It's easiest in a campaign just not to worry about the damage that armor and shields are taking. It's presumed that characters go on adventures, get in fights, and during some of their off-hours they repair their armor.
If you want know precisely how much damage a piece of armor can take before being destroyed, and how to repair damaged armor (without the PCs necessarily having to do so themselves), you can use the following rules.
Damage Points[]
Every time a character wearing armor is hit and damaged by an attack, his armor takes damage, too. It takes 1 Damage Point per blow that hits. If an attack hits for 1 point of damage, the armor takes 1 DP. If an attack hits for 10 points of damage, the armor takes 1 DP.
Shields only take damage when the character successfully Parries with a Shield. Each time he parries an attack that would have hit him, his shield takes 1 DP.
Helms only take damage when the character is hit with a Called Shot to the Head or a Sap maneuver. Each time the character wearing a helm is hit with such an attack, the helm takes 1 DP.
When a piece of armor drops to 0 DP, it falls apart and is ruined; it cannot be repaired. So long as it has 1 DP it can be repaired.
Armor has the following DP:
| Armor Type | AC | DP |
|---|---|---|
| Banded Mail | 4 | 30 |
| Barding | ||
| Chain | 5 | 50 |
| Full plate | 2 | 80 |
| Full scale | 6 | 40 |
| Half brigandine | 7 | 30 |
| Half padded | 9 | 10 |
| Half scale | 7 | 30 |
| Leather/Padded | 8 | 20 |
| Brigandine | 6 | 20 |
| Bronze plate | 4 | 30 |
| Chain mail | 5 | 25 |
| Field Plate | 2 | 40 |
| Full plate | 1 | 45 |
| Gladiator | ||
| Gallic | 7 | 15 |
| Samnite | 5 | 25 |
| Thracian | 9 | 5 |
| Helms | ||
| Cap | +0 | 5 |
| Coif | +0 | 15 |
| Close-Faced* | +0 | 25 |
| Great | +0 | 35 |
| Open-Faced | +0 | 20 |
| Hide armor | 6 | 20 |
| Leather armor | 8 | 10 |
| Padded armor | 8 | 10 |
| Plate mail | 3 | 35 |
| Ring mail | 7 | 15 |
| Scale mail | 6 | 20 |
| Shields | ||
| Body | +1 | 35 |
| Buckler | +1 | 10 |
| Medium | +1 | 25 |
| Small | +1 | 10 |
| Splint mail | 4 | 30 |
| Studded leather | 7 | 15 |
- * Includes basinet, galea, myrmillo
Piecemeal Armor[]
If you're using the Piecemeal Armor rules from earlier in this chapter, consider the armor's Breastplate to have the number of DP listed for it in the chart above. Each arm and leg will have a DP amount equivalent to one-tenth of the DP total from the chart. The breastplate will take all DP damage from attacks unless they are Called Shots to other body parts.
Magical Armor[]
Magical Armor does not gradually lose its protective enchantment as it is damaged. However, if it reaches 0 DP before being repaired, the armor is destroyed and so is the enchantment.
Being magical does not confer any extra Damage Points on the suit of armor. It can gradually be destroyed by brute force like any unenchanted suit of armor.
Repairing Armor[]
Guidelines for repairing damaged armor are presented in the Character Creation chapter, under the headlines "Repairing Armor" and "Repairing Magical Armor."