D&D 5E Companion thread to 5E Survivor - Armor

[RealAlHazred]

I direct everyone to another egregious bit of the PHB.

Studded Leather. Made from tough but flexible leather, studded leather is reinforced with close-set rivets or spikes.

Ring Mail. This armor is leather armor with heavy rings sew n into it. The rings help reinforce the armor against blows from swords and axes.

... So what's the difference? Leather is AC 11 + Dex modifier. You sew rings onto it, and it becomes either Studded Leather (Light Armor, AC 12 + Dex modifier, 45 gp, 13 lbs.) or Ring Mail (Heavy Armor, AC 14, 30 gp, 40 lb.)? I told my players it's the quantity of metal sewn on that determined whether it was Light or Heavy, but then I tried to imagine how unwieldy it would be to sew 30 pounds of metal rings onto a suit of leather armor and wear the result.

Of course, I suspect Studded Leather itself is popular due entirely to the work of artist Walter Velez.

 

[CleverNickName]

Even just a shield proficiency feat would be nice.

I house-rule it into the Shield Master feat: you get shield proficiency for free when you take that feat, if you don't already have it. So far, nobody has complained.

 

[JoeyD473]

Armor and shields in 5e, like most equipment is just boring. Even most of the in book enchantments for armor is just bleh

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Living in a magical world certainly removes the major problem of using leather armor in the real world - how do you fix them once they get damaged. In DnD, you just cast Mending.

 

[Horwath]

most of armors in 5E is just waste of space, from 12, all you need is 4.

Light:
studded leather, highest AC

Medium:
breastplate, highest AC without stealth penalty
Half-plate: highest AC

Heavy:
fullplate, highest AC

add in mithral version of half/full plate for extra two if you have the money.
or adamantium version of those for little more extra protection.

Everything else is useless.

 

[aco175]

I like these two pictures for studded leather.

This one has the 'studs' more like rivets holding extra layers of leather in certain places.

This one has a few strip of chain mail layered in vital places.

 

[CreamCloud0]

most of armors in 5E is just wast of space, from 12, all you need is 4.

Light:
studded leather, highest AC

Medium:
breastplate, highest AC without stealth penalty
Half-plate: highest AC

Heavy:
fullplate, highest AC

add in mithral version of half/full plate for extra two if you have the money.
or adamantium version of those for little more extra protection.

Everything else is useless.

yeah, even adding the three 'supermetal' variants to those four armour would actually add more nuance to the armour table than what currently exists
mythril (superlight): all mythril armour counts as one proficiency/weightclass less than what it actually is, also, light armour becomes basic clothing and doesn't require any armour proficiencies to use, heavy armours with a STR requirement have their STR bar reduced
adamantium (superdense): adamantium armour provides damage reduction to all nonmagic and weapon damage damage (i don't quite know how to word this because magic weapons are a thing and i think it should resist those and simlilar)
orichalcum (magic resistant): orichalcum armour provides advantage on ability checks to save against magical effects

i think the shield variants would be
mythril: doesn't count as occupying a hand while worn
adamantium: higher AC bonus
orichalcum: some form of reflecting the spell back at the caster? can substitute your AC as saving throw value against magic?

 

[Gradine]

We need to pull together, as a people, and save Hide. As the Birthright of armors it deserves a spot in the survivor hall of fame!

 

[jmartkdr2]

We need to pull together, as a people, and save Hide. As the Birthright of armors it deserves a spot in the survivor hall of fame!

It’s also the best for stealth!

 

[RealAlHazred]

yeah, even adding the three 'supermetal' variants to those four armour would actually add more nuance to the armour table than what currently exists

4E got a little criticism in the way they used material variants for various armors, but I thought it was decent. Very mechanical, but that was 4E.

4E Armors (PHB)
Cloth armor (basic clothing)
Leather Armor
Hide armor
Chainmail
Scale armor
Plate armor

Armor Materials
Githweave armor (Cloth)
Mindweave armor (Cloth)
Efreetweave armor (Cloth)
Mindpatterned armor (Cloth)
Drowmesh (Leather)
Mindweave armor (Leather)
Anathema armor (Leather)
Swordwing armor (Leather)
Earthhide armor (Hide)
Feyhide armor (Hide)
Stalkerhide armor (Hide)
Voidhide armor (Hide)
Crysteel armor (Chain)
Weavemail armor (Chain)
Pitmail armor (Chain)
Stormscale armor (Scale)
Nagascale armor (Scale)
Titanscale armor (Scale)
Rimfire plate armor (Plate)
Specter plate armor (Plate)
Tarrasque plate armor (Plate)

They all provide a few additional defense points for one of Will, Fortitude, or Reflex defense.