Quick question, if my party kills a crazed NPC human paladin wearing full plate, can the dwarf in the party loot said armour and wear it?
I'm thinking of going with not straight away, but he needs to take it to a skilled armoursmith to resize for him, or simply exchange it for armour that fits?
As a side note, I think I may have shot myself in the foot with an earlier quest where I let him wear splint armour taken from a human guard. I kinda justified it at the time by saying his stoutness filled it in!
I think in the case of a full plate the differences would be too much. You can just ask him to pay the price for resizing in a blacksmith. I think it's 1/4 the original price of the armor or something like that.
Officially, magic armor will generally fit itself, but the rules are pretty silent on mundane armor. Realistically, plate armor had to be fitted to the wearer, chain mail had considerably more flexibility, and splint mail probably didn't exist.
I'm thinking of going with not straight away, but he needs to take it to a skilled armoursmith to resize for him, or simply exchange it for armour that fits?
As a side note, I think I may have shot myself in the foot with an earlier quest where I let him wear splint armour taken from a human guard. I kinda justified it at the time by saying his stoutness filled it in!
I don't think this is a great problem as the between the splints parts of this armour would likely be comparatively easy to adjust.
Officially, magic armor will generally fit itself, but the rules are pretty silent on mundane armor. Realistically, plate armor had to be fitted to the wearer, chain mail had considerably more flexibility, and splint mail probably didn't exist.
I treat that as one of the inherent abilities of magic armor or weapons - part of the magic that makes them so good is that they make themselves suit the wearer/wielder harmoniously.
I've previously done exactly what you suggested for a suit of half plate that was made to fit a lithe elf, and a goliath barbarian wanted to wear it - take it to an armourer, and pay a fee.
I would go with probably not, as the dwarf most likely is shorter than the human and thicker than the human. Now, having said that, it depends on if you want the dwarf to have this armor right away. if it is an appropriate reward, say yes. if you want him to maybe have to earn it, you have some options: 1. If kinda fits, but maybe doesn't give the full AC because it is not well-fitted. Going to an armorer to resize it is an option, as others have suggested. 2. It doesn't fit at all and you definitely need to get it resized. 3. Use it as a hook to tie in another quest.
ok thanks guys. They have a bag of holding they could put it in until they get somewhere, I don't actually want the dwarf to be able to wear it just yet as it is too soon in the campaign for him to have it, but knowing players they will definitely loot it!
Merigold, I love the idea of making it a quest to make it wearable though, maybe it can't be adjusted for size (as that's inneficient, might as well buy one that fits), but they can seek out a mage that imbues it with magic so it resizes itself and gives a benefit (definitely not +1 AC!!)
I would let him use it, but take every opportunity to remind the player how awkward and irritating it is to wear, until he gets it refitted.
It's a great chance for a character with smith's tools to show off, also.
But it's fine if you require a professional. Makes sense.
You raise really good points. That's fantastic.
The whole thing could be ungainly and you'd look like a looter/the kid borrowing other people's clothes. To some extent a character might be able to style it out but that, in itself, could lead to some positive role play.
Generally, though I'd variously add penalties for checks for: exhaustion, stealth, athletics, acrobatics, intimidation, persuasion, some performance, basically anything that I could think could possibly be penalised. They might be seen as an oddity and could attract nicknames like "clank".
By vanilla rules, a goblin set of full plate would fit a storm giant, its great for immersion. My two cents, set a size for armor and allow a resize once up or down. If its magic increase the time, cost and smith.
How does this help? Well if you need your NPC to live, give him a good quality magic plate in a size that doesn't fit the party and you don't break the game. Otherwise you can always just give them a ridiculous amount of hit points to deal with it and then the party thinks they can't win. 5E has restricted the amount of plusses to magic items due to bounded accuracy so it can cause you nightmares if you give out too good of magic items for plusses early or even mid game. This is a way where you can buff your main bad guys armor but the party can't use it but they can sell it for quite the good chunk of gold and could put it towards goods for the party.
Quick question, if my party kills a crazed NPC human paladin wearing full plate, can the dwarf in the party loot said armour and wear it?
I'm thinking of going with not straight away, but he needs to take it to a skilled armoursmith to resize for him, or simply exchange it for armour that fits?
