Platemail sold here for CHEAP!!

[SDOgre]

In relative value, a chainmail in the dark age was AFAIK much more epxensive than a plate armor was in the 1500s. Which is why amored riders weren't as common in those days than they were in the late middle age where even mercenary companies could afford plate.

So armored plate wasn't cheap. But it was more like buying a car than a jet. (In which case it's probably the weapons that are overpriced!)

The armor you speak of, munition armor, was a very cheap version of plate armor for infantry. It was not the full plate of the heavy calvary. A full suit of plate was so expensive only the very top strata of society could afford it. And it became more expensive through the 15th century.

Medieval historians have consistently said that owning a suit of full plate at the height of this technology was equivalent to owning a private jet in today's economy. (or a similar analogy)

But, as you said, it really has no bearing on the price of tea in China, or the price of plate in D&D except to say that in 3E they observed this by making plate relatively very expensive. 4E does not. Therefore plate is nothing special anymore.

It's a change I did not welcome.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

The armor you speak of, munition armor, was a very cheap version of plate armor for infantry. It was not the full plate of the heavy calvary. A full suit of plate was so expensive only the very top strata of society could afford it. And it became more expensive through the 15th century.

SD, only the top strata can afford to pay what would amount to the price of a car for something that can only be used for fighting. That's like 1% of the population. By the cost of a meal in 4e, I would expect that less than 1% of the population can pay 50 gp in tthe standard D&D world too.

The jet annalogy got to be wrong. At the battle of Hagincourt, France fielded more knights than the USAF possess manned aircraft of all kind (5778 according to wiki). Plus many of the men-at-arms on foot also had plate. And the kingdom of France at the time didn't control half of its current territory. We're talking an economy of maybe four millions people that had been torn by war for more than one generation at that time. If all knights were worth a Jet... Let's not be silly.

And again, the prices dropped. They always drop. I know for sure it was more expensive in absolute value to suit up a knight in the 900s when they were using chainmail than in the 1500s when they were using plate. Production increases constantly.

Most of the ultra-expensive plate armor were never intended for battle. They were parade suit. Functional plate harness weren't cheap, but they were cheap enough so that at the very least 10,000 french fighters had one in the 1400s (There was between 20 and 30 thousands frenchmen at Hagincourt alone, including 1/3 knights plus some heavy infantry).

 

[theNater]

...in 3E they observed this by making plate relatively very expensive. 4E does not. Therefore plate is nothing special anymore.

Correct. Plate is nothing special. Fireburst armor is something special. And, perhaps not coincidentally, it is very expensive compared to mundane armors.

 

[Bandreus]

D&D economy is skrewed up period.

 

[Jhaelen]

D&D economy is skrewed up period.

Actually, it's perfect within its context. No attempt at 'realism' has been made this time. That's an improvement.

 

[hamishspence]

Plate Mail

Thats just what it is: Plate Mail, not Full Plate. Armour categories are a bit abstract, so plate mail can represent the lower end of the scale: breastplate, greaves, etc, over some mail, rather than the full articulated suit.

Same might apply to others: Scale mail might, given the larger size of the scale, be permitted to stand in for Roman banded armour.

I se no problem with fuzzing the edges: allowing the term to be used for several similar armours rather than one, the last and heaviest.

 

[Regicide]

Does anyone have any insight on why platemail now cost only 50gp?

Because the designers aren't trying to make a role-playing game. They are not trying to model a fantasy world where there is cause and effect even if the cause is magic, they're simply looking at numbers. So we get plate armour being 50 GP, arrows fall to the ground once they've gone 200 feet and magic healing potions stop working if you've rested too much in a day, but resting longer fixes everything.

 

[Fifth Element]

Because the designers aren't trying to make a role-playing game. They are not trying to model a fantasy world where there is cause and effect even if the cause is magic, they're simply looking at numbers. So we get plate armour being 50 GP, arrows fall to the ground once they've gone 200 feet and magic healing potions stop working if you've rested too much in a day, but resting longer fixes everything.

The OP asked for insight, not...whatever this is.

 

[Starfox]

It is a myth that Plate Armor is so expensive to make. it requires an advanced foundry, but once you set that up, it is pretty easy to make. Chain mail is the opposite; any old blacksmith can make it, but it takes a LOT of work.

 

[Big J Money]

I think it's hilarious people are trying to combine D&D economics with real world medieval economics. This is absurd. These are two completely unrelated universes. One is real, the other is called fantasy. I think the reason this is an issue for some people is because classically, fantasy RPGs have made the attemp to approach their fantasy universes with some amount of similarity to medieval times. What is chosen as 'realistic' has always been arbitrary, but fantasy RPGs tend to copycat each other in a lot of areas. Now that D&D has dropped this, some of you guys are up in arms.

The reasons plate armor were prohibitively expensive in the real world do not exist in WoTC's D&D fantasy universe. If you want to play in this universe, just realize this. It's the truth, and it makes a completely playable and realistic fantasy environment. If anyone's brain is too small to comprehend a fantasy universe whose economy is radically shifted due to the prevalance of magic, then I'm sorry for their limitation.