Knights & Knaves Alehouse

Do you think boots of elven kind would work with metal armor (or perhaps some reduced % of success)? Was this ever covered in the DMG or Dragon etc. Thanks.

There's nothing in the rules to suggest they work any less well with metal armor than in any other circumstance. The are magical, after all.

"These soft boots enable the wearer to move without sound of footfall in virtually any surroundings" (DMG, p.139; Bolded own.)
Therefore, only the sound your feet would make. Not any other noises you or your metal suit might make.

Yeah, they work like a ring of inaudibility as far as I can see.

Mudguard wrote:

Therefore, only the sound your feet would make. Not any other noises you or your metal suit might make.

This.

Interesting wording change from OD&D:

OD&D:M&T, p. 37 wrote: Elven Cloak and Boots: Wearing the Cloak makes a person next to invisible, while the Boots allow for totally silent movement.

Matthew wrote:Interesting wording change from OD&D:

OD&D:M&T, p. 37 wrote: Elven Cloak and Boots: Wearing the Cloak makes a person next to invisible, while the Boots allow for totally silent movement.

Interesting observation. Its difficult to know how much noise wearing armor makes (minus the foot fall) having never worn plate, chain or any other sort for that matter. I'd imagine things clang together, but I don't know this for certain. What do you re-enactors think?

Boots, cloaks, and chain mail of elfin kind are the in game explanation for CHAINMAIL's tolkien-esque ability for elven units to become invisible on the field of battle and have a mvt. Of 12" while also being heavy foot. Wearing boots of elvenkind wouldn't mask the sound of your voice or a jangly bell in your bonnet, nor the sqweak of rusty armor.

Somewhat moot, because who would wear slippers with plate armor in the first place? I kind of imagine elvish boots to look like shoes peter pan would wear (green and pointy).

In my games I allow all elves to start with--and assume all npc elves are wearing, boots, cloaks, and elvish chain, but they loose their armored spellcasting and surprise ability (4 in 6) if they ever remove them or put on other magic items like a cloak of protection or boots of striding and springing etc.

I like the fairy tale-y work of the elven boots and cloak, if you have both of them, you are invisible and inaudible... But if someone wants more realism then he can go with the other explanation...

T. Foster wrote:There's nothing in the rules to suggest they work any less well with metal armor than in any other circumstance. The are magical, after all.

Ditto. You move quietly whether you are wearing robes, leather armor, or plate mail. Since 1982 I've never experienced a game that ruled otherwise.

I was never sure how they were intended to be, but have been playing the last few years with the assumption it just provides a maximum move silently ability, as per a thief. Goons in plate & mail armor & carrying 5 weapons & a sack of loot still make a racket.

genghisdon wrote:I was never sure how they were intended to be, but have been playing the last few years with the assumption it just provides a maximum move silently ability, as per a thief. Goons in plate & mail armor & carrying 5 weapons & a sack of loot still make a racket.

Thats my thinking as well. What makes noise isn't only the foot fall with a guy in plate say.

T. Foster wrote:There's nothing in the rules to suggest they work any less well with metal armor than in any other circumstance. The are magical, after all.

This is how I run them as well.

I like the simplicity of it and it makes them rather prized items.

Cheers!

MJW

The thing is, if the boots only eliminate the sound of the actual footfalls and not any other incidental noise then that's barely any advantage over a normal, non-magical pair of soft-soled boots. Would that marginal advantage really be worth 1000 XP and/or 5000 g.p. (which is the same value placed on, for instance, a Ring of Fire Resistance, Crystal Ball, and/or Sword +1, Luck Blade)? I know there's a tendency to interpret things strictly and unfavorably to PCs, but (at least to me) this would taking it too far.

T. Foster wrote:The thing is, if the boots only eliminate the sound of the actual footfalls and not any other incidental noise then that's barely any advantage over a normal, non-magical pair of soft-soled boots. Would that marginal advantage really be worth 1000 XP and/or 5000 g.p. (which is the same value placed on, for instance, a Ring of Fire Resistance, Crystal Ball, and/or Sword +1, Luck Blade)? I know there's a tendency to interpret things strictly and unfavorably to PCs, but (at least to me) this would taking it too far.

Go ask Tim Kask about Clay Golem damage...

Ahem

Anyway, I agree with this assessment.