Armor Design System (long, comments sought)

UPDATE: Changed the AC modifier for Low Quality to +0.

The system below gives armor stats identical to those in the PHB equipment lists. It also allows armor for different sizes, new materials, and so on.

In writing this, there is one discrepancy (which is accounted for). Banded Mail refuses all attempts to match it to the others, so sometimes it has its own modifier to bring it in line. While this is ugly and kludgy, there does not appear to be a way to bring it in line with everything else. It's special.

Base Weight
Padded Cloth: 10 lbs
Soft Leather: 15 lbs
Studded Leather: 20 lbs
Hide: 25 lbs
Scale Mail: 30 lbs
Splint Mail: 45 lbs
Banded Mail: 35 lbs
Steel Chain Mail: 40 lbs
Steel Plate: 60 lbs
-
Poor Quality: x1.1
Common Fit: x1
Fitted: x0.833
Master Fit: x0.833
-
Torso Only: x0.625 (flexible) or x0.5 (rigid)
Full Body: x1
-
2-3' Humanoid (<20 lbs): x0.25
3-4' Humanoid (<50 lbs): x0.4
4-5' Humanoid (<100 lbs): x0.6
Medium Humanoid (100-200 lbs): x1
7-8' Humanoid (>200 lbs): x1.6
9-10'6" Humanoid (>400 lbs): x2.5
11-13' Humanoid (>800 lbs): x4

Cost
Padded Cloth (Flexible): 0.5 gp per lb
Soft Leather (Flexible): 0.66 gp per lb
Studded Leather (Flexible): 1.25 gp per lb
Hide (Semi-Rigid): 0.6 gp per lb
Scale (Semi-Rigid): 1.66 gp per lb
Splint Mail (Semi-Rigid): 4.44 gp per lb
Banded Mail (Semi-Rigid): 7.14 gp per lb
Steel Mail / Chain (Flexible): 3.75 gp per lb
Steel Plate (Rigid): 6.66 gp per lb for torso only, 6 gp per lb for full body
-
Poor Quality: x3/4
Common Fit: x1
Fitted: x2
Master Fit: x5
-
Size is different from artisan's: x2

Armor Class
Padded Cloth: +0
Soft Leather: +1
Studded Leather: +2
Hide: +2
Scale Mail: +3
Splint Mail: +5
Banded Mail: +5
Steel Mail / Chain: +4
Steel Plate: +5
-
Poor Quality or Poor Fit: +0
"Poor Fit" = Fitted for a different height/weight
"Poor Fit" = Master Fit for a different height/weight
Common Fit: +0
Fitted: +1 (+0 if Flexible)
Master Fit: +2 (+1 if Flexible)
-
Torso Only: +0
Full Body: +1
-
2-3' Humanoid (<20 lbs): -2
3-4' Humanoid (<50 lbs): -1
4-5' Humanoid (<100 lbs): +0
Medium (100-200 lbs): +0
7-8' Humanoid (>200 lbs): +0
9-10'6" Humanoid (>400 lbs): +1
10'6"-13' Humanoid (>800 lbs): +2


Max DEX Bonus
Base: +6
Banded Mail Only: -1
-
Poor Quality or Poor Fit: -1
"Poor Fit" = Fitted for a different height/weight
"Poor Fit" = Master Fit for a different height/weight
Common Fit: +0
Fitted: +1
Master Fit: +2
-
up to 10 lbs: +2
up to 15 lbs: +0
up to 20 lbs: -1
up to 25 lbs: -2
up to 30 lbs: -3
up to 40 lbs: -4] weird, huh?
up to 45 lbs: -6
up to 50 lbs: -7
-
2-3' Humanoid (<20 lbs): -2
3-4' Humanoid (<50 lbs): -1
4-5' Humanoid (<100 lbs): +0
Medium (100-200 lbs): +0
7-8' Humanoid (>200 lbs): +0
9-10'6" Humanoid (>400 lbs): +1
11-13' Humanoid (>800 lbs): +2

Armor Check Penalty
Flexible: +0
Semi-Rigid or Rigid: -1
Banded Mail Only: -2
-
Poor Quality or Poor Fit: -1
"Poor Fit" = Fitted for a different height/weight
"Poor Fit" = Master Fit for a different height/weight
Common Fit: +0 (all shields are automatically Common Fit)
Fitted: +1
Master Fit: +2
-
5 lbs or less: +2
up to 10 lbs: +1
up to 15 lbs: +0
up to 20 lbs: -1
up to 25 lbs: -2
up to 30 lbs: -3
up to 35 lbs: -4
up to 40 lbs: -5
up to 45 lbs: -6
up to 50 lbs: -7
-
2-3' Humanoid (<20 lbs): -2
3-4' Humanoid (<50 lbs): -1
4-5' Humanoid (<100 lbs): +0
Medium (100-200 lbs): +0
7-8' Humanoid (>200 lbs): +0
9-10'6" Humanoid (>400 lbs): +1
11-13' Humanoid (>800 lbs): +2

Arcane Spell Failure
Base = AC x5%
Banded Mail Only: -5%
-
Light Armor: +0%
Medium Armor: +5%
Heavy Armor: +10%
-
Flexible or Semi-rigid: +0%
Rigid: -5% (yes, minus; that is not a typo)
-
Poor Quality or Poor Fit: +5%
"Poor Fit" = Fitted for a different height/weight
"Poor Fit" = Master Fit for a different height/weight
Common Fit: +0%
Fitted: +0%
Master Fit: -10%

Special Notes

Light Armor: Flexible armor which weighs up to your Light Load encumbrance. Use normal movement rates unless total encumbrance slows you down further.

