So, me and my buddy are going to be CO Dming a campaign for a small group of our friends. Well, we wanted to do things that we haven't done before so we came up with the idea of blacksmithing for one of our PC'S. Since in battle, armor gets damaged, we would want to see them try and fix this armor up while they are away (example being weeks in the underdark.) Give a more realistic feel to it. We have been racking our brains on it for a while now and are asking for some ideas.
As of right now, we have a system that every time you take a crit from an enemy, the armor is damaged and your A.C. GOES DOWN by 1. You can take up to 6 crits (8 with a shield) before the armor is beyond repair.
You can fix this armor with time and effort during a short/long rest. You roll to figure out how much of the armor you fix. (NAT 20, Armor repaired with a temp +1 to a.c., 22+ armor fully fixed, 19-21 armor repaired by 2ac, 14 to 18, armor repaired by 1ac, 14 or below no repairs made, NAT 1 armor gets worse by 1ac.)
We need ideas on just a few more things, such as materials (do we use them? If so how much or little is needed?) Time to repair (how long does it take to repair one armor? How many can they work on and still get benefits of rest?)
I would make an exception on the "beyond repair" for magical or "masterwork" (aka special) items.
These rules are fine for a set of generic leather armor, but someone's one-of-a-kind family breastplate might just be useless until it can get some TLC.
A character with proficiency in leatherworking tools and access to those tools and all necessary supplies can build a suit of leather armor in 0.2 workweeks.
A character with proficiency in smith's tools and access to those tools and all necessary supplies can build a chain shirt in 1 workweek, a suit of scale mail in 1 workweek, a breastplate in 8 workweeks, a suit of half plate in 15 workweeks, a suit of ring mail in 0.6 workweeks, a suit of chain mail in 1.5 workweeks, a suit of splint armor in 4 workweeks, and a full plate suit of armor in 30 workweeks.
A shield would take 0.2 workweeks, and would need a character to have proficiency in smith's tools or woodworking tools (and access to those tools and supplies), depending on what kind of shield it was.
Studded leather armor technically takes a character with proficiency in leatherworking tools and smiths' tools, and takes 0.9 workweeks.
Note that if you have more than one person working on an item (within reason), and both workers are proficient in necessary tools, the time needed for the item's creation is divided by the amount of workers (e.g. 3 people working on a suit of half plate finish in 5 workweeks).
As far as I can tell, Xanathar's guide is unclear about how long a workweek is. Since D&D is fantasy, we can possibly say that it is something like 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a week.
Assuming it is 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 1 workweek equals 40 hours of work (which are not necessarily consecutive, of course!)
Now, here's where I am really starting to guess around, but this may work.
If a critical hit removes one point of AC from the armor's AC boost, then we can look at it like this:
Leather armor boosts base AC for most races by 1, so removing 1 point of AC from it means that the leather armor was probably mostly (about 85-100%) destroyed.
Leather armor takes 8 hours, and 8*.85-1.00 means that you are going to have to spend about 6.8 to 8 hours to fix it back up.
Studded leather boosts base AC for most races by 2, so removing 1 point of AC from it means that the armor was probably very (about 45-55%) destroyed.
Studded leather takes 36 hours, and 36*.45-.55 means that you are going to have to spend about 16.2 to 19.8 hours to fix it back up.
And so on, so that we get this:
Here's something I thought up, which I may actually use myself sometime.
To figure out how much time and resources must be spent to fix a piece of armor that has been damaged according to your houserule:
1. Divide the normal cost of that item in gold pieces (see PHB pg. 145) by 50. That is the amount of time in workweeks it would take to create a completely new one. Assume a workweek is about 8 hours of work a day for 5 days.
2. See what the item's base AC increase is (assuming 10 as the base AC for most characters) when wearing the piece of armor is. E.g. for studded leather, it's 2, for full plate, it's 8.
3. Divide 1 by the item's base AC increase. That is about the percentage that the armor is damaged (although this does not necessarily mean that 100% means the armor is completely destroyed, just that 100% means the armor is basically useless).
4. Take that damage percentage, turn it into a decimal number, and multiply it by the base cost of the item and by the amount of time in workweeks it takes to create the item. That is how long and how many resources it will take.
