Effects of Armor
Here are some optional rules for use with the wearing of armor in your
campaign. You may wish to use some, all, or none of these; we'll try to discuss what
effects each will have on your campaign.
A lot of the information we'll be discussing and elaborating upon is contained
in the following charts.
Armor
| AC
| Dex
| Wgt
|
Type
|
| Chks
| (lbs)
|
Banded mail
| 4
| –2
| 35
|
Brigandine
| 6
| –2
| 35
|
Bronze
|
|
|
|
plate mail
| 4
| –3
| 45
|
Chain mail
| 5
| –2
| 40
|
Field plate
| 2
| –3
| 60
|
Full plate
| 1
| –3
| 70
|
Gladiator
|
|
|
|
Gallic
| 7
| –1
| 15
|
Samnite
| 5
| –2
| 30
|
Thracian
| 9
| 0
| 5
|
Hide
| 6
| –3
| 30
|
Leather
| 8
| 0
| 15
|
Padded
| 8
| 0
| 10
|
Plate mail
| 3
| –3
| 50
|
Ring mail
| 7
| –1
| 50
|
Scale mail
| 6
| –2
| 30
|
Shield
|
|
|
|
Body
| *
| –3**
| 15
|
Buckler/
|
|
|
|
Kote
| *
| –0**
| 3
|
Medium/
|
|
|
|
Scutum
| *
| –2**
| 10
|
Small/
|
|
|
|
Parma
| *
| –1**
| 5
|
Splint mail
| 4
| –2
| 40
|
Studded
|
|
|
|
leather
| 7
| –1
| 25
|
* A shield makes the AC one better: Leather + shield is AC 7.
** This penalty is only counted for certain situations; see below.
The armor a character wears affects his AC, his Encumbrance (if that optional
system is used), and also his ability to perform dexterous actions—in other
words, heavier armor penalizes a character's Dexterity score for purposes of
Dexterity ability checks and Dexterity-based nonweapon proficiencies.
A character's choice of head protection, on the other hand, affects his
Encumbrance, his ability to spot things, and the ability of some weapons and attacks
to affect him in combat, as we'll discuss further on.
Helmet
| Vis.
| Hrg.
| Wgt.
|
Type
|
|
| (lbs)
|
Cap
| –0
| –1
| 2
|
Coif
| –0
| –1
| 2
|
Close–Faced
| –2
| –3
| 5
|
Great helm
| –3
| –4
| 10
|
None
| –0
| –0
| 0
|
Open–Faced
| –1
| –2
| 5
|
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