Armor vs No Armor

El Cid

Mongoose
I decided to try a Thief in our local campaign and went totall with Dexterity and took no armor since I couldn't afford it after selecting the package deal.

So far in two sessions poor Yagar has been forced to use one Fate point to keep from dying, knocked to zero at least 3 times and below zero another two times.

Low level PCs without armor better have really good health insurence. :D
 
The obvious answer is "leave the fighting to the fighters" ;)

Stay out of reach of your enemies swords: shoot stuff, throw stuff, learn a little sorcery, or invest in a reach weapon. Only get up-close and personal if there is a significant advantage to doing so - eg, you will get to use your sneak attack.
 
Mayhem said:
The obvious answer is "leave the fighting to the fighters" ;)

Stay out of reach of your enemies swords: shoot stuff, throw stuff, learn a little sorcery, or invest in a reach weapon. Only get up-close and personal if there is a significant advantage to doing so - eg, you will get to use your sneak attack.

If you have no armor and you get into melee, there is an excellent probability you will die... Quickly. :twisted: Your thief should either invest in a cheap leather jerkin (DR 4) and steel cap (+1 DR), or stay out of melee. Actually, anytime you can stay out of melee in Conan, you should, regardless of class. That's how deadly combat is!

If I were you, I would specialize in archery (which is super deadly and relatively safe to practice as long as no enemy can get to you): point blank shot, rapid shot, precise shot. Get a Hyrkanian, Shemite or Stygian bow, preferably a mighty one if you have a positive Strength modifier. You can do ranged sneak attacks with your bow so long as you are at point blank range (30 ft.). The problem is, you will need an exotic weapon proficiency feat to use those bows, since you are not of the bow's creator race.

Another option would be to use throwing knives, but they won't do much against armored opponents. Throwing knives aren't in the book, but I'd treat them as double-priced stillettos with a range increment of 10 ft.

One way to hinder your opponents, especially if they get away, is to smear your weapon tips with excrement. If your GM has the 3.5e D&D DMG, there are disease rules, and excrement smeared weapons would force a Fort save vs. catching filth fever. A D&D character of mine caught that from a rat bite once in the sewers, and he was bedridden for days! Disease would take a day or so to show up. It is a nasty way of disabling tough foes who might otherwise be spending the days they are lying around moaning in bed coming after you. You can bet they'll try and tracvk you down once they recover, though! Hopefully, you've either killed them in bed by then or you are long gone! Poison is too rare and expensive to use willy-nilly, but disease is free! :wink:

General advice for sneaky rat bastards: Run away at the first sign of trouble, use the existing terrain to your advantage, set ambushes whenever possible, take cover, take hostages/human shields, whatever you can to avoid being hit. Another option common to rich rat bastards in the Conan stories is hiring a gang of bravos (freelance killers) to do your dirty work for you.
 
So far Yagar has gone down three times due to bows being shot at him, twice while he had partial cover.

The other two battle were with a wolf and a boar. Seems like critters like to attack the camp during his watch.
 
El Cid said:
So far Yagar has gone down three times due to bows being shot at him, twice while he had partial cover.

The other two battle were with a wolf and a boar. Seems like critters like to attack the camp during his watch.

You need to buy Yagar a leather jerkin and steel cap. Now. :p
 
Iron_Chef, only problem with your archery analogy is the fact that to not get attacked while in archery mode requriers you to lose most benefits of thief class.

I personally use a house rule that allows SA and PBS to the first range increment. 30' is an absolute joke, you are not just within charge range, but regular move range for most characters. Anybody with ANY skill with a bow can hit a 3"(75mm) circle at 100' (30m) practically without fail. Now once you start adding point blank shot, etc. you are describing an expert sharpshooter. The mere fact that you don't receive penalties for shooting at somebody(thing) that if you miss means you will die or at least get hurt nicely is showing some skill and quite a bit of nerve already.

But yes, armour is VERY important at low levels, there is a good reason why thieves don't get the light foot feet until 3rd (? don't have book w/ me) level. By then they can survive 2 or 3 whacks without spending a fate point.
 
Murte said:
Anybody with ANY skill with a bow can hit a 3"(75mm) circle at 100' (30m) practically without fail. .

In my experience, Archery Targets don't generally make an active effort to avoid being shot...
 
Mayhem said:
Murte said:
Anybody with ANY skill with a bow can hit a 3"(75mm) circle at 100' (30m) practically without fail. .

In my experience, Archery Targets don't generally make an active effort to avoid being shot...

And you generally have more than 6 seconds to remove an arrow from your quiver, place it in the bow, draw and aim when you are dealing with archery targets. Not to mention, having fired bows with olympic class archers, I can tell you that even they miss the bullseye sometimes at 30m.
 
Murte said:
Iron_Chef, only problem with your archery analogy is the fact that to not get attacked while in archery mode requriers you to lose most benefits of thief class.

Well, with precise shot and allies confronting melee targets, you should be fine (as long as nobody breaks through your allies), or if you strike from a spot where your enemies can't get at you, such as from atop a wall, building or behind a barricade.
 
To you archery know it alls, I was speaking of a heart shot on a deer or bear. Both of which you only have about a 3" diameter target to hit between the shoulder blade and the rib and still hit the heart. With a bear this is vitally important as a "wound" shot could mean your life.

So please don't assume when one speaks of archery one is talking of "sport" archery and not real archery which involves putting lives on the line. Not standing in some dog and pony show hitting immobile targets which offer no risk.
 
Murte said:
To you archery know it alls, I was speaking of a heart shot on a deer or bear. Both of which you only have about a 3" diameter target to hit between the shoulder blade and the rib and still hit the heart. With a bear this is vitally important as a "wound" shot could mean your life.

So please don't assume when one speaks of archery one is talking of "sport" archery and not real archery which involves putting lives on the line. Not standing in some dog and pony show hitting immobile targets which offer no risk.

In that case, I withdraw my comments and dispute your aim claim. :wink:
 
Well yuan-ti, that can be debated over a few hundred pints I think. :wink:
 
Unless you are talking about an angry bear, that knows you are there and is actively getting ready to attack you, *AND* knows what a bow is and is able, therefore, to try to avoid being shot, I stand by my comments.

:wink:
 
Murte said:
Anybody with ANY skill with a bow can hit a 3"(75mm) circle at 100' (30m) practically without fail.

Well, speaking as someone who has gotten back into the sport of archery, all I have to say is "do you own a bow?" 3" inchs at 100' can be quite hard to hit for the novice...Your talkin' bull's eyeing the target here. That is not easy.
 
?" 3" inchs at 100' can be quite hard to hit for the novice...Your talkin' bull's eyeing the target here. That is not easy.
Especially if the target is moving and/or shooting back and you are using a recurve rather than a compound bow.
 
Murte wrote:
Anybody with ANY skill with a bow can hit a 3"(75mm) circle at 100' (30m) practically without fail.

Also, archery targets do not shoot back. Self preservation can really have an effect your aim.
 
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