Here are some bronze weapon and armor rules I came up with plus I also included my rules for being a "champion" which is very common in Greek settings. I also include my rules for helms, damage to armor, patrons and invocation of deities. Sorry about the table. You will have to cut it and paste it into a word processor to make the armor table work out.
Enjoy!
Clark
Bronze Weapons: Unless the PC has access to steel weapons, all weapons are made of bronze. Bronze, due to its inherent qualities, has limitations.
--No Large-size weapons consisting mostly of metal may be made of bronze. Thus, there are no bronze greatswords or greataxes. Other Large weapons made mostly of wood do exist, such as bronze longspears, since only the spearhead is bronze.
--All bronze weapons weigh 1.5 times the weight listed in the PHB.
--All bronze weapons except Tiny-sized weapons, spears and bronze-tipped missile weapons have a –1 to hit due to their extra weight and poor quality.
--The range increment for bronze thrown weapons is reduced by 20%, 10% for missile weapons that use bronze tipped projectiles.
--All bronze bladed weapons other than spears cost 1.5 times the cost listed in the PHB.
--All bronze bladed weapons of Medium-size suffer a –1 to damage. This minus does not apply to Small-sized bronze bladed weapons or to bronze spears as their heads are smaller then Medium-size even if the overall weapon length is Medium-size or greater, however other bronze polearms such as glaives and halberds are subject to this rule.
--All Medium-sized bronze bladed weapons (other than spears) break and are rendered useless on a natural fumble (a roll of “1”)
--All Small-sized bronze bladed weapons and all spears regardless of size become blunted and gain a –1 (cumulative) to damage on a natural fumble (a roll of a “1”). When a weapon is blunted by this rule such that its negative equals its maximum damage, it breaks and is rendered useless. Note that a blunted weapon that hits always does at least 1 point of damage, even if the modifier would reduce it to 0 or less.
--Masterwork bronze weapons are not subject to any of the above penalties and are treated as if they were common steel weapons, though they do not gain the +1 to hit normally associated with masterwork weapons.
Other Weapon Restrictions: Longbows are quite rare and cost double the listed price, except for elves. Composite bows are not available to the PCs as that technology has not been discovered in their region. Polearms other than spears are uncommon and cost twice the listed price. Crossbows are quite rare and cost three times the listed price in the area where the PCs begin play and may only be purchased with DM approval.
Armor: No PC has access to steel armor. The following table details the armor and shields available to the PCs at the start of the campaign:
Table: Armor
Armor Type Cost (gp) Armor Bonus Max Dex Skill Mod Spell Fail Item hp+ Spd 30 ft Spd 20 ft Wt. (lb)
Light Armor
Padded/Heavy Robes 5 +1 +8 0 5% 2 30 20 10 lb
Leather 10 +2 +6 0 10% 3 30 20 15 lb
Bronze Studded Lthr. 50 +3 +4 -2 10% 4 30 20 30 lb
Medium Armor
Hide 15 +3 +4 -3 20% 3 20 15 25 lb
Bronze Ring Armor 300 +4 +3 -3 15% 5 20 15 40 lb
Heavy Armor
Bronze Scale Armor 100 +4 +2 -5 20% 6 20* 15* 50 lb
Bronze Breast Plate 400 +5 +3 -5 20% 7 20* 50* 60 lb
Shields
Buckler 15 +1 -- -1 5% 1 -- -- 5 lb
Small, wooden 3 +1 -- -1 5% 2 -- -- 5 lb
Small, bronze 12 +1 -- -1 5% 3 -- -- 9 lb
Large, wooden 7 +2 -- -2 15% 3 -- -- 10 lb
Large, bronze 25 +2 -- -2 15% 4 -- -- 20 lb
Tower, bronze 35 ** -- -10 50% 5 -- -- 55 lb
Helms (see below)
Small helm, bronze 10 +1*** -- -1*** 2% 2 -- -- 2 lb
Full helm, bronze 50 +2*** -- -2*** 5% 4 -- -- 5 lb
*When running in heavy armor you move only triple our speed, not quadruple speed.
