9.4 Armor
Most characters use armor to protect themselves. There are two kinds of armor: body armor, such as full plate armor, and shields. Body armor is worn on your body. You can only benefit from one body armor at a time. If you somehow wear multiple layers of body armor, the penalties stack and the benefits do not stack. A shield requires a free hand instead of being worn on the body.
9.4.1 Armor Mechanics
Armor Usage Classes
An armor’s usage class is a measure of how the armor is used, and how much effort is required to use it. It indicates whether armor, when used by a creature the armor is sized for, is considered light armor, medium armor, or heavy armor.
Armor Proficiency
Proficiency with armor is defined by the armor’s usage class. If you wear or use armor you are not proficient with, it provides half its normal defense bonus. In addition, you apply that armor’s normal bonus to Armor defense as a penalty to your accuracy.
Getting Into And Out Of Armor
The time required to don armor depends on its type; see Table 9.8: Donning Armor. Donning and removing body armor and shields takes two hands.
Don: This column tells how long it takes a character to put the armor on. (One minute is 10 rounds.)
Remove: This column tells how long it takes to get the armor off.
| Armor Type |
Don | Remove |
| Buckler |
1 standard action | 1 standard action |
| Standard shield | 1 standard action | 1 standard action |
| Tower shield | 1 standard action | 1 standard action |
| Light body armor | 1 minute | 1 minute |
| Medium body armor | 5 minutes | 1 minute |
| Heavy body armor | 5 minutes | 5 minutes |
|
|
Weight and Size
The size category of body armor is the same as the size category of the creature it is sized for. Bucklers and standard shields are one size category smaller than the creature they are sized for, while tower shields are the same size category as the creature they are sized for. All armor and shields except for heavy body armor are lightweight objects. This means that you must have a Strength of at least -1 to use body armor or a tower shield normally. Heavy body armor weighs so much that only creatures with a Strength of at least 2 can wear it (see Weight Limits).
Barding
Armor is normally designed for creatures with two arms and two legs, matching the normal humanoid shape. Creatures with more esoteric shapes can wear armor if they are proficient, but it is not as effective. This is called barding.
The Armor defense bonus provided by barding is reduced by 2. This penalty also applies to magical effects that mimic armor, such as mage armor , if those bonuses do not stack with wearing regular armor. Barding must also be custom made for the creature’s body type, so unusual creatures cannot simply wear armor designed for humanoid creatures.
Using Multiple Armors
You cannot benefit from multiple sets of body armor. If you wear more than one body armor, only the outer layer gives you any benefit.
You can hold multiple shields. The Armor and Reflex bonuses do not stack, but you use the highest Armor and Reflex bonus from all of your shields. You also benefit from all special properties of all of your shields, including magic shield properties.
9.4.2 Armor Table
Here is the format for armor entries (given as column headings on Table 9.9: Armor and Shields, below).
Armor: This value indicates how much the armor increases your Armor defense.
Reflex: This value indicates how much the armor increases your Reflex defense.
Durability: This value indicates how much the armor increases your durability (see Durability).
Vital Rolls: This value indicates how much the armor increases your vital rolls (see Vital Rolls).
Speed: This penalty applies to speed with all of your movement modes while wearing the armor.
Dex Bonus: This multiplier affects the contribution of your Dexterity to your Armor defense. It does not change any other effects that Dexterity has. If you use multiple armor pieces that modify this bonus, use the lowest value from any single piece rather than multiplying them. For example, a creature using brigandine and a standard shield would still add half their Dexterity to their Armor defense.
Dex Skills: This modifier applies to your Dexterity-based skills. If you use multiple armor pieces that modify this bonus, add the modifiers together. For example, a creature using full plate and a tower shield would have a -6 penalty to Dexterity-based skills.
Item Rank (Cost): The first value indicates the item rank of the item (see Item Ranks). The second value in parentheses indicates the average cost to buy the item. Items crafted for unusually large or small creatures are more expensive. For each size category larger than Medium or smaller than Small, the item’s rank increases by one, which increases its price.
