The types of armor given in the Player's Handbook are all you need to play the game. However, you can use other types of armor in your campaign; here, we'll talk about two different types of alternative armor.
Racial Armor[]
It's asking a lot to suppose that elves will make their armor just as humans make theirs, that it will look the same and function identically. Here are some ways to make the armors of different races more individual.
Armor Fitting[]
Armor made for one race rarely fits another; it may be too big, too small, or proportioned too strangely.
Below is a chart. The column to the left shows the type of demihuman trying to wear the armor. The rows along the top show what species the armor was made for. The percentage chances shown are the chances that the person can wear the armor, and the "+" and "–" symbols show whether the armor is more likely to be too big or too small for the wearer. (If there is no such symbol, it means that odds are even, 50% that it will be too big, 50% that it will be too small.) "Too large" could mean that it is so baggy or empty that it hinders the wearer and does not protect him well enough, or that it is so long on him that it interferes with his walking. "Too small" could mean that it is not broad enough to accommodate the wearer's chest, or that it is so short that it looks ridiculous and does not sufficiently protect the wearer.
Now, at the DM's discretion, many things can affect these percentage chances.
If a character of one sex is trying to put on armor built for another sex, chances go down that it will fit. The chance is reduced 10% (but never goes below 5%). If a fit fails because of that modifier, it's because the woman found the man's armor too big, or the man found the woman's too small.
| Race Trying To Wear Armor |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dwf | Elf | Gnm | 1/2 Elf | 1/2–lg | Hum | |
| Dwarf | 80% | 0% – | 10% – | 10% – | 35% – | 40% |
| Elf | 10% + | 90% | 50% – | 70% + | 35% + | 50% + |
| Gnome | 40% + | 40% + | 75% | 25% + | 60% + | 20% + |
| Half-Elf | 20% + | 45% | 10% + | 70% | 35% + | 50% |
| Halfling | 75% + | 30% – | 35% – | 35% + | 70% | 20% + |
| Human | 50% – | 20% – | 5% – | 30% – | 10% – | 65% |
However, the DM may allow the difference in sex to help sometimes—in cases where the armor is not likely to fit a male human because it is too small in the shoulders and chest. A human woman trying to put on a male half-elf's armor might be at no modifier, and find herself at a +10% modifier to wear a male elf's armor.
Remember that full plate has its own modifiers for chances to fit; it has only a 20% chance to fit another member of the same race (10% if the new wearer is of the other sex). A character cannot wear full plate made for a character of another race, period.
The DM can allow previously role-played determinations of a character's height and build to affect the chances from the chart below. For instance, if one player has always said that his human character was short and stocky, say 5'4" and powerfully built, so that many people joked about him having a dwarvish ancestor, the DM can give him a +15% chance to wear dwarvish armor; this raises his chance from 50% to 65%, as if he were a human trying to wear armor of his own kind. The DM should, however, subtract that same modifier from the character's chance to wear armor built for humans; that chance would go down from 65% to 50%.
Example: An adventuring party kills a beholder in its lair and finds the armor worn by previous victims. The adventurers include a huge human male barbarian, a slender human female warrior, a dwarf axeman, and a female gnome. The dead victims include an elf male in enchanted chain mail and a halfling male in enchanted leather. The heroes see who can wear the captured armor.
The DM decides arbitrarily that the human barbarian cannot even roll. He's always described himself as being massive, with enormous rippling muscles and a bodybuilder's physique. In this campaign, that often helps him with the ladies, but this time it disqualifies him from wearing any of the treasure.
The slender human warrioress tries the elf's chain mail. A human trying on elf armor, on the chart above, has a 20% to wear it successfully. The DM raises her chance 10% because she is a female human trying to fit into male elf armor; her build is at an advantage here. He raises it 10% further because in the campaign she has always described herself as of delicate build, very slender. This raises her chance to 40%. She rolls 38 on percentile dice; she can wear the chain. She also tries the enchanted leather. A human woman trying to wear male halfling armor is at 10%, and the DM again assigns her the +20% from the two modifiers mentioned. She has a 30% chance, but rolls a 79; she cannot wear it.
