Strength based martials are unplayable. Dex based martials are slightly nerfed due to only slightly lower AC. Most casters benefit.
I think if a DM were making a setting like that they should strongly consider allowing classes that rely on armor for their AC to maintain the benefit of it and just fluff it as something else or just accept that their party will almost definitely gravitate towards casters even more than many do already.
As a class, Barbarian provides 90% combat support, 9% exploration support, and 1% social support (to be generous).
An urban swashbuckling campaign sounds like it would prioritize Social>Exploration>Combat.
>Or find a reason, why it's okay to wear plate at the royal ball...
Reskinning is the way to go here, but consider what fashion might dictate. Soldiers might have a dress uniform that includes a kind of armor. Wearing armor, or even faux armor, might be considered fashionable among the noblemen.
Some medieval armors looked very fancy! And what well to do goes anywhere without a bodyguard or two? So I have a feeling that armor is more "common" then expected. I'm not saying everyone, but if a noble saw one or two people in armor it would not raise red flags, IMO.
I’d reskin armor to fit your setting. For example a golden age of piracy campaign the heaviest armor would be a breastplate so that becomes the heaviest around replacing full plate. Thick padded armor would probably be some sort of medium and so on so forth.
You could even work it into the lore that the nobles are used to that sort of violence or attempts on their life and make their fancy clothes also work as protection. Kind of like how the POTUS have worn kevlar in their suits and such.
Armor that could be disguised as clothing, donned instantly, or made fashionable would be extremely useful. Otherwise, it’s dexterity build ranged weapon spam time, and say goodbye to the cleric dip on your wizard.
I think you could get away with full plate in a lot of formal settings if you made sure it adhered to high fashion standards, tossed a cape on there, took off the helmet, and kept it shiny: try to look like a knight and not some mercenary.
Wearing up to breastplate is reasonable even in formal settings. It’s a part of lots of uniforms and ceremonial dress. No problems there roleplay wise. That and a +2 dex and a shied is 18 Ac. Not end game power but not bad at level 1 where they can’t afford plate anyway.
Have an out of character conversation with the table explaining the situation and managing expectations. Keep an eye on the encounter balance consider giving out martial only plus one ac magic items or limited use per day ac buff spells items (shield of faith is plus 2 ac level one spell) to balance the story based handicaps.
Let the materials suit up in full plate for pitched battles and tournaments and planned attacks. Make putting on the full suit a big thing and make them feel really powerful. In real life it took a team of people to get fighters into and out of full plate. Often they were more or less welded in and had to be cut out.
Wizards, Sorcerers, Monks, and Barbs would be okay. Other classes would have to get creative (get light/mithral armor that can be worn under clothing, get Mage Armor/Barkskin, use illusion spells like Disguise Self to mask the armor) or rely only on Dex.
Without those measures, Fighters, Clerics, Rogues, etc would be getting hit a lot more. Of course you could adjust the to hit bonuses of your encounters downwards or make combats easier to compensate. I think allowing ways to get stealthy armor (as a part of a quest maybe) might be a good way to go about it while not completely screwing over classes that rely on wearing armor or having to re-balance the game. If there are ways to get mithral/collapsing armor then the only restriction is on armor that gives stealth disadvantage (and maybe medium armor as well).
Just ban heavy armor classes if you want to do this. I wouldn't reskin, as that still kind of defeats the theme of what you are going for.
With that being said, you 100% need to talk to your players about your idea and see if they are on board with it.
If they are, then cool. If they aren't, then you should come up with a new idea.
I'm in an Old West inspired 5e game right now where the only armor allowed is a leather coat that gives +1 AC.
It's a damn good thing the DM I giving us maximum hit points at every level because we get hit a *lot.* I'm playing a cleric and man, even with my high Dex I'm just getting hit all the time. Concentration spells are harder to keep up.
All of these things have gotten less noticeable as we've leveled up though.