IMPORTANT: For this to be true, the character working must be proficient in the appropriate tools for the item, and must have those tools with them while working.
Example: Ug the Half-Orc gets hit with a critical hit while wearing his breastplate.
A Breastplate costs 400 gp. 400/50 = 8 (workweeks).
A Breastplate's base AC increase is 4.
1/4 = .25, or 25% that the Breastplate is damaged.
.25*400 = 100. .25*8 = 2.
For Ug to fix his breastplate, assuming he has proficiency in smith's tools (and has them with him), he will need 100 gp worth of metal, and will have to spend 2 workweeks to fix it. Also, he probably needs an anvil and a very powerful fire, but this is fantasy. Note that if Ug got Rinnegan the smith to help him, it would only take Ug 1 workweek.
Note: This is an extremely mathematical way of doing this, and it may not work for you. Even if it does, be sure to take into account that the percentages shouldn't be thought of as exacts, because even if your armor is 25% less effective, that doesn't mean it necessarily has lost 25% of its material. In our example of Ug, he may not really need 100 gp worth of metal. Perhaps the hit was with a warhammer. Some metal needs to be added, but mostly, the breastplate could be reshaped.
As of right now, we have a system that every time you take a crit from an enemy, the armor is damaged and your A.C. GOES DOWN by 1. You can take up to 6 crits (8 with a shield) before the armor is beyond repair.
These rules let you have less AC wearing armor than not wearing it. I think the rules for Rust Monsters make more sense.
A critical hit from a weapon is probably bypassing armor altogether. You can't stab someone through plate armor; you stab their less armored parts, and sometimes you get lucky and strike their vitals. I'd use near-hits instead; if your AC is 15, an attack roll of 14 damages your armor.
Also consider just using the DMG rules for breaking objects. No need to penalize their AC; a dented breastplate is still a breastplate, but they'll want to get it repaired eventually.
We need ideas on just a few more things, such as materials (do we use them? If so how much or little is needed?) Time to repair (how long does it take to repair one armor? How many can they work on and still get benefits of rest?)
Keep it simple. I'd use the crafting rules in the Player's Handbook but instead of working towards the full cost of the item, they're only working towards a small fee and only require 1 hour instead of 8 hours to make progress.
Keep in mind this entire issue is easily solved with the Mending spell, and the game assumes part of your lifestyle expenses during downtime include the cost of repairing your gear. This is mentioned in Player's Handbook chapter 5 (Lifestyle Expenses -> Self Sufficiency).
So, me and my buddy are going to be CO Dming a campaign for a small group of our friends. Well, we wanted to do things that we haven't done before so we came up with the idea of blacksmithing for one of our PC'S. Since in battle, armor gets damaged, we would want to see them try and fix this armor up while they are away (example being weeks in the underdark.) Give a more realistic feel to it. We have been racking our brains on it for a while now and are asking for some ideas.
As of right now, we have a system that every time you take a crit from an enemy, the armor is damaged and your A.C. GOES DOWN by 1. You can take up to 6 crits (8 with a shield) before the armor is beyond repair.
You can fix this armor with time and effort during a short/long rest. You roll to figure out how much of the armor you fix. (NAT 20, Armor repaired with a temp +1 to a.c., 22+ armor fully fixed, 19-21 armor repaired by 2ac, 14 to 18, armor repaired by 1ac, 14 or below no repairs made, NAT 1 armor gets worse by 1ac.)
We need ideas on just a few more things, such as materials (do we use them? If so how much or little is needed?) Time to repair (how long does it take to repair one armor? How many can they work on and still get benefits of rest?)
Any help would be greatfully appreciated!!
I would make an exception on the "beyond repair" for magical or "masterwork" (aka special) items.
These rules are fine for a set of generic leather armor, but someone's one-of-a-kind family breastplate might just be useless until it can get some TLC.
MATH ANALYSIS:
According to Xanathar's guide,
A character with proficiency in leatherworking tools and access to those tools and all necessary supplies can build a suit of leather armor in 0.2 workweeks.
A character with proficiency in smith's tools and access to those tools and all necessary supplies can build a chain shirt in 1 workweek, a suit of scale mail in 1 workweek, a breastplate in 8 workweeks, a suit of half plate in 15 workweeks, a suit of ring mail in 0.6 workweeks, a suit of chain mail in 1.5 workweeks, a suit of splint armor in 4 workweeks, and a full plate suit of armor in 30 workweeks.
