of plate armor into a suit of +1 plate armor, but you don't get any discounts on crafting a suit of plate armor.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I mean, you don't necessarily "turn a suit of plate armor into a suit of +1 plate armor" in the first place, or at least there's nothing in the magic item crafting formula that is altered by expressly having the armor ahead of time. You get approval from the DM, possibly take a side quest to get the magical component, and then spend 13 days and 1000 gp, going by XGtE. Crafting any mundane item only costs half the value of the finished product. But yeah, Artificers do not get a further discount on cost or time to make mundane items.
I mean, you don't necessarily "turn a suit of plate armor into a suit of +1 plate armor" in the first place, or at least there's nothing in the magic item crafting formula that is altered by expressly having the armor ahead of time. You get approval from the DM, possibly take a side quest to get the magical component, and then spend 13 days and 1000 gp, going by XGtE. Crafting any mundane item only costs half the value of the finished product. But yeah, Artificers do not get a further discount on cost or time to make mundane items.
Yeah, but given that a suit of plate armor is given a value of 1500 gold and the suggested value of an uncommon magic item is 500 gold, it feels like there should be some modification due to the expense of the armor rather than just saying that yes, magical armor can be crafted for less than the price of its nonmagical version.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I mean, you don't necessarily "turn a suit of plate armor into a suit of +1 plate armor" in the first place, or at least there's nothing in the magic item crafting formula that is altered by expressly having the armor ahead of time. You get approval from the DM, possibly take a side quest to get the magical component, and then spend 13 days and 1000 gp, going by XGtE. Crafting any mundane item only costs half the value of the finished product. But yeah, Artificers do not get a further discount on cost or time to make mundane items.
Yeah, but given that a suit of plate armor is given a value of 1500 gold and the suggested value of an uncommon magic item is 500 gold, it feels like there should be some modification due to the expense of the armor rather than just saying that yes, magical armor can be crafted for less than the price of its nonmagical version.
could you put armor on the drake? and if so how would it stack?
also would it work with a steel defender? how would that stack?
Theoretically you could put armor on either one, but it would probably have to be custom-made at significant expense. Also, neither are proficient with armor so they'd take the penalties for that.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
i thought so too but from what i could find it doesnt say it needs to have proficiency
Short answer is ask your GM.
For RAW, armor does NOT stack. No armor ever stacks, so you want to pick whichever armor gives you the highest AC calculation, and that depends on its AC formula. You can put armor on the drake, but only the higher AC calculation will apply. Drakewarden's drake AC formula is 14+PB, and characters have a minimum PB of 2, so that AC is 16 (from level 3 to 4), 17 (level 5 to 8), 18 (level 9 to 12), 19 (level 13 to 16), and 20 (level 17 to 20). That means from level 3 to 4, only splint (AC=17) and plate (AC=18) give you any benefit; from level 5 to 8, only plate gives you any benefit; from level 9 onwards, there is no benefit to wearing armor.
For Steel Defender, their AC is 15, so you want armor with 16 or higher. That means chain mail (16), splint (17), plate (18), and half plate (16=15+1).
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You could get armor for them at 4x the cost of the armor in question.
The barding would count as an AC calculation not a bonus.
For the Drake companion Splint is a better choice until 5th level and Full-Plate is good until 9th, +1 Full-Plate until 13th, +2 Full-Plate until 17th, and +3 Full-Plate at 20th level.
For Steel Defender +3 Chain Mail is the best you can get. Unless the Steel Defender can attune to a magic item the increases their strength score to at least 15 so the can wear Splint or Full-Plate. Or see if you can get Mithral Splint or Full-Plate +1 or above.
im glad i asked for the drake i knew it would take over the armor but i thought it would just be the drakes natural armor of 14 so with plate as an exapmle it would have been 18(plat)+ PB= then the total
Of course, if your drake is ever dismissed, killed or resummoned, anything it was carrying is dropped instantly - armor, saddles, travelpouches... gathering up your drake armor after a battle is kinda important, and if plot forces a retreat, you may not be able to reclaim those items.
at level 10 an artificer could make the armor for half the cost tho
They can make magic items at half cost. They still have to pay full price for the nonmagical armor that's a required component of crafting magical armor.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Nothing in Magic Item Adept's description says anything about reducing the cost of raw materials or nonmagical gear. It costs half the normal price to turn a suit of plate armor into a suit of +1 plate armor, but you don't get any discounts on crafting a suit of plate armor.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I mean, you don't necessarily "turn a suit of plate armor into a suit of +1 plate armor" in the first place, or at least there's nothing in the magic item crafting formula that is altered by expressly having the armor ahead of time. You get approval from the DM, possibly take a side quest to get the magical component, and then spend 13 days and 1000 gp, going by XGtE. Crafting any mundane item only costs half the value of the finished product. But yeah, Artificers do not get a further discount on cost or time to make mundane items.
Yeah, but given that a suit of plate armor is given a value of 1500 gold and the suggested value of an uncommon magic item is 500 gold, it feels like there should be some modification due to the expense of the armor rather than just saying that yes, magical armor can be crafted for less than the price of its nonmagical version.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Armor, +1 is Rare, not Uncommon.
So it is. Well, choose an Uncommon armor type and the point still stands- Mithral plate shouldn't be cheaper than steel plate.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
The price of plate in general is wack. 1500gp for an AC of 18. Splint is 200gp and an AC of 17. 1300gp for an extra point to AC is robbery.
A full-body suit of metal ain't cheap.
Not saying it needs to be cheap. Just saying 1500gp is a lot for 1 point to AC.
I mean, that'd be 1300, but it's also the highest mundane AC option in the game; half-plate is 750 for 17 AC and a Breastplate is 400 for 16 AC.
And Chain-Mail is 16 AC for 60gp and Splint is 17 AC for 200gp.