#armory

Thallenar by Nozomi Matsuoka Source: https://ift.tt/fGT1BFl

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[OC] My painting of Alterac Valley I did between pints! Don’t normally pose with my art but felt this was a special one since the battles I fought here give me that cozy nostalgic ptsd. Enjoy! Source: https://ift.tt/AE2gs4k

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Jitish Blackarrow by Rædine Tainmoun Source: https://ift.tt/e30OIQv

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Commission of my Frost DK made by Julien_black. Source: https://ift.tt/BW4rk72

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Pandaren Revolution by Henri Tapio Source: https://ift.tt/FQN03KE

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Dracthyr by Kuridel Black Source: https://ift.tt/7V0AWid

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Pandaren Shaman by Henri Tapio Source: https://ift.tt/ZIzy0BX

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I Told You I Would add Armor!

Ok, this one has probably been one of the longest projects I have ever worked on compared to the final scope. Back in, what 2019? I released a Supplement called “Clockwork Dragon’s Expanded Armory” to serve as a replacement and expansion for the core weapons tables, and address some of my biggest pet peeves about the general “sameness” of weapons. But an armory contains more than just weapons, and that initial release was always lacking suitable Armor to go along with the other tools of war I had carefully stated up.

I had always planned to add armor to the supplement, but actually tackling the project turned out to be a lot more easily said than done. You see, 5e relies on this thing called “bounded AC” which means you can’t just start adding higher AC bonusses to the game without making players effectively unhittable. I also had this idea in my head for a system more like what I experienced back in 4e, where armor wasn’t sold as distinct sets, and instead, you could have various pieces of armor, such as helmets, chest plates, and grieves that collectively decided your AC, but each of which could have individual enchantments and bonusses. None of which could really be achieved using 5e’s existing AC system

I worked for probably about a year and a half developing a complete defense rework for the game, which split Armor Score and Defense Score into separate statistics, with armor adding damage reduction, and Defense Score deciding how hard you were to actually hit. At one point, It included a re-design of how speed was determined. I divided up armor sets into 3-5 separate pieces, which could be mixed and matched, with individual weaknesses and resistances for each piece of a set. Then I spent a good 6 months playtesting it, both on my own, and with any group that found the idea intriguing. And believe it or not It worked.

Unfortunately, there were so many nuances and details to the system I had devised, that it just…. didn’t feel like 5e anymore. It was playable, and even fun - once you got the hang of it - but just felt like too much weight on top of a relatively simple tabletop system. So in the end, I decided to scrap nearly two years of work and playtesting, and start over with the goal of keeping things simple, but still interesting.

The result it what you see here. No heavy rewrite, no piece-meal armor system, just the simple addition of resistance and vulnerabilities that each set of armor conveys to it’s wearer. I also made sure to keep most of the interesting new types of armor i had developed, and explored the idea that some types of armor might even grant *advantage* to stealth checks instead of just disadvantage. In the end, I’m actually really happy with how it turned out - just not as happy with how long it took to get here.

I still think my more complicated defense system has merit, and I haven’t seen anything else that works quite like it, so I’m going to keep it in my back pocket for that new tabletop system I’ve always wanted to write. Maybe if I get a wild hair, or enough interest from the community, I will post my work on it sometime. but that is a project for another day.

As usual, the preview images above are low resolution, and does not contain everything. For the latest high-resolution PDF, as well as a whole host of other work I have done, check out this handy dropbox link, containing all of my published content. The armor you see above is part of My Expanded Armory supplement.

If you like what I do and want to support me or just generally help out, Check out my Patreonpage, or throw some coin at me through Paypal.me. If you wanna just come say hi on my Discord, that’s great too!  

The Tea Drops team is at the Tea Lovers Festival, kicking off today and running through the weekend at the Armory in Pasadena. Come have a cup of tea with us! Click here for more info.