Armor Basics

Armor Categories

Fantasy gaming worlds are a vast tapestry made up of many different cultures, each with its own technology level. For this reason, adventurers have access to a variety of armor types, ranging from leather armor to chain mail to costly plate armor, with several other kinds of armor in between. The Armor table collects the most commonly available types of armor found in the game and separates them into three categories: light armor, medium armor, and heavy armor. Many warriors supplement their armor with a shield.

Light Armor

Made from supple and thin materials, light armor favors agile adventurers since it offers some protection without sacrificing mobility. Light armor offers the fewest restrictions but also offers the least protection.

Medium Armor

Medium armor offers more protection than light armor, but it also impairs movement more. If you wear medium armor, all of your movement speeds are reduced by 1/3 (rounded to the nearest 5-ft. increment). Most Medium creatures with a speed of 30 feet may only move 20 feet, while most Small creatures with a speed of 20 feet find that they can move no faster than 15 feet while wearing medium armor.

Heavy Armor

Of all the armor categories, heavy armor offers the best protection. These suits of armor cover the entire body and are designed to stop a wide range of attacks. Only proficient warriors can manage their weight and bulk. Heavy armor also considerably slows the wearer, reducing their speed by 1/3, just as medium armor does; however, it also restricts your maximum run speed to three times your normal speed rather than the usual four times when running.

Armor Qualities

To wear heavier armor effectively, a character can select the Armor Proficiency feat, but most classes are automatically proficient with the armors that work best for them.

Armor and shields can take damage from some types of attacks.

Here is the format for armor entries (given as column headings on Table: Armor and Shields).

Price

The market price of the armor for Small or Medium humanoid creatures. See Armor for Unusual Creatures, below, for armor prices for other creatures.

Armor/Shield Bonus

Each armor grants an Armor Bonus to AC, while shields grant a Shield Bonus to AC. The armor bonus from a suit of armor doesn’t stack with other effects or items that grant an armor bonus. Similarly, the shield bonus from a shield doesn’t stack with other effects that grant a shield bonus.

Damage Reduction

Armor reduces the amount of damage you take from attacks. This number is the amount of damage you can ignore each round due to your armor. Unlike most sources of damage reduction, the damage reduction granted by armor stacks with other sources of damage reduction that you might possess.

Maximum Dex Bonus

This number is the maximum Dexterity bonus to AC that this type of armor allows. Heavier armors limit mobility, reducing the wearer’s ability to dodge blows. This restriction doesn’t affect any other Dexterity-related abilities.

Even if a character’s Dexterity bonus to AC drops to 0 because of armor, this situation does not count as becoming Flat-Footed or otherwise losing a Dexterity bonus to AC.

Your character’s encumbrance (the amount of gear he or she carries) may also restrict the maximum Dexterity bonus that can be applied to his or her Armor Class.

Shields

Shields do not typically affect a character’s maximum Dexterity bonus, though tower shields do.

Armor Check Penalty

Any armor heavier than leather hurts a character’s ability to use some skills. An armor check penalty number is the penalty that applies to Acrobatics, Athletics, and Stealth checks by a character wearing a certain kind of armor. A character’s encumbrance (the amount of gear carried, including armor) may also apply an skill check penalty.

Shields

If a character is wearing armor and using a shield, both armor check penalties apply. Add the two numbers together to get the total armor check penalty.

Nonproficient with Armor Worn

A character who wears armor and/or uses a shield with which he or she is not proficient takes the armor’s (and/or shield’s) armor check penalty on attack rolls and on all Strength-based and Dexterity-based ability and skill checks. The penalty for nonproficiency with armor stacks with the penalty for nonproficiency with shields.

Arcane Spell Failure

Armor interferes with the gestures that a spellcaster must make to cast an arcane spell that has a somatic component. Arcane spellcasters face the possibility of arcane spell failure if they’re wearing armor. Bards can wear light armor without incurring any arcane spell failure chance for their bard spells.

Casting an Arcane Spell in Armor

A character who casts an arcane spell while wearing armor must usually make an arcane spell failure roll. The number in the Arcane Spell Failure Chance column on Table: Armor and Shields is the chance that the spell fails and is ruined. If the spell lacks a somatic component, however, it can be cast with no chance of arcane spell failure.

Shields

If a character is wearing armor and using a shield, add the two numbers together to get a single arcane spell failure chance.

Weight

This column gives the weight of the armor sized for a Medium wearer. Armor fitted for Small characters weighs half as much, and armor for Large characters weighs twice as much.

Masterwork Armor

Just as with weapons, you can purchase or craft masterwork versions of armor or shields. Such a well-made item functions like the normal version, except that its armor check penalty is lessened by 1.

A masterwork suit of armor or shield costs an extra 150 gp over and above the normal cost for that type of armor or shield.

The masterwork quality of a suit of armor or shield never provides a bonus on attack or damage rolls, even if the armor or shield is used as a weapon.

All magic armors and shields are automatically considered to be of masterwork quality.

You can’t add the masterwork quality to armor or a shield after it is created; it must be crafted as a masterwork item.

Armor for Unusual Creatures

Armor and shields for unusually big creatures, unusually little creatures, and non-humanoid creatures have different costs and weights from those given on Table: Armor and Shields. Refer to the appropriate line on the table below and apply the multipliers to cost and weight for the armor type in question.

Getting Into And Out Of Armor

The time required to don armor depends on its type; see Table: Donning Armor.

Don

This column tells how long it takes a character to put the armor on. (One minute is 10 rounds.) Readying (strapping on) a shield is only a move action.

Don Hastily

This column tells how long it takes to put the armor on in a hurry. The armor check penalty and armor bonus for hastily donned armor are each 1 point worse than normal.

Remove

This column tells how long it takes to get the armor off. Loosing a shield (removing it from the arm and dropping it) is only a move action, except for a buckler, which is simply dropped as a free action.