No tumbling in medium/heavy armor?

Dwarves not tumbling in medium/heavy armor?

Hi,

I started a party of dwarves for 7.9.0. I was under the impression that dwarves did not have their movement reduced by medium/heavy armor and could therefore still tumble while wearing it, but it doesn't work in the game. I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding something or if it's a bug/feature/not implemented.

Thanks

 

What is their skill level in Tumble? What is their DEX? While their movement is not affected, the armor still has a max DEX bonus. So Tumble skill level plus max DEX bonus, if any vs the DC of the opponent. By opening up the die roll screen, you can see all your rolls. Just test them vs a random encounter and move everyone to attack a far opponent. At low levels is hard for anyone to avoid the AoO, but those with a good Tumble score will make it every time.

Tumble is one o the most important skills in the game. It may be cross class for most, but I always give everyone some points in Tumble. For fighters, its important to move around the battlefield to take on the toughest opponents. For clerics, it important to move close to the fallen, without getting yourself killed in the process. For wizards, sometimes something sneaks up on you from behind and you need to move away quickly.

For my fighters, I really use no other skill and pump everything (usually one point a level anyway) into Tumble. For others with more important skills, I try to throw one in every other level.

 

I've tried several things, but I just did a test with a dwarf with 16 dex, 7 points in tumble and wearing Mithral Plate. It's not that he fails the roll, it's that no roll happens at all. If I put on a light armor I get the regular "<char> attempts Tumble", but if I put on, for example, a breast plate or mithral plate then there is no roll, just an immediate AoO.

Just to be clear, dwarves tumble in medium/heavy armor in your game?

 

What other skills do you choose? I always stick to the same ones that I put 4 points into in char creation. I agree tumble is always a must. For wiz, Bard and Cleric I always have concentration and spell casting? and use magic device. My Rogue is group leader so only he gets the bartering one at the top of the list. Does anyone use the sleight of hand skill? It seems pretty redundant to me. My Bar always gets Survival and my Cleric gets heal if there are any points spare.

 

A dwarf cannot become encumbered due to weight, but his tumble ability is still regulated by his dex bonus and his skill in tumble.

In short, he gets a 20 foot move regardless of how much he is carrying, unless he's a barbarian - then he gets his barbarian movement.

 

@Legless- only your bard really needs points in Use Magical Device- wizards and clerics don't need to as their class provides for that already (if I'm reading your post right). Wizards need Spellcasting in order to learn spells from scrolls but for clerics it's pretty useless- only 1 caster in your party needs it if you want them to identify an unknown spell being cast.

I always put points into Tumble for every character and never skip a level- they very rarely get hit with AoO

 

That is how I understand it should work, but that's not how it works in the game. The two pictures below are from the same encounter where I had the test subject run up to some zombies and then the next turn run away again, provoking AoO's. In the first he's wearing a breast plate. Notice how there are no tumble rolls. In the second he's wearing a mithral shirt. Notice how there's a tumble roll (that he failed, but that's not the point, of course).

 

I've never played a dwarf character but I've never encountered this problem before. I noticed that it looks like you have more than one dwarf in your party. Do they all have this problem?

 

Yes, they're all dwarves, and it happens to all of them except the unarmored wizard. As far as I know, dwarves are the only ones who can have this problem, because they're the only ones who can tumble in medium/heavy armor.

 

Thanks Gehennis, maybe a wise wizard of the wonderful ways of skill point assignment could give the rest of us mere pond life tips, so we can play more efectively? In maybe a new thread called Skill Assignment or something.

 

In the game help menu here is what it says about tumble.

It doesn't mention anything about tumbling in medium or heavy armour in Dwarves box under racial traits

So, unless there is another ruleset that applies, eg d&d 3.5, which I have to redownload, It is working as stated in the in game help guide. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong (you will anyway!)

 

I believe these are the official rules:

It doesn't mention medium/heavy armor specifically, just that the speed has been reduced by armor. But dwarves don't have their speed reduced by armor according to the dwarf racial description:

 

In short, short and I said the same thing, just differently.

I couldn't resist the "short" joke.

 

Seriously wake up dnd vets and smell the roses: nobody wearing more then chain shirt can tumble !!!
From the SRD comes ...'you can’t use this skill if your speed has been reduced by armor, excess equipment, or loot...' and guess what both medium and heavy armor slow you down... as far as the dwarfs go well one would rather expect em to roll over rather then tumble considering theyr actual height (seriously speaking the dwarf is all ready doing -10feet speed by default there for one may consider them to slow/bulky/un-flexible enough to perform a tumble move)
PS : the dwarf has (from SRD)
+2 Constitution, -2 Charisma.
Medium size.
A dwarf’s base land speed is 20 feet. However, dwarves can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load.
Darkvision out to to 60 feet.
Stonecunning: This ability grants a dwarf a +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old), unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings, and the like. Something that isn’t stone but that is disguised as stone also counts as unusual stonework. A dwarf who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual stonework can make a Search check as if he were actively searching, and a dwarf can use the Search skill to find stonework traps as a rogue can. A dwarf can also intuit depth, sensing his approximate depth underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up. Dwarves have a sixth sense about stonework, an innate ability that they get plenty of opportunity to practice and hone in their underground homes.
Weapon Familiarity: Dwarves treat dwarven waraxes and dwarven urgroshes as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.
Stability: Dwarves are exceptionally stable on their feet. A dwarf has a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).
+2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison. *Not reflected in the saving throw numbers given here.
+2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects. *Not reflected in the saving throw numbers given here.
+1 racial bonus on attack rolls against orcs (including half-orcs) and goblinoids (including goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears).
+4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against creatures of the giant type (such as ogres, trolls, and hill giants).
+2 racial bonus on Appraise checks that are related to stone or metal items.
+2 racial bonus on Craft checks that are related to stone or metal.
Automatic Languages: Common, Dwarven. Bonus Languages: Giant, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, Terran, Undercommon

How about in addition to that we should give em even more supercow powers so the 'poor' guys can 'actually compete' with the human race or half-ork(as they pretty much get s***t allrdy without piling up more bonuses on elf/dwarf races)

 

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here, Ank. You say "nobody wearing more than chain shirt can tumble", then you follow up with rules that quite clearly say dwarves can tumble in heavier armor.

Is your point that you believe dwarves can't tumble even in light armor?

Hehe. Yes, we are saying the same thing, of course.