I have a player who is interested in some superior leather armor that would give 1 defense, but otherwise be unchanged (ie same soak and enc.). This item would not be obtained with gold alone, and will also come with obligations and potential consequences as well, but I am interested what you GMs would charge in gold for such an item if you made it available.

The Character is rank 2 (14 experience) and just moved into Assassin.

Why not just charge the 10x normal cost and 1 increased rarity already listed in the books for superior items? Superior Leather armor would cost 50s and be common (2d) rarity. Although technically that's just for adding a fortune die to uses of the item. Although a fortune and misfortune die are mostly equivalent, that +1 defense would potentially see more frequent use than the fortune die if the player gets attacked multiple times.

There's also a dwarven rune of stone that gives +1 defense to a set of armor its put into (which must be superior to begin with). Maybe have your character befriend some dwarves and be offered a task in order to get the gift of the Stone Rune Leather Armor? Rune items are never sold by dwarves, only given as gifts. If a player is really keen to just buy one, I'd say you could again multiply the price of the base superior item by 10 and increase rarity by 1 (do this for each rune in the armor) to end up with leather armor costing 5 gold and being rare (3d), and only available to search for in the largest markets or with special dealers.

Thanks. It think 10x is a bit cheap for my taste in this case. After posting I looked back at Emirkol's house rules for adding dice for superior items and it has +7.5 gold and that might be better for my reward low game.

We do have two dwarves in the party, and one wants to go into the runesmith career eventually, so that rune is something to keep in mind for later.

I would have mundane superior armour reduce the Enc of the armour by 1, particularly important if using house rules that impose penalties in heat or swimming for armour to let that reduce penalty a bit.

Normal Leather: Def 0, Soak 2, Cost 5s, Encumbrance 3, Rarity: 1 purple

Normal Mail Shirt: Def 1, Soak 2, Cost 50s, Encumbrance 4, Rarity: 2 purple

Your player is asking for something that is functionally better than a Mail Shirt, so he should definitely pay more than the 50s of a Mail Shirt. I'd definitely go above the default x10 of a stock superior item. Otherwise, why would anyone ever buy a Mail Shirt when a lighter, better item is neither more expensive nor more rare?

As GM, I'd also be curious why the player wanted / felt it was appropriate to ask for a new type of armour that was similar to but better than an existing set of armour from the game. Hopefully it was just that they wanted superior garb, and the concept of +1 defence came up as a natural analog to the +1 white die that superior weapons (etc) give. If so, I'd probably allow it... but again I'd charge more than 50s because that +1 black vs potentially multiple attacks per round is arguably slightly better than +1 white on your own attack (which happens just once per turn unless you spend XP on actions that change this). If, on the other hand, the player is just chasing after bonus defence dice in the first place, I'd probably say no. There's plenty of ways to get more defence dice in the game (there's more than half a dozen ways to do that via "reaction" Actions, just for starters) using just the Rules As Written. In essence, I'm willing to make a new rule (or grant an exception to an existing rule) to plug a logic hole or to better model the setting, but not simply to give someone a bonus die for a thing they aren't willing to spend an XP on.

"Superior" armor gives you the opportunity to throw in a little bit of novelty.

I would ALSO give them the following benefits (after spending the +7.5g..also suggested in Liber Fanatica 8 I believe):

* Bonus to social checks in situations where "not looking like a vagabond" is important

* Bonus white to stealth due to refinements

* weighs 50% less

jh

So, the player is me, but I am also a GM. We rotate, and I wanted to be able to look at it as fairly as possible (as a GM) before I presented it to the rest of the group. My character (who is sitting out as she joins the Assassin's Guild and I run Witch's Song) will probably come back to the group with 18+ exp/adv depending on what is given out durring WS. She has up till now been a ranged fighter but I expect that she will get in more up-close fighting when she gets back. Encumbrance is pretty brutal in WFRP and she needs to remain mobile, so the mail shirt she has been wearing up till now feels like a bad idea and she is already maxed out on enc. I want to find an alternative for her, even if it comes at a large economic and moral cost to her.

Well, going by what Emirikol posted above, I would imagine a superior leather armor worn by an assassin would have a bonus fortune dice on stealth and maybe coordination. You might also throw one in for intimidate (although I always consider it a bit silly when assassins dress "scary". Yeah, way to be inconspicuous ).

Well, going by what Emirikol posted above, I would imagine a superior leather armor worn by an assassin would have a bonus fortune dice on stealth and maybe coordination. You might also throw one in for intimidate (although I always consider it a bit silly when assassins dress "scary". Yeah, way to be inconspicuous ).

I entirely agree with you on the scary assassin part. I would probably want the bonus to stealth and that's it since I don't want to stand out. Perhaps a part of it could be emblazoned with the secret mark of the guild and if I uncover it and the intended viewer knows the mark, then the I could get the bonus to intimidate.

There's a fan-made "superior clothes" card that gives fortune die to Charm (I think, some Fel skill), "every girl likes a sharp dressed man". Taking that into fortune on other things seems reasonable (why do villains wear the scary get-up, because it makes them scarier, fortune die on their checks to intimidate minions)