The dwarf axeman tries the elvish chain. A dwarf trying to wear elf armor has a 0% chance to wear it. He can't. He has a 35% chance to wear the halfling's armor; the DM lowers that to 25% because this character has always described himself as especially burly for a dwarf. But he rolls 03 on percentile dice; he can wear the enchanted leather.
The female gnome tries the elvish chain. She has a base 40% chance to wear it. The DM does not modify it for her sex. She rolls a 51 and fails. She tries the leather; she has a base 60% chance with it, –10% for different gender equals 50%. She rolls a 33 and can wear it.
So the human warrioress gets the chain mail, and the dwarf and gnome must choose or gamble to decide who gets the leathers.
High-Quality Racial Armor[]
Armor found as treasure has a chance to be high-quality armor. Ordinary armor has a 10% chance on percentile dice; magical armor has a 25% chance.
Each race adds something different to its armor if it is high-quality.
Dwarves: High-Quality dwarvish armor is very, very resistant to damage. Whenever High-Quality dwarvish armor must make a saving throw (see the Dungeon Master Guide, page 39.), it gets a +6 to save in addition to any bonuses it receives if it is magical. Additionally, if you use the "Damage to Armor" rules described later in this chapter, all High-Quality dwarvish armor has twice the number of damage points of ordinary armor.
Elves: High-Quality elvish armor is one- half the weight of ordinary armor; it constitutes "elven steel" (see the chart on page 38 of the Dungeon Master Guide).
Gnomes: Gnomes make very quiet studded and padded leather armors; these are the only High-Quality armors they make. High-Quality gnome armor does not take any penalties on the "Thieving Skill Armor Adjustment" table (Player's Handbook, page 39, last column); thus, a gnome thief or dual-class thief does not suffer a –30% when picking pockets, or a –20% when moving silently, etc.
Half-Elves: Half-Elf armorers do not make any High-Quality leather armor, padded armor, studded leather, hide armor, or bronze plate mail. All their other armors can be made as High-Quality armor. High-Quality half-elf armor is made from fine steel; it is –10% the weight of ordinary armor of the same kind, fine steel, for normal thickness, –10% weight, and gets a +2 to saving throws (on the "Metal" column on page 39 of the Dungeon Master Guide).
Halflings: Halflings only make leather armor as High-Quality armor. Their High-Quality leather armor counts as "No Armor" on the Thieving Skill Armor Adjustment table (Player's Handbook, page 39).
Humans: Humans make all types of armor as High-Quality armor. This is especially tough armor; whatever it is made of, it is +2 to saving throws on the appropriate line of the "Item Saving Throws" chart on page 39 of the Dungeon Master Guide. Also, plate mail (not including bronze plate), field plate, and full plate made to High-Quality specifications is made of fine steel, but instead of being lighter than usual, it is built thicker in order to make it more resistant to damage. It is +4 to saving throws on that "Item Saving Throws" chart, and is normal weight. Also, it gives the wearer a +2 to saving throws vs. Rod, Staff, or Wand and Breath Weapon attacks. In addition, if you are using the "Damage to Armor" rules found later in this chapter, it has one and a half times the normal damage points for the type of armor it is.
Other Notes on High-Quality Racial Armor[]
All the above descriptions were for worn armor, not shields. High-Quality shields do not impart any special bonus unless you're using the "Damage to Armor" rules, in which case they have twice as many damage points as the normal sort of shield.
How much does it cost to buy a set of High-Quality racial armor? First, the DM has to decide whether there is any available to sell. Usually, the answer will be no; there is only a 1% chance that a normal village armorer's will have made any piece of high-quality armor to sell, and that will be racial armor of the armorer's race. The chance goes up to 5% in a big city, or 25% if you're looking for racial armor of the race that is most common in the city. Thus, to find high-quality dwarvish armor, go to a big dwarf community... and there your chances are still low.
But if you find what you're looking for, or are able to hire an armorer to build you a set, it costs ten times the normal cost of the armor. High-quality dwarf plate mail, then, would cost 6,000 gp. Often, it's not worth the price to the adventurer.
