Advanced Armour
Magic Armour
Any individual armour piece can be magically enchanted. In this manner, each armour piece is treated as its own type of armour, but most armourers and magic item crafters know that this is an inefficient way of making and enchanting armour. The most efficient way to enchant armour is to enchant an entire suit. In order to do this, the suit’s pieces need not all be of the same type, but they must be enchanted together. The drawback is that none of the individual pieces are considered magical on their own (although they do detect as magic and can be identified as part of an armour suit). When used as piecemeal armour, they function like normal pieces of non-magical armour of their type. If a character is wearing pieces of separately enchanted armour, the armour only takes the magic of the most protective piece (typically the torso armour piece). If a character does not wear a torso armour piece, the most protective piece is the leg armour piece, followed by the arm armour piece.
For instance, if a character does not wear a torso or leg armour piece, but wears a +1 chain arm armour piece, they gain the benefit of wearing magic armour (the piece has a +1 enhancement bonus due to the enchantment). If that character then puts on a normal chain torso armour piece, they lose the +1 bonus due to magic, as the most protective armour piece no longer has either of these qualities.
Special Materials
In order for the armour to gain the benefits of adamantine or dragonhide, the torso piece must be made of that material.
In the case of chain shirts, breastplates and any other armour pieces that are treated as a category lighter when worn alone, to determine the cost of creating that piece of armour from a special material, use the base armour category (medium in the case of a chain torso armour piece, and heavy in the case of a plate torso armour piece) when pricing the item.
Dragonhide
If the dragonhide used to construct this armour comes from a dragon that had immunity to an energy type, the armour pieces also have resistance to that energy type. A piece of dragonhide armour costs double the armour piece cost + 100 gp. Alternatively, a plate torso armour piece can be constructed from dragonhide for 700 gp.
Adamantine
Adamantine is an ultra-hard metal found in extraordinary mineral veins. Items without metal parts cannot be made from adamantine. Armour pieces normally made of steel that are made out of adamantine have one-third more hit points than normal. Adamantine has 40 hit points per inch of thickness and DR 20 (see substance DR and integrity).
While wearing a suit of adamantine armour, any critical hit against you becomes a normal hit.
| Type of Adamantine Item | Item Cost Modifier |
|---|---|
| Light arm armour piece | 1,250 gp |
| Light torso armour piece | 2,500 gp |
| Light leg armour piece | 1,250 gp |
| Medium arm armour piece | 2,500 gp |
| Medium torso armour piece | 5,000 gp |
| Medium leg armour piece | 2,500 gp |
| Heavy arm armour piece | 2,500 gp |
| Heavy torso armour piece | 10,000 gp |
| Heavy leg armour piece | 2,500 gp |
| Shield | 3,000 gp |
Mithril
Mithril is a very rare silvery, glistening metal that is lighter than steel but just as hard. When worked like steel, it becomes a wonderful material from which to create armour.
- Mithril armour is one category lighter than normal for purposes of limitations such as barbarian rage. Heavy armour is treated as medium and medium armour is treated as light. This decrease does not apply to proficiency in wearing the armour. A character wearing mithril full plate must be proficient in wearing heavy armour to avoid disadvantage on all attack rolls and skill checks that involve moving.
- Maximum Dexterity bonuses are increased by 2.
- Strength requirements are reduced by 2.
- The bulky and noisy properties are removed.
- The armour weighs half as much.
| Type of Mithril Item | Item Cost Modifier |
|---|---|
| Light arm armour piece | 250 gp |
| Light torso armour piece | 500 gp |
| Light leg armour piece | 250 gp |
| Medium arm armour piece | 1,500 gp |
| Medium torso armour piece | 1,000 gp |
| Medium leg armour piece | 1,500 gp |
| Heavy arm armour piece | 2,500 gp |
| Heavy torso armour piece | 4,000 gp |
| Heavy leg armour piece | 2,500 gp |
| Shield | 1,000 gp |