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Optional: Iron Armor
While iron causes damage to spellcasters who use magic while wearing it, little has been said of the benefits of wearing iron when negating magic. Many an Archeon uses iron armor to displace magic cast against them.
Iron gives it wearer Spell Resistance per Iron Armor Spell Resistance Chart, but also doubles the weight of the armor and lowers Max DEX bonus.
Iron Armor Spell Resistance Chart
Iron Armor Spell Resistance Bonus Weight Max DEX Bonus
Full Plate +3 x2 0
Half-Plate +2 x2 -1
Breastplate +1 x2 +2
Chainmail +1 x2 +1
Heavy Iron Shield +1 x2 –
Heavy Tower Shield +2 x2 +1Steel armor does not negate magic in this way at all..
My initial thought is that this is unbalanced. A +2 save is the equivalent of a Talent point. Saves are already so high in the system because you get bonus Resistance at level 3 and 6. Save DCs are also very low unless you cast an expensive high mana spell.
With the Iron Spell Resistance optional rule an Archeon at level 3 will have a Base +3 Will save, +1 from WIS, +1 Resistance level 3 = +5, if they take the talent Spell Resistance thats another +3 for a +8. That means they save against 7 mana spells on a 9 or higher d20 roll.
If that same Archeon is in Iron Full Plate (+3 spell save) and using an Iron Tower Shield (+2 spell save) they have a +13 Will save making them effectively immune to magic at level 3. They need to roll a 4 on a d20 to save vs 7 mana spells. That’s crazy IMO.
The hinderance as written is that their Max Dex bonus is 0 instead of 1. AC 10 +8 Full Plate + 4 Tower Shield +0 Dex TOTAL AC 22. The extra weight means 100 lb Full Plate, and 90 lbs Shield. With a STR of 16+ that is a Heavy load, but if their speed is 30′ that only drops them to 20′ the same as a Medium load.
And we haven’t even gotten into Legacy Items yet. The world is already so unfavorable to mages. Iron arrows already stop magic. This system goes too far IMO.
Also when you forge Iron it becomes Steel. Cold Iron is just an old way of saying raw iron ore that’s unprocessed, so if it’s processed it should technically be steel. Now it’s a fantasy game, so it can be whatever, but I think it justifies the idea that “Magic Resistant Iron” is too delicate to be made into full suits of armor be it ring or plate.
I didn’t mean this as an additional save to Saves. I meant it as Spell Resistance like Creatures get.
Really, what I envisioned is if someone wears enough Iron in weight they get a Spell Resistance of 1 or 2. Meaning any spell cast at them has to have a Spell Resistance roll (d20 plus the mages Spellcraft) to beat that number. Meaning the spell only fails if a critical fail is rolled. It means one more dice roll, and a very low chance of failure of the mage, but I thought it added more flavor to witch hunters wearing iron.
And Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, which is why it is not the same as Iron when it comes to magic. So this armor would be like Wrought Iron, so very low carbon.
So this armor if worn would offer good spell protection, but would be softer and more likely to be damaged by steel weapons. And if someone made an easy to damage item as a Legacy item, that seems, scary.
Oh. Spell Resistance that low means don’t roll a 1, so it seems like something most people wouldn’t risk or use, but ya in that case it’s not broken.
On further thought, I think this might be a cool Legacy item. Maybe a Breastplate that is a combined Legacy Armor / Wondrous Item. So Armor benefits, and then has spell resistance imbued into it.
Maybe: Lvl 2 – Protection from unerring spells- Wearer always gets a savings throw VS ANY spell. Will for mind spells, Reflex for attack spells, Fort for disease and poison.
Lvl 4 – Spell Resistance 2
Lvl 6 – Shield spell-like ability.
Lvl 8 – Spell Resistance 10
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