Armor and Shields

In this section, you will find descriptions of some very special kinds of armor and shields. Before adding these to your campaign, however, be sure you are fully familiar with the armor gradation system:

For each +1 bonus to armor, regardless of the type of armor, the wearer's Armor Class moves downward (toward AC 2 . . . to 1 . . . to 0, -1, -2, and so on). A normal shield improves the armor class by one. A magical shield improves Armor Class like magical armor—toward -1, -2, etc. Note, however, that Armor Class can never be improved beyond -10.

Thus, chain mail +1 is like ordinary chain mail (AC 5), but one category better (AC 4). A shield +1 is equal to Armor Class 8—two places better than no armor (+1 for bearing a shield, +1 for the magical bonus of the shield).

When adding magical armor to the game, be aware of sizing problems: 65% of all armor (except elven chain mail) is man-sized, and 20% is elf-sized, 10% is dwarf-sized, and but 5% gnome- or halfling-sized. (Elven chain mail sizing is determined by the table found below.)

Special armor and shields are described below:

Table of Contents