Looking in at the last bits of the ranger thread (
It's official, WOTC hates Rangers (Tasha's version of Favored Foe is GARBAGE)), got me to thinking about barding (particularly as a solution to the "low ac" complaints being raised there) and it's there I run into a problem. A big problem. Barding weighs twice as much as the equivalent humanoid armor - regardless of the size of the creature it was made for.
Like, what? How does that even begin to make sense?
The idea that barding for tiny creatures and barding for gargantuan creatures somehow weighs the
same is something that boggles my mind.
I agree, that doesn't make sense.
However, the entirety of the rule in the PHB is, "Barding is armor designed to protect an animal’s head, neck, chest, and body. Any type of armor shown on the Armor table in this chapter can be purchased as barding. The cost is four times the equivalent armor made for humanoids, and it weighs twice as much." That's it. Three sentences is all you've got.
I wouldn't remotely read it that way that you have.
First, carrying capacities of Small and Medium sized creatures are identical. Small is nearly indistinguishable from Medium in 5e. Carrying capacities don't change until you reach Tiny (half Medium) or Large (twice Medium). Therefore, the game isn't strictly stating armor (or weapons) that aren't for Small or Medium creatures. This is partially because it's not really necessary, but also because it prevents the Monkey Grip problem (if you stat it in the PHB someone will try to build a PC around it).
Second, I think the rule that armor weighs double means that it weights twice as much as armor for a humanoid
of the same size as the creature. Since we're primarily talking about mounts for Small and Medium creatures, that means we're talking about Medium and Large size mounts. Large armor should already weigh double, so arguably what they're doing is fixing the weight of horse and camel armor. Medium armor for war dogs and ponies is just dragged along. Personally, I don't think that armor for a pony should weigh more than armor for a human male, so I would probably take the design to be primarily for Large mounts.
However, it's not unreasonable for the design to assume that barding will typically be used on animals that are
mounts. Animal mounts are typically four-legged and have larger torsos like horses, dogs, camels, ponies, and so on. That's why barding might weigh more; mounts have a more massive torso for their size by nature of needing to have a body that is capable of accommodating a rider. I think it makes sense to double the weight for a Medium size mount kitted out in light or medium barding, but for heavy barding I would probably not multiply the weight at all. Heavy armor typically covers the legs of most humanoids, while barding
explicitly does not in the rules above. Then again, I'd probably rule that plate barding
did cover the mounts legs.
In the end, I'd probably rule that chain mail barding (heavy) for a riding dog or pony did not weight double, but breastplate (medium), half-plate (medium), and plate (heavy) barding did with plate actually protecting the animal's legs.
Mostly it's small things that I happen across that feel like inconsistencies.
For example:
Why are a mule and a donkey listed as the same? Rather, why are they so while ponies are different? Why is a pony stronger than a mule? Why is a horse wiser than a mule? Why has a mule, a creature with legendary stamina, only got a 13 Con?