| Armor | Armor | Reflex | Durability | Vital Rolls | Speed | Dex Bonus | Dex Skills | Material | Item Rank (Cost) |
| Light armor |
|
||||||||
| Buff leather | +2 | — | +1 | — | — | — | — | Leather | 1 (4 gp) |
| Mail shirt | +2 | — | +2 | — | — | — | — | Metal | 2 (20 gp) |
| Rawhide | +2 | — | — | +1 | — | — | -1 | Leather | 1 (4 gp) |
| Buckler | +1 | +1 | — | — | — | — | — | Metal or wood | 0 (1 gp) |
| Medium armor |
| ||||||||
| Leather lamellar | +4 | — | +2 | +1 | — | x1/2 | -2 | Leather | 1 (4 gp) |
| Scale | +4 | — | +3 | +1 | — | x1/2 | -3 | Metal | 1 (4 gp) |
| Brigandine | +4 | — | +4 | +1 | — | x1/2 | -3 | Metal | 2 (20 gp) |
| Standard shield | +2 | +2 | — | — | — | x1/2 | — | Metal or wood | 0 (1 gp) |
| Heavy armor |
| ||||||||
| Breastplate | +5 | — | +5 | +2 | -10 ft. | x1/2 | -4 | Metal | 1 (4 gp) |
| Half plate | +5 | — | +7 | +2 | -10 ft. | x1/2 | -5 | Metal | 2 (20 gp) |
| Full plate | +5 | — | +8 | +2 | -10 ft. | x1/2 | -5 | Metal | 3 (100 gp) |
| Tower shield | +32 | +3 | — | — | — | x1/2 | -1 | Metal or wood | 1 (4 gp) |
| Extras |
| ||||||||
| Shield spikes | — | — | — | — | — | — | -1 | Metal | 1 (4 gp) |
9.4.3 Individual Armor Descriptions
Any special benefits or accessories to the types of armor found on Table 9.9: Armor and Shields are described below.
Buckler: This small metal shield is worn strapped to your forearm. At the start of each phase, you choose whether you treat the hand using a buckler as a free hand. If you do, you can wield weapons or otherwise take actions using the arm bearing the buckler, but do not gain any benefits from the buckler during that phase.
You can’t make strikes with a buckler.
Full Plate: Each suit of full plate must be individually fitted to its owner by an armorsmith. A captured suit can be resized to fit a new owner with a day of work and a difficulty value 10 Craft (metalworking) check. The new owner must still be of the same size category as the size category and general body shape, such as humanoid, that the suit was originally designed for.
Shield, Standard, Wooden or Steel: You strap a shield to your forearm and grip it with your hand. A standard shield is so cumbersome that you can’t use your shield hand for anything else. You can use a standard shield as a weapon (see Table 9.4: Weapons). However, you cannot make dual strikes with a shield.
Shield, Tower: This massive shield is nearly as tall as an average human. When you use the total defense ability while wielding a tower shield, you treat the tower shield as cover (see Cover). This means that you gain a +2 bonus to your Armor and Reflex defenses, and attacks that would miss you or get a glancing blow against you affect the shield instead of you. A tower shield is so cumbersome that you can’t use your shield hand for anything else. You can use a tower shield as an exotic weapon (see Table 9.5: Exotic Weapons). However, you cannot make dual strikes with a shield.
While wielding a tower shield, you take a -1 penalty to accuracy because of the shield’s unwieldy nature.
Shield Spikes: These spikes improve the effectiveness of a standard shield or tower shield when used as a weapon. For details, see Table 9.4: Weapons. You can’t put spikes on a buckler.
Studded Leather: The studs on studded leather are made of metal, but this amount of metal is not generally enough to make the item count as being made of metal. Studded leather armor made with studs from special materials does not grant the wearer the properties of the special material.
9.4.4 Armor Special Materials
Nonmagical body armor can be made from special materials that can alter the properties of the item. These special materials are described in Table 9.10: Armor Special Materials.
The benefits of special materials only apply to body armor that is fully made from the given special material. If you combine multiple special materials in any way, such as by wearing deepforged leggings with a mithral breastplate, you do not gain any benefits for having special materials.
Body armor that is made from a special material cannot have any magic item properties, though it can still be chosen as a legacy item. However, you can combine magic items that are not body armor with any set of body armor. For example, a set of full plate armor typically comes with gauntlets and heavy boots. However, you could wear magic boots and magic gauntlets without sacrificing the benefits of the body armor.
Armor Special Material Prices
Armor special materials are listed as having a single price in Table 9.10: Armor Special Materials. This is the price for an amount of the special material sufficient to forge light or medium armor, when combined with other normal armorsmithing materials. Heavy armor requires twice as much of the special material.