**A tower shield provides cover, not a direct AC bonus.
***See special rules regarding helms below under House Rules.
+These hit points are used for armor wear and tear and not if striking the item as an attack. See the House Rule “Damage to Armor and Shields,” below.
Damage to Armor and Shields: Armor, shields and helms become battered during combat, even if the armor or shield is not specifically targeted. Any critical hit, confirmed or not, inflicts 1 hit point of structural item damage to the armor or shield of the target, ignoring the hardness of the item. If the critical is not confirmed because of a miss, the damage is applied to the shield. If the critical hit is not confirmed and is a miss because of the added protection from a helm, the helm is damaged. If the critical hit is confirmed, the damage is to the armor. If a shield or helm has its item hit points reduced to 0, that item is ruined. When a suit of armor or a shield has its item hit points reduced in half, its AC bonus is reduced by -1. When a suit of armor has its hit points reduced to 0, it is ruined. See the armor chart above for item hit points. Note: this is not the same as hardness and hit points for the purposes of attacking the item directly. However, any structural item damage inflicted in this manner does reduce the item’s hit points for purposes of attacking the item. Magic armor is usually immune to this type of injury unless the weapon striking the target is of a greater enhancement then that of the armor.
This type of item damage may be repaired as long as the item is not ruined. To effectuate such repairs requires an expenditure of one quarter of the price of the item per hit point to be repaired and one successful appropriate skill check (DC 12 + hit points of item damage) per point to be repaired. The DC is the same for all repair rolls, even if several are required, such as to fix 3 points of item damage. If any repair skill check is failed by more than 5, the cost spent on that repair roll is wasted. The appropriate materials must also be on hand. For example, a suit of bronze scale armor has suffered 2 item hit points of damage. It would cost 25 gp for each of the two required repairs. The repair DC is 14. Note: the DC is 14 for both repair checks. Obviously, at some point it is cheaper to replace armor then to fix it.
Helms: Helms can reduce the chance of a successful critical hit. Though helms do not add to AC for purposes of normal attacks, they do affect the chance to confirm a critical hit. See the chart above under armor for the AC bonus from a helm that applies only when rolling to confirm a critical hit. Averting such critical hits may damage the helm (see Damage to Armor and Shields, above).
Patrons: Most persons have a patron deity even if they are not priests of followers of this deity. PCs may select a patron at creation or they may gain one later through in-game actions. A person who has a patron deity has a special devotion to that deity, even if their alignments do not match at all. If a person has a patron, they may attempt to use the Invocation Benefit (see below) for that deity, though they cannot gain more than a +1 from any such benefit. A person who has a patron deity, but who is not a cleric of that deity, may only invoke the name of their deity 1/week. In addition, patron deities do not always grant a benefit to those who invoke their name. Persons who have a patron deity may become champions of that deity, see below.
Champions: A person who has pleased his patron deity and done him or her great service may be selected as a champion of that deity. Different deities offer different benefits to their champions. All champions may invoke their patron 1/day (rather than 1/week) and their invocations are always granted (unlike non-champions whose invocations are not always heard). Also, like clerics, they can accumulate their invocations (see below). Most champions also gain the ability to cast domain spells from one of the deity’s domains even if the person is not of a spell-casting class. Most also gain a divine bonus to armor class and to an attribute.
Invocation Benefits: Those devoted to a god, either as a cleric or druid, or who has a deity as their patron, can invoke the name of the patron to aid them. Clerics may invoke the name of their patron 1/day for every three cleric levels they possess. Non-clerics invoking their patron may do so 1/week. Champions may invoke their patron 1/day. Invoking the name of a deity is a free action, but it may not be done in conjunction with actions involving verbal components (spell casting, turning undead, etc). Normally, such an invocation grants the invoker a +1 to any action, roll or check that is related to the domains or particular sphere or influence of the deity (invoking Zeus for protection against lightning, Ares in war, Aphrodite in love, etc). Clerics and Champions may invoke the name of their deity for successive rounds, building the invocation benefit up to a cumulative +3 with the same restrictions. Invocation for successive rounds requires a Concentration check (DC 12) each rounds as if casting a spell. Invocation benefits are unique to each god. Invocation benefits stack with any benefits from granted powers.