As a side note, I think I may have shot myself in the foot with an earlier quest where I let him wear splint armour taken from a human guard. I kinda justified it at the time by saying his stoutness filled it in!
it could result in a TPK if you don't reduce or channel the craze factor, but I'm guessing that neither of these options might fit with your mentioned storyline.
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Quick question, if my party kills a crazed NPC human paladin wearing full plate, can the dwarf in the party loot said armour and wear it?
I'm thinking of going with not straight away, but he needs to take it to a skilled armoursmith to resize for him, or simply exchange it for armour that fits?
As a side note, I think I may have shot myself in the foot with an earlier quest where I let him wear splint armour taken from a human guard. I kinda justified it at the time by saying his stoutness filled it in!
I think in the case of a full plate the differences would be too much. You can just ask him to pay the price for resizing in a blacksmith. I think it's 1/4 the original price of the armor or something like that.
5E armors are one size fit all unless the DM use the Equipment Size Variant rule (PHB144)
Officially, magic armor will generally fit itself, but the rules are pretty silent on mundane armor. Realistically, plate armor had to be fitted to the wearer, chain mail had considerably more flexibility, and splint mail probably didn't exist.
dwarves are between 4 and 5 feet tall, so I would rule that if it's around the same size as the dwarf, it should fit
Sounds good to me!
I don't think this is a great problem as the between the splints parts of this armour would likely be comparatively easy to adjust.
I treat that as one of the inherent abilities of magic armor or weapons - part of the magic that makes them so good is that they make themselves suit the wearer/wielder harmoniously.
I've previously done exactly what you suggested for a suit of half plate that was made to fit a lithe elf, and a goliath barbarian wanted to wear it - take it to an armourer, and pay a fee.
I would go with probably not, as the dwarf most likely is shorter than the human and thicker than the human. Now, having said that, it depends on if you want the dwarf to have this armor right away. if it is an appropriate reward, say yes. if you want him to maybe have to earn it, you have some options:
1. If kinda fits, but maybe doesn't give the full AC because it is not well-fitted. Going to an armorer to resize it is an option, as others have suggested.
2. It doesn't fit at all and you definitely need to get it resized.
3. Use it as a hook to tie in another quest.
ok thanks guys. They have a bag of holding they could put it in until they get somewhere, I don't actually want the dwarf to be able to wear it just yet as it is too soon in the campaign for him to have it, but knowing players they will definitely loot it!
Merigold, I love the idea of making it a quest to make it wearable though, maybe it can't be adjusted for size (as that's inneficient, might as well buy one that fits), but they can seek out a mage that imbues it with magic so it resizes itself and gives a benefit (definitely not +1 AC!!)
If anyone in the party has Smith Tools proficiency and an appropriate set of tools, they could modify the armor themselves for free.
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 would assume you would also need a forge and an anvil.
I would let him use it, but take every opportunity to remind the player how awkward and irritating it is to wear, until he gets it refitted.
It's a great chance for a character with smith's tools to show off, also.
But it's fine if you require a professional. Makes sense.
You raise really good points. That's fantastic.
The whole thing could be ungainly and you'd look like a looter/the kid borrowing other people's clothes. To some extent a character might be able to style it out but that, in itself, could lead to some positive role play.
Generally, though I'd variously add penalties for checks for: exhaustion, stealth, athletics, acrobatics, intimidation, persuasion, some performance, basically anything that I could think could possibly be penalised. They might be seen as an oddity and could attract nicknames like "clank".
By vanilla rules, a goblin set of full plate would fit a storm giant, its great for immersion. My two cents, set a size for armor and allow a resize once up or down. If its magic increase the time, cost and smith.
How does this help? Well if you need your NPC to live, give him a good quality magic plate in a size that doesn't fit the party and you don't break the game. Otherwise you can always just give them a ridiculous amount of hit points to deal with it and then the party thinks they can't win. 5E has restricted the amount of plusses to magic items due to bounded accuracy so it can cause you nightmares if you give out too good of magic items for plusses early or even mid game. This is a way where you can buff your main bad guys armor but the party can't use it but they can sell it for quite the good chunk of gold and could put it towards goods for the party.
Quick reminder of the issue originally raised:
it could result in a TPK if you don't reduce or channel the craze factor, but I'm guessing that neither of these options might fit with your mentioned storyline.