val Holryn wrote:
Technically - yes.
Still. I personally don't believe Nol Doppans make Andrean Plate, I think that's Milandir's thing.
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I don't want to nickel and dime players, but knowing what I know now, (and having seen Andrean plate hawked for the gold) as a judge I would take 5 minutes to role play the King asking for player selections.
It's possible that the Nol Dappans can make Andrean Plate. I find that more plausible than a Kio hauberk. The Andrean plate is created from a large number of pieces and parts making up the individual plates. It is high effort with a good amount of materials involved for all the plates, straps, padding, etc. but I don't see anything unique about it once there's a suit to use as a template.
The Kio hauberk I think may use either special materials or forging techniques that represent trade secrets that aren't as plausible to pick up and replicate.
In terms of how to approach a player asking for armor I would do either or both of a couple of things.
1. Do the RP thing with the king. If the PC can convince the king (&GM) that the particular armor will be honored and well used it may be worth doing. He's wily so short of a 35 or 40+ Deceit roll they're not likely to pull a fast one on him.
2. Require that the PC can actually use the armor (i.e. have the proficiency). You can RP it such that he wants to see the character wear the armor as part of the forging process to make sure they get it right as it is a reward from the king after all.
In terms of it being permitted, I think this is a case where it was one of the first mods out and the thinking on how the option might be abused wasn't really in place yet. A lot of characters don't start with armor depending on the background and this was a way of being useful. The rewards since then I think have been more careful in how they're presented including whether they can be sold or not.
With a sweep of his hat,
Paul