heavy armor feats with mithral armor?

[Ahku]

Hello!

I was wondering if the heavy armor specialization /etc.. feats work with mithral banded armor as it's considered medium armor?

Or is there a medium armor spec feat that works for it?

I am referring to the feat(s) that grant dodge ac bonuses...

thanks!

[Calodan]

No. Heavy armor feats do not work wit Mithril armors at all. The reason being is that mithril armors are one class lower than their counterparts they are mimicking. I.E. Mithril Full Plate is actually considered MEDIUM armor.

[chad878262]

To further clarify, no there are no medium armor feats to increase dodge AC like there are for Heavy Armor. Mithral Full Plate gets 8 + 3 DEX AC. Regular Full Plate gets 8+1 and can spend 2 feats for Heavy Armor Optimization and Greater Heavy Armor Optimization to get +2 more making it equal to Mithral Full Plate. This gives a reason to use heavy armor over medium. Medium saves two precious feats, but requires more of an investment in DEX while heavy armor allows more points to go in STR or CON (or whatever) since DEX can be left at 8 or 9 (with +3 or 4 DEX item), but requires 2 feats to reach the effectiveness of the mithral version.