Elvish chain is beautiful.

[Umbran]

Look what I circled in red.

Um, jasper, it is supposed to be a fantasy game. If the enemy can throw fireballs, we can make an occasional small allowance for artistic armor.

 

[Klaus]

Who are her companions? Including the animals. Somehow they don't look like pets.

Thanks for the compliments (and the constructive criticism! I like hearing those)

The Heirs to the Adventure are:

Alicia Hannigan - Half-Elf Female, Wizard 5/Rogue 3/Battledancer 3 (Battledancer can be found at http://www.fierydragon.com/DB/DB_DEC03_2003.htm , along with another picture of Alicia and Cheshire).

Cheshire - Male Elven Cat (Alicia's Improved Familiar, used to be a regular cat)

Jander Ghering - Human Male Ranger 11 (wears a darkleaf breastplate and a black dragonscale cloak)

Bow - Male Wolf (Jander's Animal Companion). Has recently died and was reincarnated as a dire wolf.

Tandya Carey - Female Human Cleric 11 (Pelor) (Wears full-plate armor and a cloak of Charisma +2)

 

[Len]

But it's elven, not elvish.

Heh, I first read the title as "Elvis chain is beautiful" which I didn't agree with.

 

[Sejs]

Look what I circled in red.

That would be why its a chain shirt rather than a suit of chainmail.

It's art. Enjoy it, don't sweat it.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

In the Kingdoms of Kalamar campaign setting, elven chainmail on Tellene is not automatically made from mithral. In fact, elven chainmail uses a specific, artistic pattern to tiny groups of four interlocked metal rings. These rings form the center of a square of larger rings to hold the design together. The larger rings are then reinforced with a straight bar that bisects the ring. This complex design allows better freedom of movement, spell casting and lighter weight relative to the standard chainmail design.

Dark elven chainmail uses the same principal as standard chainmail but incorporates a design of tightly woven and slightly heavier overlapping metal rings.

There's a couple of great pics (including some extreme closeups) of these in Goods and Gear: the Ultimate Adventurer's Guide. I'll try to post it here tonight.

 

[Steel_Wind]

It is, indeed, one of the most impressive illustrations I have ever seen from WotC, mainly because it takes the concept in an entirely new direction and does it so well that it just *owns* the concept thereafter.

All the elven armor illustrations which follow it copy it in some form. We've seen elven leather and elven banded mail in the same style.

At DLA we created elven chain for NWN after a fan request for same emerged last December at the time HotU was released and added robe support (which permitted us to do elven chain). We recently found the time to add it in for other races as well. I know dwarven and gnimish elven chain is silly - but we got so many requests for other races they wold not leave us alone until we did it all - so we did:

There is a lot of artwork which TSR/WotC has done over the years which is impressive. But Lockwood's illustration is so impressive not for its beauty, but for its execution of a concept which is just brilliantly thought out.

 

[Mark Plemmons]

Here are those pictures of elven chain in the Kingdoms of Kalamar setting that I promised earlier. Sorry for the quality of the scans - I don't have access to my art files at the moment.

FYI, these were illustrated and WotC-approved quite a while (about a year or more, if I remember correctly) before the 3.5 edition came out. We just didn't have a chance to print them until Goods and Gear: the Ultimate Adventurer's Guide, which was released this summer. So they're not based on Lockwood's art (great though it is!).

edit: fixed misspellings

 

[Mark Plemmons]

I can't really see dwarves in elven chain.

Though they wear normal armors, the dwarves of Tellene jealously guard the secret of one of their own types - dwarven plate. It is never sized for anyone other than a dwarf. Many humans, Kalamarans in particular, resent this and refer to dwarves in this armor as "waddling cauldrons." Like the elven chains, dwarven plate on Tellene is made of iron, not a special material like mithral or adamantine.

Here's that dwarven plate and a couple others. I like the halfling cord - it's a tightly woven suit of vine and cord that is surprisingly flexible and generally ornate when compared to human cord armor. The isolated golden halflings of the Lopoliri Mountains (who are the primary wearers of halfling cord) are fond of crown-shaped helmets and tend to decorate their cord armor with small pieces of hide or plate from the dinosaurs, rocs and other ancient creatures that inhabit their lands.

Again, sorry for the quality of the scans.

 

[Aaron L]

I love that picture of elven chain. I love that design of elven chain. I loved the
design when it was first shown on Storm Silverhand in the FRCS, but the DMG painting is even better.

 

[Gez]

I know dwarven and gnomish elven chain is silly - but we got so many requests for other races they wold not leave us alone until we did it all.

It is never sized for anyone other than a dwarf.

Well, in both case, with the standard D&D level of magic, it's easy to find a gnome-sized Elven Chainmail or a human-sized Dwarven Plate.

As easy as finding a normal Elven Chainmail or Dwarven Plate and a wizard or cleric with the Craft Magic Arms & Armor feat.

Because magic items resize themselves to fit their wearer. Since all Elven Chainmails and all Dwarven Plates are masterwork items, you just need to enchant (OK, SKR, "magically enhance", blech) them to wear them.