Have a look at the honour optional rule in the DMG. Or just make up your own. If it's unbecoming to wear armour in a royal court make it go both ways, mind altering spells are the greatest of all taboo. The party can still use them, they'll just have to figure out how to not get caught
Edit before I forget: Duels. This is where your martials will excel. "I don't take kindly to that sir, draw your blade or send forth your champion, prepare to defend your honour"
Eldrich Knights can focus on Dex, and use Mage armour to still have a very high AC in clothes, and using rapiers seems like is what the setting is calling for. Fighters in general can just focus Dex and with some feats or fighting styles like parry should be ok.
Monks and barbarians don't need armour, druids can also pretty much ignore it.
Wizards, sorcerers, bards, warlocks and the like loose a few points, but their cantrips are more likely to hit and they have the spells to just keep out of danger. Sorcerers of the dragon bloodline get some natural AC don't they?
Rogues and rangers can just stay hidden in the shadows.
Seems like it gonna be paladins and clerics who get the most punished here, no shields or heavy armour.
I'd be inclined to buff martial classes by increasing the damage of all weapons and then giving them an intiative bonus that enures they get to act before casters
3rd Edition had a big book of Alternate Rules, and one of them was rules for No Armor settings. You could probably extrapolate something from that.
If the PCs are at or above 3rd level, you can probably just give them the equivalent of the best armor they could get with their armor proficiency, since that's what they'd be wearing and could afford it all.
Do you want naked Halflings? Because that's what my DM gets every time we get attacked in the middle of the night and no one has time to put on armor.
I think it only really affects martials that rely on heavy armor. As long as you let the players know what's in store it should be fine. They'll figure it out.
Needs to be reflavored 100%. Whether heavy armor has made enough advancements that it looks like clothing, or is decorative but still serves its purpose, or whatever. Don't nerf your martials that way. They won't have fun.
Strength based martials are unplayable. Dex based martials are slightly nerfed due to only slightly lower AC. Most casters benefit. I think if a DM were making a setting like that they should strongly consider allowing classes that rely on armor for their AC to maintain the benefit of it and just fluff it as something else or just accept that their party will almost definitely gravitate towards casters even more than many do already.
Funnily enough, Barbarians would have a slight edge AC-wise, even though they're probably the least suited for such a campaign.
I mean a Barbarian could be something like that one very wildly fighting musketeer...
As a class, Barbarian provides 90% combat support, 9% exploration support, and 1% social support (to be generous). An urban swashbuckling campaign sounds like it would prioritize Social>Exploration>Combat.
Yeah, I think "reskinning" armor may be a good idea. Or find a reason, why it's okay to wear plate at the royal ball...
>Or find a reason, why it's okay to wear plate at the royal ball... Reskinning is the way to go here, but consider what fashion might dictate. Soldiers might have a dress uniform that includes a kind of armor. Wearing armor, or even faux armor, might be considered fashionable among the noblemen.
Some medieval armors looked very fancy! And what well to do goes anywhere without a bodyguard or two? So I have a feeling that armor is more "common" then expected. I'm not saying everyone, but if a noble saw one or two people in armor it would not raise red flags, IMO.
I’d reskin armor to fit your setting. For example a golden age of piracy campaign the heaviest armor would be a breastplate so that becomes the heaviest around replacing full plate. Thick padded armor would probably be some sort of medium and so on so forth.
You could even work it into the lore that the nobles are used to that sort of violence or attempts on their life and make their fancy clothes also work as protection. Kind of like how the POTUS have worn kevlar in their suits and such.
I mean isn’t the formal wear of knights and the like a polished full plate armour emblazoned with their emblem or family crest?
Caster disparity was bad enough
Armor that could be disguised as clothing, donned instantly, or made fashionable would be extremely useful. Otherwise, it’s dexterity build ranged weapon spam time, and say goodbye to the cleric dip on your wizard. I think you could get away with full plate in a lot of formal settings if you made sure it adhered to high fashion standards, tossed a cape on there, took off the helmet, and kept it shiny: try to look like a knight and not some mercenary.