Medium Armor: Semi-rigid or Rigid armor which weighs up to your Light Load, OR Flexible armor which weighs up to your Medium Load encumbrance. Use 2/3 normal movements rates unless total encumbrance slows you down further.

Heavy Armor: Semi-rigid or Rigid armor which weighs up to your Medium Load encumbrance, OR Flexible armor which weighs up to your Heavy Load encumbrance. Use 2/3 normal movement rates unless total encumbrance slows you down further, AND running is 3x move rather than 4x move.

Extra Heavy Armor: Any armor which weighs more than the amounts specified above is Extra Heavy. Use 1/3 normal movement rates unless total encumbrance slows you down, AND running is 2x move rather than 4x move.

Fitted & Master Fit Armor: These two types are designed to fit a particular person like a glove. For anyone but that person, the armor is usually considered a "Poor Fit".

Masterwork: Costs an additional +150 gp, and reduces the Armor Check Penalty by 1. Note that Masterwork armor can be Common Fit - it is simply so well put together that it is less restrictive for anyone of roughly the right height and weight.

Special Materials

Adamantite: Used as the metal for any of the metal armors (scale, splint, banded, chain mail and steel plate), gives an enhancement bonus. For cost & bonus, use the chart in the DMG, p. 242.

Mithril: Used as the metal for any of the metal armors (scale, splint, banded, chain mail and steel plate), halves the weight of the armor. This will usually drop the Light/Medium/Heavy status by 1 level. For cost & bonus, use the chart in the DMG, p. 242.

Old Armors Built Under This System

Padded Cloth (Flexible, 10 lbs, 5 gp, AC +1, Max DEX +8, Pen +0)
Leather (Flexible, 15 lbs, 10 gp, AC +2, Max DEX +6, Pen +0)
Studded Leather (Flexible, 20 lbs, 25 gp, AC +3, Max DEX +5, Pen -1)
Chain Shirt (Flexible, 25 lbs, 94/100 gp, AC +4, Max DEX +4, Pen -2)

Hide (Semi-rigid, 25 lbs, 15 gp, AC +3, Max DEX +4, Pen -3)
Scale Mail (Semi-rigid, 30 lbs, 50 gp, AC +4, Max DEX +3, Pen -4)
Chainmail (Flexible, 40 lbs, 150 gp, AC +5, Max DEX +2, Pen -5)
Breastplate (Rigid, 30 lbs, 200 gp, AC +5, Max DEX +3, Pen -4)

Splint Mail (Semi-rigid, 45 lbs, 200 gp, AC +6, Max DEX +0, Pen -7)
Banded Mail (Semi-rigid, 35 lbs, 250 gp, AC +6, Max DEX +1, Pen -6)
Half-plate (Rigid, 48 lbs, 600 gp, AC +7, Max DEX +0, Pen -7)
note: Fitted, Full Body Plate
Full Plate (Rigid, 48 lbs, 1500 gp, AC +8, Max DEX +1, Pen -6)
note: Master Fit, Full Body Plate

Wow, this looks really thought out..

Forgive me, I'm a little dense.. but.. umm.. what do I do with it?

This looks really well thought out. I'll have to read it in depth later.

Sounds interesting, even if probably is a bit long to use. Maybe I'll make a javascript to manage all the calculation.

It seems to handle well all the kinds of armor used in the PHB

I think I'll use it in my campaing world to design unusual armor.

I've made the script.
I've tested it in IE 5 and Netscape 6.2.3, but probably it should work on every decent browser

I've not done the spell failure because I hadn't got time. I'll fix it later, maybe

To use it simply rename it to .html instead of .txt and open it in any browser

Sorry guys, but I have Win Xp and if I rename the file armor.gen.html it will remain a txt file, but labeled armorge.txt

Someone can help me?

Steven McRownt

Looks nice, I'll have to give it a closer look when I have more time.

One possible quirk that jumped out at me though...

The AC penalty for poor fit/quality--this would make full body padded and torso soft leather worthless.

Perhaps for poor fit/quality, in addition to lowering the max DEX bonus, you could assign a penalty to Attack and Skill rolls--in lieu of the AC penalty. So you would still get some protective benefit from wearing the above, but you would sacrifice a greater measure of your agility.

gpetruc said:

I've made the script.
I've tested it in IE 5 and Netscape 6.2.3, but probably it should work on every decent browser

Click to expand...

Wow! You rock!

Thorvald Kviksverd said:

The AC penalty for poor fit/quality--this would make full body padded and torso soft leather worthless.

Perhaps for poor fit/quality, in addition to lowering the max DEX bonus, you could assign a penalty to Attack and Skill rolls--in lieu of the AC penalty. So you would still get some protective benefit from wearing the above, but you would sacrifice a greater measure of your agility.

Click to expand...

Hm. That sounds pretty good. Actually, I'm not entirely certain that Poor Quality is needed at all, as there is no real precedent in D&D3E (which is, after all, heroic fantasy).

Originally posted by Ace32:
Wow, this looks really thought out..

Forgive me, I'm a little dense.. but.. umm.. what do I do with it?

Click to expand...

Originally posted by Buddha the DM:
This looks really well thought out. I'll have to read it in depth later.

Click to expand...

It's been thought out, but not bug- or stress-tested. Thorvald Kviksverd already pointed out one issue !

As for what to do with it... well, it's really just a tool to build new types of armor that fit consistently with what WotC already published. You can certainly do this without this tool, and most DMs do! But I like having a set of rules that my players can use without my intervention.

The campaign I'm currently working on also has a number of special materials (such as wooden and bamboo plate armors, and dwarven steel), which I would like a consistent set of stats for. This tool makes it easier.