Spelljammer Thaumatech: more

In our world, the nobility was able to commision suits of armor that took
the most skilled craftsmen and their assistants months to make.  In a fantasy
universe one might expect a similar effort.  In such a universe the difference
between standard issue armor and the best is also a lot greater than in ours.

Here are a couple of armor types for those people who like the pure fighter
class, who think Rings and Cloaks and Bracers just don't offer enough
all around protection.

Dwarven Carapace armor.  Long ago a dwarven colony discovered that a
particularly metal rich mountain range was infested by particularly hard shelled
giant insects.  Think a combination of 'choja' from Raymond Feist's _Magician_
series and the 'Horta' from Star Trek.  Discovering that the shells could be
fashioned into large Plates for plate armor they designed Full Carapace plate
armor.  Since the shells require magic and/or chemistry to cut and shape
to the appropriate form, getting a proper size and fit require the greatest of
skill.  Sometimes other chitinous shells are substituted for the breastplate,
Bulettes and Xorns for example.
Dwarven Carapace Armor:  Base AC (w/o shield) 1.  ( 0 if a perfect fit is
accomplished)  Can be enchanted as high as +3 fairly easily.  The magical
bonus also applies as saving throw bonus versus elemental and physical damage.
The greatest bonus is that the armor reduces damage from all physical attacks
by 2, and reduces damage from appropriate magical attack by 2+ per die.
Couples with the Dwarven innate resistance to magical attacks, their high
hit points, and general cussheaded stubborness, Dwarven Carapace Axemen are
the exception to the rule "No close formation troops on a magic intensive
battlefield."

Some of these suits of armor are further enchanted with Invulnerability to
normal weapons, Regeneration 1 hp/turn, Fire Resistence and the like.

Elven glassteel plate, aka, Ghost Plate, and Crystal Plate.  In certain
nations of elves the art of glassmaking was raised to a very high art.
Glass tubes could be molded and welded together.  Some major glass making
operations used magic instead of flame to mold the glass, allowing much
more complicated glass structures and a higher purity as well.  Elven Ghost
Plate is made by molding hundreds of glass tubes together into plates.  When
the plate is turned into steel the structure becomes both flexible and
extremely strong, especially for its weight.  Further, it is an excellent
recipient of light based spells.  Like Carapace Armor it exists mostly as
Full Plate Armor.  Since it is lighter than Carapace Armor it only negates
1 point per die of successful attacks, but there are a larger number of
enchantments which can be put on it.

Protection from Evil, (If used in conjunction with a Holy Avenger effect, its
power is doubled)
Various sun based spells, Blind, Light, also doubled if used in conjunction
with a Sunsword.
Fire Shield.
Elven Ghost Plate also looks a lot better than Carapace Armor.

The idea is to make certain pieces of armor _so_ valuable that even if you
find a suit that doesn't fit, or is in bad repair, the characters will move
heaven and earth to find some who will alter it to their size.

Oh yeah, neither Carapce Armor, Ghost Plate, or Holy Ghost Plate are
particularly encumbering _if you have a proper fit_, reducing base movement
to 9", typically.

Ghost Plate helmets are very good by themselves, enabling one to wear up
to Full Plate Armor with no loss of vision or armor bonus.

Okay, what could possibly be better that Full Plate Armor?  A certain Dual
Class Fighter/ Magic User, 9 levels of fighter, 16 of mage created a Steel
Golem in the shape of an over sized suit of armor, just his size.  With
a girdle of Storm Giant strength and Gauntlets of Orge power and over 2"
of steel between him and danger he felt terribly secure.  Yup, glassteel
helm, Necklace of Adaptation, Flight capability, he was all set to do some
serious buttkicking when, tragicly, all his enemies surrendered and he
spent his remaining years administrating, judging disputes, and periodicly
doing demonstrations on the border.

The 'Tank' armor was an army fighter.  Its main mission was to calmly fly or
walk up to enemy city or fortress gates, smash them, set fire to everything
inside, and then leave.  It was a terror weapon only suitable for intimidating
civilized foes.  If all the above enchants are on the armor, it is a near
artifact item and should be treated accordingly.  However, for those people
interested in created VoidShip Combat Armor I reccommend some of the following
for the complete treatment:
Helm of Mind Shielding
Gaze Reflection
Flight and/or Spider Climb or Boots of Leaping and Striding
Gauntlets ofOgre power or better Strength aid.

Now, most people in Spelljammer tend to sneer at Fighters, after all, they
can only kill one person at a time.  That becomes a different story when
they face a Storm Trooper with Fire Shield up.  Enjoy!

Michael Sadny
oops,   Sandy