In no case will an elvish craftsman custom-make a set of High-Quality elvish armor for someone. Such armor is only made for the elvish royalty, and their kings sometimes bestow a piece on a non-elf hero... but only for deeds of exceptional valor which have helped the elves.
Another question adventurers are sure to ask: Can an armorer of one race build his own type of High-Quality armor for another race? For example, can a master gnome armorer build High-Quality gnome armor for a human?
The answer is yes. Instead of costing ten times the normal cost of the armor, the price is 15 times the normal cost. But it can be done. Again, though, an elf armorer will never make High-Quality armorer for anyone but his rulers.
Custom-built High-Quality armor takes four times as long to make as normal, average armor.
Piecemeal Armor[]
What happens when a character takes a heavy metal breastplate from a set of field plate and then wears chain mail sleeves and leggings and a leather armor cap? (That is, what happens other than he looks stupid?)
Characters can wear armor assembled out of the remnants of other, mismatched sets of armor. It's not as good, and certainly not as good-looking, as wearing a matched suit. But sometimes necessity dictates that characters wear what's on hand.
When you're assembling a full suit of armor out of pieces on hand, the first thing to do is to see what you have. Compare your armor on hand with the chart below.
| Armor Type |
Full Suit |
Breast Plate |
Two Arms |
One Arm |
Two Legs |
One Leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Banded Mail | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Brigandine | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Bronze plate | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Chain mail | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Field Plate | 8 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Full plate | 9 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Hide armor | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Leather armor | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Padded armor | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Plate mail | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Ring mail | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Scale mail | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Splint mail | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Studded leather | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
Example: A character is robbed of all his worldly goods. Later, he finds the aftermath of a battle, with a couple of dead warriors still in their armor. One body wears a badly battered set of field plate (of which the breastplate is intact), while the other wears a full suit of chain mail (of which the chest is riddled with holes and one leg is destroyed).
He tries to piece this together into a suit for him. He takes the field-plate's breastplate. Looking at the chart, we see it grants an AC bonus of 4. He also takes the field-plate's two arms. Looking at the chart, we see they grant an AC bonus of 2. He takes the surviving chain mail leg. Looking at the chart, we see that it grants an AC bonus of 0. (He'll also take the surviving helm or helmet from one of these warriors, so that he'll have some armor on his head in case of a Called Shot to the Head.)
His AC bonus is 6, so his AC now is 4—not too bad. If there's a shield, he'll have an AC of 3. If someone takes a Called Shot to his unarmored leg, he'll be at AC 10 (or 9 with the shield), as per the Combat Rules chapter, but that attacker will take a –4 penalty to attack rolls for the Called Shot maneuver.
Weight of Piecemeal Suits[]
To calculate the weight of a piecemeal suit of armor, follow these guidelines:
The breastplate is 1/2 the weight of the original suit.
Each arm and leg is 1/8 the weight of the original suit.
About Magical Armor[]
If a suit of magical armor is used for one of these piecemeal efforts, it grants none of its magical bonus; once the magical armor is split into little bits, or pieces are merely separated and not worn together, the magical bonus doesn't work.
Gladiator Armor[]
These rules for piecemeal armor are, in effect, how the types of Gladiator Armor described in this chapter are built.
Thracian armor consists of fasciae, the equivalent of Hide armor worn on two legs—thus an AC bonus of 1, for an AC of 9.
Gallic armor consists of fasciae (Hide armor on two legs), one manica (the equivalent of Splint Mail on one arm, thus an AC bonus of 1), and a protective metal belt. The belt is a special piece of gladiator armor; it constitutes half a breastplate of Hide armor in both weight an AC bonus, so it grants an AC bonus of 1. All together, Gallic armor grants an AC bonus of 3, for a final AC of 7. Note: The armor belt cannot be worn in addition to a Breastplate, only instead of one.
Samnite armor consists of a cuirass (a splint mail equivalent breastplate conferring an AC bonus of 3), and splint-equivalent armor on one arm (AC bonus of 1) and both legs (AC bonus of 1), for a final AC of 5.
The piece of armor called the Galerus, worn on the weapon shoulder, does not add anything to the AC bonus; it is considered part of the sleeve or breastplate.