Assume a team of my players defeated an Animated Armor, which broke apart. One of the players states that if it is armor, than he can take it and use it. DM decided that the armor is damaged and useless.
But what would happen if someone decided to wear animated armor when it is completed, for example in the anti-magic field, where armor cannot move?
Should I use grappling rules? Or take inspiration from the Rug of Smothering? The second one is not fitting well, because armor cannot smother anyone. Maybe assume that rest of the group has to defeat the armor and their friend will drop as a loot? 😛
Would wearing animated armor be safe? (Animated Armor or Helmed Horror, I assume they work the same). Looking at the pictures from the 3rd and 5th edition Monster Manuals, they have got some kind of magic-field inside of them, wouldn't it harm the wearer?
I know there is a similar question here: Animated Armor Trap (points 3 and 4 helped me a lot), but I do not want to make an intelligent armor which traps user, but just get any information on if it would be safe to wear such armor. For example a warrior, which collapses, but his armor is still fighting. Or a bad black knight which terrorizes the area seems to be a kid which found some animated armor.
Best Answer
There are no rules that allow this, but the DM might allow you to loot a defeated suit or wear an active one with roleplaying consequences.
Note: in 5e the Helmed Horror seems to be a superior, but mostly identical, version of the Animated Armor as referenced by name in the Helmed Horror's entry (MM p.183). After defeat the armor MIGHT be recoverable, as per MM p.15:
So it's the DM's call here. Furthermore, upon its "death" a suit of Animated Armor becuse a suit of Inanimate Armor, aka normal armor. So you won't be wearing a suit of Animated Armor per se. Another thing to keep in mind is that a suit of Animated Armor is made out of a suit of full plate armor (as per MM p.19). This costs 1500 gp, which is very high for treasure befitting the treasure you can find for that monster's challenge rating. So the DM should keep that in mind when creating treasure for that level.
Can I wear a suit of Animated Armor?
A suit of Animated Armor is a monster, not an item. Being inside of a monster is frequently the result of being the victim of Swallow Whole, which is not a good thing. And while the Animated Armor is described as being an "empty steel shell" in its entry, the Helmed Horror has got some magical red energy going on. Neither entry describes if you can remove the armor either. While there have been monsters in the history of D&D that improve a host's capabilities when bonding with them, the Animated Armor of 5e is not one of them. So by RAW the answer is No.
However, a player wearing a suit of animated armor might prove to be a fantastic roleplaying oppertunity. Given that the suit and the wearer are not at odds, having a conflict between the will of the user and the orders of the suit can make for some great roleplaying. Perhaps the wearer of the suit is a condemned criminal who was sentenced to wear the suit under the orders of a wizard lord and has to make amends for his crimes? Maybe the suit was send out to find someone or something, and a hapless adventurer put it on and now the wearer has to carry out some objective that does not clash all that much with the suit? This can all be really fun, but you will have to talk this over with your DM (preferably out of game) before you do this.