| Material | Durability | Dex Skills | Special Effect | Material | Item Rank (Cost) |
| Adamantine1 | +2 | -2 | Very heavy | Metal |
5 (2,500 gp) |
| Adamantine, pure1 | +4 | -2 | Very heavy | Metal | 8 (312,500 gp) |
| Cold iron1 | -1 | — | -1 Armor, +1 defenses vs magic | Metal | 2 (20 gp) |
| Cold iron, pure1 | -2 | — | -1 Armor, +2 defenses vs magic | Metal | 5 (2,500 gp) |
| Diamondsteel1 | — | — | +2 defenses vs critical hits | Metal | 3 (100 gp) |
| Diamondsteel, pure1 | — | — | +4 defenses vs critical hits | Metal | 5 (2,500 gp) |
| Dragonhide1 | +1 | — | Impervious to specific energy type | Leather | 4 (500 gp) |
| Dragonhide, ancient1 | +1 | — | Immune to specific energy type | Leather | 6 (12,500 gp) |
| Dragonscale1 | +1 | — | Impervious to specific energy type | Metal | 4 (500 gp) |
| Dragonscale, ancient1 | +1 | — | Immune to specific energy type | Metal | 6 (12,500 gp) |
| Elvenweave | — | +1 | — | Leather | 3 (100 gp) |
| Elvenweave, pure | +1 | +1 | — | Leather | 5 (2,500 gp) |
| Mithral | +1 | +1 | — | Metal | 4 (500 gp) |
| Mithral, pure | +2 | +1 | — | Metal | 7 (62,500 gp) |
| Shadeweave | -1 | +1 | +3 Stealth | Leather | 4 (500 gp) |
| Shadeweave, umbral | -1 | +1 | +5 Stealth | Leather | 6 (12,500 gp) |
| Starmetal1 | +1 | -2 | Very heavy | Metal | 2 (20 gp) |
| Starmetal, pure1 | +2 | -2 | Very heavy | Metal | 4 (500 gp) |
| Vineweave | +1 | — | Fire vulnerability | Leather | 3 (100 gp) |
| Vineweave, braided | +2 | — | Fire vulnerability | Leather | 5 (2,500 gp) |
Adamantine: Adamantine body armor is heavier than other armor. Light and medium body armor weighs as much as a normal item of its size category. Heavy body armor is a heavyweight item of its size category. For Medium creatures, light and medium adamantine armor requires a minimum Strength of 2 to wear, and heavy adamantine requires a minimum Strength of 5. It also provides a +2 durability bonus and a -2 penalty to Dexterity-based skills.
Adamantine, Pure: Pure adamantine body armor is heavier than other armor, as described by adamantine armor. It also provides a +4 durability bonus and a -2 penalty to Dexterity-based skills.
Cold Iron: Cold iron armor grants you a +1 bonus to your defenses against magical ✨ abilities. However, it provides -1 Armor defense and -1 durability (minimum 0).
Cold Iron, Pure: Pure cold iron armor grants you a +2 bonus to your defenses against magical ✨ abilities. However, it provides -1 Armor defense and -2 durability (minimum 0).
Diamondsteel: Diamondsteel body armor grants you a +2 bonus to your defenses when determining whether an attack gets a critical hit against you instead of a normal hit.
Diamondsteel, Pure: Pure diamondsteel body armor grants you a +4 bonus to your defenses when determining whether an attack gets a critical hit against you instead of a normal hit.
Dragonhide: Each dragonhide body armor is made from the hide of a particular type of dragon. It also provides a +1 durability bonus and makes you impervious (+4 defenses) to attacks with that dragon’s ability tag (see Table 12.2: Dragon Types).
Dragonhide, Ancient: Each ancient dragonhide body armor is made from the hide of a particular type of dragon. It also provides a +1 durability bonus and makes you immune to attacks with that dragon’s ability tag (see Table 12.2: Dragon Types).
Dragonscale: Each dragonscale body armor is made from the scales of a particular type of dragon. It also provides a +1 durability bonus and makes you impervious (+4 defenses) to attacks with that dragon’s ability tag (see Table 12.2: Dragon Types). Dragonscale is not considered to be metal, which may affect abilities like the heat metal spell.
Dragonscale, Ancient: Each ancient dragonscale body armor is made from the scales of a particular type of dragon. It also provides a +1 durability bonus and makes you immune to attacks with that dragon’s ability tag (see Table 12.2: Dragon Types). Dragonscale is not considered to be metal, which may affect abilities like the heat metal spell.
Shadeweave: Shadeweave body armor is exceptionally stealthy. It provides a +1 bonus to Dexterity-based skills, but reduces the durability from the armor by 1 (minimum 0). In addition, you gain a +3 enhancement bonus to the Stealth skill while wearing it.
Shadeweave, Umbral: Umbral shadeweave body armor is exceptionally stealthy. It provides a +1 bonus to Dexterity-based skills, but reduces the durability from the armor by 1 (minimum 0). In addition, you gain a +5 enhancement bonus to the Stealth skill while wearing it.
Starmetal: Starmetal body armor is heavier than other armor, as described by adamantine armor. In addition, it provides a +1 durability bonus and a -2 penalty to your Dexterity-based skills.
Starmetal, Pure: Pure starmetal body armor is heavier than other armor, as described by adamantine armor. In addition, it provides a +2 durability bonus and a -2 penalty to your Dexterity-based skills.
Vineweave: Vineweave body armor provides a +1 durability bonus. However, it makes you vulnerable (-4 defenses) to Fire attacks.
Vineweave, Braided: Braided vineweave body armor provides a +2 durability bonus. However, it makes you vulnerable (-4 defenses) to Fire attacks.