9.5 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.

9.5.1 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 encumbrance as a penalty to your accuracy. Since standard shields and padded body armor have no encumbrance, you can use them without penalizing your attacks.

Getting Into And Out Of Armor

The time required to don armor depends on its type; see Table 9.9: Donning Armor. Donning and removing body armor and shields takes both 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.

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. In general, heavy body armor weighs so much that only creatures with a Strength of at least 1 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.

9.5.2 Armor Table

Here is the format for armor entries (given as column headings on Table 9.10: Armor and Shields, below).

Defense: This value indicates how much the armor increases your Armor defense.

Damage Resistance: This value indicates how much the armor increases your damage resistance (see Damage Resistance).

Vital Rolls: This value indicates how much the armor increases your vital rolls (see Vital Rolls).

Encumbrance: This value indicates how much the armor increases your encumbrance. You apply your encumbrance as a penalty to all Strength and Dexterity-based checks and skills. For details, see Encumbrance.

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.

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.

9.5.3 Individual Armor Descriptions

Any special benefits or accessories to the types of armor found on Table 9.10: 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 the buckler’s defensive bonus during that phase.

You can’t bash someone 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 take the total defense action while wielding a tower shield, you gain a +2 bonus to Armor defense in addition to the normal bonuses from taking that action (see Total Defense). 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.

9.5.4 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 9.11: 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, and cannot 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 9.11: 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.

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 1 to wear, and heavy adamantine requires a minimum Strength of 4. In addition, it provides x6 damage resistance and increases your encumbrance by 2.

Adamantine, Pure: Pure adamantine body armor is heavier than other armor, as described by adamantine armor. In addition, it provides x12 damage resistance and increases your encumbrance by 2.

Cold Iron: Cold iron armor grants you a +1 bonus to your defenses against magical ✨ abilities. However, its Armor defense bonus is reduced by 1.

Cold Iron, Pure: Pure cold iron armor grants you a +2 bonus to your defenses against magical ✨ abilities, and provides x2 damage resistance. However, its Armor defense bonus is reduced by 1.

Diamondsteel: Diamondsteel body armor grants you a +2 bonus to your defenses when determining whether a strike gets a critical hit against you instead of a normal hit. In addition, it provides x2 damage resistance.

Diamondsteel, Pure: Pure diamondsteel body armor grants you a +2 bonus to your defenses when determining whether any attack gets a critical hit against you instead of a normal hit. In addition, it provides x4 damage resistance.

Dragonhide: Each dragonhide body armor is made from the hide of a particular type of dragon. You are impervious to attacks with that dragon’s ability tag (see Table C.2: Dragon Types). In addition, it provides x3 damage resistance.

Dragonhide, Ancient: Each ancient dragonhide body armor is made from the hide of a particular type of dragon. You are immune to attacks with that dragon’s ability tag (see Table C.2: Dragon Types). In addition, it provides x6 damage resistance.

Dragonscale: Each dragonscale body armor is made from the scales of a particular type of dragon. You are impervious to attacks with that dragon’s ability tag (see Table C.2: Dragon Types). In addition, it provides x3 damage resistance and 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. You are immune to attacks with that dragon’s ability tag (see Table C.2: Dragon Types). In addition, it provides x6 damage resistance and is not considered to be metal, which may affect abilities like the heat metal spell.

Starmetal: Starmetal body armor is heavier than other armor, as described by adamantine armor. In addition, it provides x2 damage resistance and increases your encumbrance by 2.

Starmetal, Pure: Pure starmetal body armor is heavier than other armor, as described by adamantine armor. In addition, it provides x4 damage resistance and increases your encumbrance by 2.