Types of Barding

Full barding: This is a complete set of horse armor that provides the rated protection when attacked from any side. Note that the term "full plate" is used to denote a new, more advanced type of horse armor, like the fighter's full plate armor.

Half barding: The difference between half barding and full barding is that half barding covers only the front and forward sides of the animal. Attacks from the rear or rear flanks use the mount's base armor class.

Partial Barding: This is an option that allows the averaging of a mount's armor class if full barding is not available. See Table 4 .

Note: All "suits" of barding, including half barding, are complete units; that is, half barding is not achieved by leaving off half a horse's armor. The pieces are made to be used together--they are specially formed, fitted, and balanced to provide a certain level of protection and a certain degree of mobility in a fight. Cobbling together odd or ill-fitting pieces degrades the effect of the whole, to the degree ruled by the Dungeon Master.

In the following section, barding is discussed in order of least protective to most protective. New types of barding are included. Tables summarizing the information can be found on pages 50-51 .

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