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<blockquote data-quote="shadowguidex" data-source="post: 4262471" data-attributes="member: 60880">The romans equipped all their soldiers in plate chestpieces etc 2 thousand years ago - they aren't that expensive.&nbsp; Plate in many ways is easier to make than scale or chain, but require a bit more in raw materials.To make chain you need to take the iron and wrap it in hundreds of rings, cut each, and splice them together.In plate you just need to hammer the metal into a formed plate and and the needed fasteners.&nbsp; This is actually arguably the easiest type of armor to make.To make leather actually is a very long and involved process that requires a lot of time and the correct chemicals (You know how expensive leather shoes/wallets/purses etc are, don't pretend that leather is easy to make or purchase).If I give you some iron ore and tell you to make a piece of iron plate, at the very least you all have some idea of what you need to do.&nbsp; If I give you a dead cow and ask you to make me some leather, you likely have only a vague concept of what to do to make hardened leather, or what chemicals you need.&nbsp;&nbsp; You'd most likely end up with rotten cow flesh and not leather.Also, in ancient times metal ores were much more readily available - and over time when successive generations of people come along and mine it out it disappears and becomes much rarer - but in D&amp;D times, one can assume that ores of all types were pretty common to find.&nbsp; Leather, on the other hand, is just as easily acquired at any point in history given that almost all leather comes from domesticated animals that are housed in proportion to the population.&nbsp; Hence, metals were cheaper long ago than they are today, so don't base costs of plate armor on standards of the modern worlds.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="shadowguidex, post: 4262471, member: 60880"] The romans equipped all their soldiers in plate chestpieces etc 2 thousand years ago - they aren't that expensive. Plate in many ways is easier to make than scale or chain, but require a bit more in raw materials. To make chain you need to take the iron and wrap it in hundreds of rings, cut each, and splice them together. In plate you just need to hammer the metal into a formed plate and and the needed fasteners. This is actually arguably the easiest type of armor to make. To make leather actually is a very long and involved process that requires a lot of time and the correct chemicals (You know how expensive leather shoes/wallets/purses etc are, don't pretend that leather is easy to make or purchase). If I give you some iron ore and tell you to make a piece of iron plate, at the very least you all have some idea of what you need to do. If I give you a dead cow and ask you to make me some leather, you likely have only a vague concept of what to do to make hardened leather, or what chemicals you need. You'd most likely end up with rotten cow flesh and not leather. Also, in ancient times metal ores were much more readily available - and over time when successive generations of people come along and mine it out it disappears and becomes much rarer - but in D&D times, one can assume that ores of all types were pretty common to find. Leather, on the other hand, is just as easily acquired at any point in history given that almost all leather comes from domesticated animals that are housed in proportion to the population. Hence, metals were cheaper long ago than they are today, so don't base costs of plate armor on standards of the modern worlds. [/QUOTE]

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