This is an interesting one to me as up till recently when I saw a video demonstration of various armours I had not really thought on it and then realized that there was a certain pattern from one campaign to the next. Watching the video I was rather surprised at just how darn good scale mail is and the fact that even fairly basic studded leather is pretty effective.

That being that overall I tend to have a sort of cut off point in most campaigns at around chainmail. With scalemail being probably the most common of the "upper tier" protection. Top end being the rare suits of splint/plated mail. Full plate might as well have not existed. I think because it just did not fit the sorts of settings I usually run. Which very often lean to the mid-fantasy or even the low fantasy side. Especially in D&D.

So what sorts of armour in a fantasy setting do you allow as a DM or have seen as a player? Do you have, or have seen, a cut off point and why?

Quote from: Omega;1042365even fairly basic studded leather is pretty effective.

Because it's actually brigandine, with overlapping metal plates sandwiched between sheets of leather? No such thing as studded leather armour - even leather alone was very rare as armour, since thick layers of cloth are generally much better.

I generally allow whatever armour's in the book. I may describe it differently according to the setting - in my Wilderlands game 'half plate' is generally bronze armour; in my Karameikos game 'plate mail' is the pretty minimal stuff drawn by Larry Elmore

It depends on many things. I usually allow everything available, the limiting factor is the setting & tech level the rarity of armour and the PC's resources and/or social status.

In D&D, I usually just roll with whatever is in the list.  I'm usually running some kind of broad campaign where that works well enough.  If I want to get more realistic or consistent with armor, I'm probably wanting to make other changes too, that will send me off to another game.

I have been known to leave "plate" in, but make it so specialized that no one wants it.  But not every time.

Leather and studded leather are out.

Padded, Brigadine, Scale, Chain, Half Plate and Plate are all you need.

I don't slice the differentiation that finely.  "Leather, mail, plate" serves for me.  How characters choose to imagine it is up to them.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;1042387I don't slice the differentiation that finely.  "Leather, mail, plate" serves for me.  How characters choose to imagine it is up to them.

True. Light, medium and heavy works just as well. Tell me what it looks like.

Yes.

Generally allow all the core PHB armors, as DnD is so unrealistic anyway, who cares really.

However if for some reason, I was trying to portray a historical period or a setting based on a specific novel/world, sure I'd ban and add armors (and whatever else) as required.

I allow whatever fits the system and setting.

But when running or playing D&D I generally refer to chainmail as mail, platemail as plate and mail, etc. And I like to replace D&D leather armor with a gambeson(cloth) .


Of the dubious AD&D armor types, I admit a certain fondness for "ringmail." It looks cool in pictures. But I've rarely seen it used.

I'm generally in the "light, medium, heavy" camp - you tell me what it looks like. Incidentally, a buff (leather) coat was commonly used for protection during the English Civil War, either on its own, or, if one could afford it underneath a breastplate or cuirass.

In my own book way back I went with light medium and heavy, and just told the players to desc their armour as they pleased as long as it made sense within the context. Light chain would either cover less than medium, or have a different weave of links. Quality was another factor. A well made suit of light leather would afford as much, or even better, defense than medium leather. Might fit better, or some other factor of better craftsmanship.

Think TSR played around briefly with that concept way back too didnt they?

I'm also in the "light, medium, heavy" camp though I go to a little more effort with examples and have an item-quality system that matters a lot too. I have armor types and weapons vary by region (spear-type primary weapons are fairly ubiquitous, but secondary weapons are more variable). Note that helmets of some type are always assumed regardless of armor type. There's not a specific rule for it, but reducing the armor level by one grade if not wearing a helmet would be fair.

Generally speaking light armor is whatever irregulars or similar forces would wear; typically either a gambeson (or equivalent) with metal armor (chain, scale or plate) in key locations (typically helm & breastplate, but some do helm and arms if they also use large shields to cover the torso) or extra layers of soft protection over the whole body (ex. thick hides). My go to example of this for my main campaign region would be a brigandine vest and helm over a gambeson while a bulky suit with layers of animal hides over padding would be poor-quality armor (heavier and bulkier than wearing metal armor).

Medium armor is what most professional soldiers wear and is typically a gambeson with metal armor (chain, scale or plate) that covers 50-75% of the body, but sacrifices some protection for a little more mobility and less expense. Typical examples are brigandine coats, mail hauberks and half-plate/munition armor.

Heavy armor covers the entire body in metal over padding for maximum protection and is typical of officers and knights. Higher quality grades of heavy armor improve the protection to the point that even carrying a shield is irrelevant to your protection (i.e. a full plate harness) at considerably more cost.

The system also uses small (cover the torso) and large (cover almost the whole body) shields with some higher quality armor providing a built-in shield bonus (which doesn't stack so higher quality armors make using shields less relevant).

Quote from: Simon W;1042497I'm generally in the "light, medium, heavy" camp - you tell me what it looks like. Incidentally, a buff (leather) coat was commonly used for protection during the English Civil War, either on its own, or, if one could afford it underneath a breastplate or cuirass.

It's notable that irl there was about a 200 year gap between the disappearance of mail armour and the appearance of effective leather!

One thing that really struck me is that metal armour is lighter than cloth or leather for equivalent protection, and that it was not uncommon to have a heavy gambeson that was more encumbering than metal harness, but cheaper. In rpgs you never seem to see bulky cloth armour.

Quote from: S'mon;1042370Because it's actually brigandine, with overlapping metal plates sandwiched between sheets of leather? No such thing as studded leather armour - even leather alone was very rare as armour, since thick layers of cloth are generally much better. pretty minimal stuff drawn by Larry Elmore

Ever since I learned how historical armor works, I've been bugged by stuff like Studded Leather and the like... It almost makes me feel sad I'm no longer ignorant... almost...

Luckily the armor system in Agone was really bad (as in "better" armor sets had higher penalties for the same protection with no other benefits, or armor whose penalties were so high they negated the usefulness of their actual armor protection, like how full plate works...) So I reworked it from the ground up, using what armor sets sounded appropriate. in no particular order:

Gambeson
Scale Armour
Brigandine
Chain mail
Laminar Armor
Plate mail