What they really need to do is introduce a magical belt that gives a bonus to initiative and AC while wearing heavy armor. Call it "The Girdle" and stick it somewhere early on, that way the tanky warrior types have something to work with before the power ups with feat selection. Ringmail at 14 isn't very imposing, (it also gives me Minthara nightmares lol), but then to get the heavy chain or splint is a chore. I wish there was an option to purchase starting equipment with just enough GP to slide into something other than scale mail and maybe a cool looking helmet or shield and then have that pair off against the cost of the cooler melee and ranged weapons. Just so there's a bit of tug of war going on there between offensive or defensive archetypes with the initial kit selection.
Here's what the Adamantine Splint looks like with all the various dyes, images on the wiki
https://bg3.wiki/wiki/Adamantine_Splint_ArmourHow it is that not even one of those very rarest of dyes is black on black is still beyond me. Like surely someone must just be trolling our goth demographic on this one.
Achieving Black Dye didn't really happen until the high middle ages, like mid 14th century when the technique was improved using Oak Apples, the gall-nuts created by wasps. Prior to that the best you could get really was like a dark blue from sea urchins (going way back to Phoenician times), or oxidizing the iron. As a pigment rather than a dye, black has been around since we learned the secret of fire from charcoal and burned bones, so maybe Bhaal could just let us paint the armor black? Oh well
I agree though the heavy stuff doesn't quite feel like it's competing with the light stuff. Kind of a pattern lol
