Warforged Docents/Plating Feats need re-balancing

[Draknowin]

Warforged Docents are, quite frankly, terrible as armor currently. Besides needing a feat to count as Light or Heavy armor (which really should be a racial choice, like a Shifter's shifting style), their armor and max dex values have been based on an ancient version of armor scaling for far too long. For comparison:

Sharn Set Example:
Umbral Soul Docent (Mithral Body/Adamantine Body) - +12/20 Armor, +5/+1 Max Dex.
Enforcer's Plate, heavy armor equivalent - +20 armor (Same as docent, but-), +3 Max Dex
Wildcard, Light armor equivalent - +12 Armor (Again, same as docent, but-), +10 Max Dex

Overall, the AC is the same but there's a major max dex difference, and not in the Docent's favor.

MD Armor Example:
Docent of the Warblade - +13/+20 AC, Mithral/Adamantine respectively. +5/+1 Max dex, respectively.
Light Armor of the Warblade - +15 AC (Higher AC than the docent), +6 Max Dex.
Heavy Armor of the Warblade - +26 AC (Again, higher AC than the docent), +2 Max Dex.

This is getting worse. The *light* Warblade armor has nearly the same AC as the *Adamantine* version of the docent. And the Heavy armor has 6 more, and more (slightly) max dex. Warforged armor is often barely as good, sometimes worse than the actual armor, which is insane for a race of constructs literally forged as soldiers.

But it gets even worse in Legendary gear, like the most recent expansion (Pulled from the wiki):
Legendary Great Forge Docent - +30/+41 AC, Mithral/Adamantine respectively. And of course, +5/+1 Max dex, respectively.
Legendary Great Forge Chain (Light Armor equivalent) - +50 AC, +20 Max Dex
Legendary Great Forge Plate (Heavy Armor equivalent) - +58 AC, +6 Max Dex

I'm sorry, the Light Armor version has half-again the AC of the Adamantine Body Docent? And the Heavy Armor has more max dex than the Mithral Body docent? Warforged Body Feats need a balance update, because for requiring a feat tax to even get the armor bonuses, I feel it's unacceptable for them to be so clearly worse than normal armor.

(Also, please update Docent tooltips to show the final armor value + Enhancement bonus, like normal armor. Totally not the reason I had to update my post, no not at all...)

 

[Christhemiss]

its honestly crazy to me how so many people don't understand how docent armor works.

you are still right and i agree with you, you just arent as right as you think

 

[JohnLuke]

its honestly crazy to me how so many people don't understand how docent armor works.

you are still right and i agree with you, you just arent as right as you think

How does it work?

 

[Christhemiss]

How does it work?

the enhancement bonus is in addition to the body plating bonus.

endgame docents with 26 ac in adamantine and 15 enhancement bonus to ac have 41 ac, not 26

 

[Draknowin]

the enhancement bonus is in addition to the body plating bonus.

endgame docents with 26 ac in adamantine and 15 enhancement bonus to ac have 41 ac, not 26

I've updated the post to reflect this, thank you - shame on me for thinking the tooltips actually reflected the armor accurately.

 

[kmoustakas]

They needed rebalancing 10 years ago. Now they need to be replaced

 

[ashou]

Replace docents entirely and profit from a warforged themed expansion ? Yes please

Maybe even a barbarian archetype since we don't have one yet

 

[Lazuli]

In pnp warforgeds use normal armor. Docents are another thing.

 

[Draknowin]

In pnp warforgeds use normal armor. Docents are another thing.

Actually, no. Well, in 5e maybe, but in 3.5, which DDO is based on, Warforged do not in fact use normal armor. Their Composite Plating feature counts as armor, and is enchanted as armor would be. They were incapable of wearing magic armor or robes, because of this.

 

[Chacka]

A Warforged/Bladeforged body feat pass is something players have been asking for for years. Currently Warforged and Bladeforged get the worst armor in DDO, while logic tells me that because armor is an integral part of their bodies, Warforged and Bladeforged should have the best armor in D&D and DDO.

I can only imagine the developers don't want to make them too strong, so that min/maxers don't end up playing only Warforged and Bladeforged. But when the mechanics contradict the very concept of a race, something is wrong: a Warforged whose built-in armor is worse than a shirt you can buy from a vendor makes no sense. Yes, balance matters – but flavour, logic and lore should come first, and honestly, I'd rather have Warforged end up a bit too strong in the armor department than have their defining feature be mechanically meaningless. Being the best-armored race is their concept, so being ahead there isn't a balance failure – it's the point.

In my opinion, the base body of Warforged and Bladeforged should count as light armor when it comes to the benefits (AC, MRR cap and PRR), but with fewer penalties – for example the possibility to stay centered in light armor. The Mithral body should count as light armor regarding Evasion, but as medium armor for most benefits (no MRR cap, better Dex bonus cap than normal medium armor, etc.). And the Adamantine body should give a % damage reduction, so you get the feeling that armor is really made for tanking and not almost only penalties with almost no benefits.

 

[eartheyes]

why even have docents...just have WF wear armor...we already have gnomes and halflings wear the same suit of armor as a half orc, is that much more of a stretch to put it on w WF? could just change all heal amp to pos/neg/rep and everyone can enjoy all options?