The Tavern

Armagi are creatures that can cast in armour and shield without any added spell failure chance. All other penalties still apply. They also are slow. Generally like humans, but they gain levels at the speed of draconians.

What do you think?

Sounds like you are making cheibriados a race.

Rename it to Armanus, plural Armani. Entirely like humans, but all wearables, such as cloaks, hats, gloves, robes, boots, and all jewellery cost twice as much in shops, without giving any noticeable benefit. I guess that would be a challenge species.

How would they work stat-wise? I have the sense Str would be mostly wasted on them; but maybe not?

Damn, hahaha, you really got it! Somehow I hadn't noticed. But then, we also have Makhleb weapons, and such a character could also go for a god that gifts spells. Maybe Gargoyles also are close...



Yes, the idea is that of a primary caster with lots of AC without fiddling with transmutations or simpler buffs (like Ozocubu or Shround of Golubria). So magic would be the main killdudes, which incentivates INT. However, my experience with high AC is limited to high STR characters. STR gives you EV and other useful effects, so I'm not sure that it would play like a fighter who uses spells instead of the sword.

I'd also have to check close-range spells, to see whether it would play significantly different from any (slow) caster: after all, you still want to avoid being hit, with or without armour. I think it could have a nice interaction with the pain brand, however (assuming you can hit anything).

sounds like sand dwarfs (bcrawl)