Armor

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See Armor Descriptions for details.


Armor Sizes

The equipment list reflects the price of a suit of armor (including an appropriate helmet) made for any normal player character race. Although a halfling is much smaller than a human and needs a smaller suit, there are fewer armorers available to meet such specialized needs. Thus, the armor for a halfling is as expensive as that for a human.

When armor is found during the course of an adventure, the players should note the creature who wore the armor previously. While a human-sized character might be able to wear the armor of a gnoll, it will do little good for a halfling. Likewise, the armor of a giant is of little use to anyone.

Armor size also affects the weight of the armor. The weights listed on the table are for human-sized (Medium) armors. Small armor weighs half the amount listed, while large armor weighs 50% more.


Armor of Unusual Materials

With the exception of bronze plate mail, it is assumed that all metal armors are made from a fairly common yet sturdy form of steel. However, this need not always be the case. Since this is a fantasy campaign, there is nothing to prevent armors being made from rare and fantastic metals. Any metal armor can be made from one of the materials listed below.

Metal AC Adjustment Weight Adj. Cost Multiplier
Adamantite +1 -25% x500
Bronze -1 0 x2/3
Fine Steel 0 -10% x2
Gold -4 +100% x3
Iron 0 +25% 0
Silver -2 1 0 x2

1 Silver armor, while softer than iron or steel, may provide additional protection against certain supernatural creatures such as lycanthropes or wraiths. Or, at least, a lot of adventurers believe that…


Armor Penalties

Although armor is a necessary survival tool for all those engaging in combat, the wearing of armor is not without its drawbacks.

Metal armor interferes with the operation of psionic abilities. A character wearing metal armor suffers a penalty to all psionic power scores equal to one-half the AC bonus granted by the armor (thus Banded Mail would impose a -3 penalty to all of the psionicist’s power scores).

Metal armor similarly interferes with the functioning of wizardly magic. A wizard (or bard or similar character) wearing metal armor has their effective casting level decreased by one-half the AC bonus granted by the armor (thus a wizard in Scale Mail would cast spells as if he were 2 levels lower), to a minimum caster level of 1st. Note that a 1st-level wizard is thus immune to this drawback, and encouraged to use armor to defend himself.

Climbing attempts, and all Balance based non-weapon proficiencies suffer a -1 penalty per 10 lbs of armor worn (thus Field Plate imposes a -6 penalty). In addition, they suffer a -1 penalty per level of Encumbrance above unencumbered. These penalties are cumulative.


Armor Base AC vs Bludgeoning vs Piercing vs Slashing Cost Weight
Light Leather +1 +1 +0 +1 5gp 5 lbs
Gullet Guardian +1 +1 +1 +1 30 gp 5 lbs
Padded +2 +2 +0 +2 4gp 10 lbs
Leather +2 +2 +0 +2 5gp 15 lbs
Light Studded +2 +2 +3 +4 20gp 15 lbs
Cord armor +2 +2 +3 +2 10gp 15 lbs
Studded leather +3 +3 +4 +5 20gp 25 lbs
Gnome Workman’s Armor +3 +3 +1 +3 20gp 15 lbs
Spiked leather +3 +3 +1 +3 30gp 25 lbs
Leather cuirass +3 +3 +1 +3 50gp 20 lbs
Ring mail +4 +3 +4 +4 100gp 30 lbs
Hide +4 +4 +2 +4 15gp 30 lbs
Breastplate +4 +4 +4 +7 80gp 25 lbs
Brigandine +4 +4 +5 +5 120gp 35 lbs
Scale mail +4 +4 +5 +4 120gp 40 lbs
Metal lamellar +5 +4 +5 +6 250gp 35 lbs
Chain mail +5 +3 +5 +7 75gp 40 lbs
Elven Chain Mail +5 +3 +5 +7 750gp 20 lbs
Silenced Elven Chain +5 +3 +5 +7 800gp 25 lbs
Doublemail +6 +4 +6 +8 266gp 50 lbs
Splint mail +6 +6 +7 +8 80gp 40 lbs
Banded mail +6 +7 +6 +8 200gp 35 lbs
Bronze plate +6 +6 +6 +9 400gp 45 lbs
Plate mail +7 +7 +7 +10 600gp 50 lbs
Dwarven Plate +8 +8 +8 +11 600gp 75 lbs
Field plate +8 +8 +9 +11 2000gp 60 lbs
Full plate +9 +9 +12 +13 4000gp 70 lbs
Helmets Head AC Cost Weight Hear Noises/Surprise
Leather helm 12 1gp 2 lbs -0
Cap 14 4gp 3 lbs -0
Mail coif 15 10gp 5 lbs -0
Open-faced 16 12gp 7 lbs -1
Close-faced 17 20gp 10 lbs -2
Great helm 19 80gp 20 lbs -3
Shields Attacks Defended Cost Weight
Bracers +1 AC, 1 per round 35 gp 1 lbs
Buckler +1 AC, 1 per round 1gp 3 lbs
Small +1 AC 3gp 5 lbs
Medium +2 AC 7gp 10 lbs
Body +4 AC 10gp 15 lbs

Armor

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