A shield would take 0.2 workweeks, and would need a character to have proficiency in smith's tools or woodworking tools (and access to those tools and supplies), depending on what kind of shield it was.
Studded leather armor technically takes a character with proficiency in leatherworking tools and smiths' tools, and takes 0.9 workweeks.
Note that if you have more than one person working on an item (within reason), and both workers are proficient in necessary tools, the time needed for the item's creation is divided by the amount of workers (e.g. 3 people working on a suit of half plate finish in 5 workweeks).
As far as I can tell, Xanathar's guide is unclear about how long a workweek is. Since D&D is fantasy, we can possibly say that it is something like 8-10 hours a day, 5 days a week.
Assuming it is 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 1 workweek equals 40 hours of work (which are not necessarily consecutive, of course!)
Now, here's where I am really starting to guess around, but this may work.
If a critical hit removes one point of AC from the armor's AC boost, then we can look at it like this:
Leather armor boosts base AC for most races by 1, so removing 1 point of AC from it means that the leather armor was probably mostly (about 85-100%) destroyed.
Leather armor takes 8 hours, and 8*.85-1.00 means that you are going to have to spend about 6.8 to 8 hours to fix it back up.
Studded leather boosts base AC for most races by 2, so removing 1 point of AC from it means that the armor was probably very (about 45-55%) destroyed.
Studded leather takes 36 hours, and 36*.45-.55 means that you are going to have to spend about 16.2 to 19.8 hours to fix it back up.
And so on, so that we get this:
Here's something I thought up, which I may actually use myself sometime.
To figure out how much time and resources must be spent to fix a piece of armor that has been damaged according to your houserule:
1. Divide the normal cost of that item in gold pieces (see PHB pg. 145) by 50. That is the amount of time in workweeks it would take to create a completely new one. Assume a workweek is about 8 hours of work a day for 5 days.
2. See what the item's base AC increase is (assuming 10 as the base AC for most characters) when wearing the piece of armor is. E.g. for studded leather, it's 2, for full plate, it's 8.
3. Divide 1 by the item's base AC increase. That is about the percentage that the armor is damaged (although this does not necessarily mean that 100% means the armor is completely destroyed, just that 100% means the armor is basically useless).
4. Take that damage percentage, turn it into a decimal number, and multiply it by the base cost of the item and by the amount of time in workweeks it takes to create the item. That is how long and how many resources it will take.
IMPORTANT: For this to be true, the character working must be proficient in the appropriate tools for the item, and must have those tools with them while working.
Example: Ug the Half-Orc gets hit with a critical hit while wearing his breastplate.
A Breastplate costs 400 gp. 400/50 = 8 (workweeks).
A Breastplate's base AC increase is 4.
1/4 = .25, or 25% that the Breastplate is damaged.
.25*400 = 100. .25*8 = 2.
For Ug to fix his breastplate, assuming he has proficiency in smith's tools (and has them with him), he will need 100 gp worth of metal, and will have to spend 2 workweeks to fix it. Also, he probably needs an anvil and a very powerful fire, but this is fantasy. Note that if Ug got Rinnegan the smith to help him, it would only take Ug 1 workweek.
Note: This is an extremely mathematical way of doing this, and it may not work for you. Even if it does, be sure to take into account that the percentages shouldn't be thought of as exacts, because even if your armor is 25% less effective, that doesn't mean it necessarily has lost 25% of its material. In our example of Ug, he may not really need 100 gp worth of metal. Perhaps the hit was with a warhammer. Some metal needs to be added, but mostly, the breastplate could be reshaped.
And that's all I have to say about that.
These rules let you have less AC wearing armor than not wearing it. I think the rules for Rust Monsters make more sense.
A critical hit from a weapon is probably bypassing armor altogether. You can't stab someone through plate armor; you stab their less armored parts, and sometimes you get lucky and strike their vitals. I'd use near-hits instead; if your AC is 15, an attack roll of 14 damages your armor.
Also consider just using the DMG rules for breaking objects. No need to penalize their AC; a dented breastplate is still a breastplate, but they'll want to get it repaired eventually.
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