Wearing up to breastplate is reasonable even in formal settings. It’s a part of lots of uniforms and ceremonial dress. No problems there roleplay wise. That and a +2 dex and a shied is 18 Ac. Not end game power but not bad at level 1 where they can’t afford plate anyway. Have an out of character conversation with the table explaining the situation and managing expectations. Keep an eye on the encounter balance consider giving out martial only plus one ac magic items or limited use per day ac buff spells items (shield of faith is plus 2 ac level one spell) to balance the story based handicaps. Let the materials suit up in full plate for pitched battles and tournaments and planned attacks. Make putting on the full suit a big thing and make them feel really powerful. In real life it took a team of people to get fighters into and out of full plate. Often they were more or less welded in and had to be cut out.
Wizards, Sorcerers, Monks, and Barbs would be okay. Other classes would have to get creative (get light/mithral armor that can be worn under clothing, get Mage Armor/Barkskin, use illusion spells like Disguise Self to mask the armor) or rely only on Dex. Without those measures, Fighters, Clerics, Rogues, etc would be getting hit a lot more. Of course you could adjust the to hit bonuses of your encounters downwards or make combats easier to compensate. I think allowing ways to get stealthy armor (as a part of a quest maybe) might be a good way to go about it while not completely screwing over classes that rely on wearing armor or having to re-balance the game. If there are ways to get mithral/collapsing armor then the only restriction is on armor that gives stealth disadvantage (and maybe medium armor as well).
It would mean a party of tortles
Just ban heavy armor classes if you want to do this. I wouldn't reskin, as that still kind of defeats the theme of what you are going for. With that being said, you 100% need to talk to your players about your idea and see if they are on board with it. If they are, then cool. If they aren't, then you should come up with a new idea.
I'm in an Old West inspired 5e game right now where the only armor allowed is a leather coat that gives +1 AC. It's a damn good thing the DM I giving us maximum hit points at every level because we get hit a *lot.* I'm playing a cleric and man, even with my high Dex I'm just getting hit all the time. Concentration spells are harder to keep up. All of these things have gotten less noticeable as we've leveled up though.
Have a look at the honour optional rule in the DMG. Or just make up your own. If it's unbecoming to wear armour in a royal court make it go both ways, mind altering spells are the greatest of all taboo. The party can still use them, they'll just have to figure out how to not get caught Edit before I forget: Duels. This is where your martials will excel. "I don't take kindly to that sir, draw your blade or send forth your champion, prepare to defend your honour"
Eldrich Knights can focus on Dex, and use Mage armour to still have a very high AC in clothes, and using rapiers seems like is what the setting is calling for. Fighters in general can just focus Dex and with some feats or fighting styles like parry should be ok. Monks and barbarians don't need armour, druids can also pretty much ignore it. Wizards, sorcerers, bards, warlocks and the like loose a few points, but their cantrips are more likely to hit and they have the spells to just keep out of danger. Sorcerers of the dragon bloodline get some natural AC don't they? Rogues and rangers can just stay hidden in the shadows. Seems like it gonna be paladins and clerics who get the most punished here, no shields or heavy armour.
I'd be inclined to buff martial classes by increasing the damage of all weapons and then giving them an intiative bonus that enures they get to act before casters
Depending on the level range, anything with natural armor, or the equivalent thereof, would get a lot more play than normal.
Barbs monks draconic sorcs and natural armor races get an edge
3rd Edition had a big book of Alternate Rules, and one of them was rules for No Armor settings. You could probably extrapolate something from that. If the PCs are at or above 3rd level, you can probably just give them the equivalent of the best armor they could get with their armor proficiency, since that's what they'd be wearing and could afford it all.
Do you want naked Halflings? Because that's what my DM gets every time we get attacked in the middle of the night and no one has time to put on armor. I think it only really affects martials that rely on heavy armor. As long as you let the players know what's in store it should be fine. They'll figure it out.
I would play a different game, my g.
Needs to be reflavored 100%. Whether heavy armor has made enough advancements that it looks like clothing, or is decorative but still serves its purpose, or whatever. Don't nerf your martials that way. They won't have fun.
You'd probably have all casters, monks, and barbarians. Maybe dex based fighters and rogues, but they typically wear light armor.