Armour Piece
An adventurer’s armour rarely comes in nicely matched sets, purchased straight from the armourer. Warriors are often forced to make do with tattered, hand-me-down sets cobbled together from various pieces, or else taken from the dead and defeated on the field of battle. Perhaps your character is a castaway forced to scavenge for what bits of armour they can find, or must scrounge through junk heaps and burned-out storefronts to acquire their equipment.
All armour is constructed of pieces and parts that are carefully (or hastily) donned each time the armour is used. While a full suit of armour is always more protective than wearing pieces of armour, sometimes a character does not have time to don an entire suit of armour before jumping into the fray. Other times characters may not have access to an entire suit of armour; in dire situations, they may need to find pieces or parts of armour among lower-level treasure hoards, or they have to scavenge from the bodies of fallen foes in order to protect themselves. All of the armours presented here are separated into seven different and distinct sections or pieces: arms, cloak, head, legs, shield, torso and underlay. You may wear one of each type of armour piece.
Armour Pieces and Armour Suits
A suit of armour is split up into four general types of armour pieces; arms, legs, torso and underlay. An armour piece is a small group of armour parts, rather than simply being any discrete part of the armour. A single armour piece is comprised of the armour parts needed to protect the corresponding area. A single arm or leg armour piece provides armour for both arms or both legs, respectively. A plate arm armour piece typically consists of pairs of pauldrons, gardbraces, rerebraces, vambraces and gauntlets along with bits of chainmail, while a splint arm armour piece consists of two splint sleeves, gauntlets and perhaps pairs of pauldrons and couters. Both protect the arms, though they have a different number of specific parts and types of overall components.
The protective qualities of each individual piece of armour are listed in the tables below. If a character has only one armour piece, then they use the statistics of that piece as their armour. If a character is wearing more than one armour piece, they add the armour costs, benefits and weights of the armour pieces and take the worst maximum Dexterity bonus to Dexterity defence from among the various armour pieces to determine the full statistics and qualities of the armour that they are wearing.
As long as a character is wearing a single armour piece, they are considered to be wearing armour for any effects that rely on wearing armour (such as the barbarian class’s natural resilience, or the monk class’s unarmoured defence).
If a character is wearing arm, leg, torso and underlay armour pieces, then they are wearing a suit of armour. Suits of armour can have all armour pieces of the same type (all plate pieces make a suit of full plate), or a mixture of armour pieces (a plate arm armour piece and torso armour piece combined with a chainmail leg armour piece creates a suit of half-plate).
See the Half-Plate Suit Pieces table for an example of wearing a breastplate with a plate arm armour piece and a chain leg armour piece. The top line lists the cost, bonuses, penalties and so on for the half-plate suit as a whole. The lines below list the statistics for the component pieces, as well as the benefits that result from the pieces constituting a suit.
Half-Plate Suit Pieces
| Armour | Piece | DR | Max Dex | Strength | Properties | Weight | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half-Plate | Suit | 8 | +1 | 15 | Bulky, coverage 1-2 8-16, hard, noisy, soak  | 53 lb. | 605 gp |
| Plate | Arm | +2 | +1 | 15 | Bulky, coverage 2, hard, noisy | 15 lb. | 375 gp |
| Breastplate | Torso | +5 | +1 | 15 | Coverage 8-16, hard, shirt | 20 lb. | 200 gp |
| Chain | Leg | +1 | +2 | 13 | Bulky, coverage 1, noisy | 10 lb. | 25 gp |
| Padded | Underlay | +8 | 7 | Clothing, soak | 8 lb. | 5 gp |
Armour Pieces and Proficiency
If a character is proficient with an armour category, then they are also proficient with the armour pieces of that category. For example, if a character is proficient with light armour, then they are proficient with all light armour pieces. Some torso armour pieces (such as chain and plate torso armour pieces) are a category lighter if worn without limb pieces (treat as a chain shirt and breastplate, respectively).
When a character is wearing at least one armour piece of a type with which they are not proficient, they suffer disadvantage on all attack rolls and ability checks that involve moving.
Underlay
An underlay is in direct contact with the body and is usually thick, protective clothing. Medium and heavy armour is uncomfortable when worn without an underlay and requires one to avoid chafing.
Leather Underlay Armour Piece
Leather armour is made up of multiple overlapping pieces of leather, boiled to increase their natural toughness and then stitched together.
Padded Underlay Armour Piece
More than simple clothing, padded armour combines heavy, quilted cloth and layers of densely packed stuffing to create a cheap and basic protection.
Silk Underlay Armour Piece
Used for ceremonial displays, these robes consist of several layers of cloth and an outer layer of silk intricately woven with gold brocade designs and covered with metal studs.
Arms
Brigandine Arm Armour Piece
These pauldrons and bracers are constructed of hard-boiled leather carefully sewn together and reinforced with riveted metal segments.
Chain Arm Armour Piece
This arm armour piece typically takes the form of separate lengths of chain attached to pauldrons and couters, and ending in a pair of gauntlets at the hands.
Hide Arm Armour Piece
This arm armour piece consists of pauldrons and bracers crafted from the tanned and preserved skin of a thick-skinned beast.
Plate Arm Armour Piece
A plate arm is composed of pauldrons, gardbraces, rerebraces, vambraces and gauntlets, along with bits of chainmail and padded armour.
Scale Arm Armour Piece
These sleeves are made up of dozens of small overlapping metal plates. A scale arm armour piece includes a pair of gauntlets.
Splint Arm Armour Piece
These sleeves are constructed of metal strips reinforced with chain mail. A splint arm armour piece includes a pair of gauntlets.
Torso
Brigandine Torso Armour Piece
This shirt or jacket is constructed of hard-boiled leather carefully sewn together and reinforced with riveted metal segments.
Chain Torso Armour Piece
This armour piece is a shirt of chain mail. When worn without limb pieces, it is counted as light armour and acts as a chain shirt.
Hide Torso Armour Piece
This armour piece is a shirt, wrap, or jacket constructed of the tanned and preserved skin of a thick-skinned beast.
Plate Torso Armour Piece
This is a breastplate made of steel. When worn without limb pieces, it counts medium armour and acts as a breastplate.
Scale Torso Armour Piece
This shirt or cuirass is made up of dozens of small overlapping metal plates.
Splint Torso Armour Piece
This shirt or cuirass is constructed of metal strips reinforced with chain mail.
Legs
Brigandine Leg Armour Piece
These tassets are constructed of hard-boiled leather, carefully sewn together and reinforced with riveted metal segments.
Chain Leg Armour Piece
A chain leg piece takes the form of a long skirt made of chainmail that is further protected by steel greaves, or individual leggings of tighter-fitting chain reinforced by padding, steel kneeplates, and leather straps.
Hide Leg Armour Piece
This armour piece consists of leggings or a skirt made of the tanned and preserved skin of a thick-skinned beast.
Plate Leg Armour Piece
A plate leg armour piece is composed of faulds, tassets, cuisses, poleyns and greaves along with bits of chainmail and padded armour for extra support and protection.
Scale Leg Armour Piece
Typically a scale leg piece is a skirt of overlapping metal plates and leather greaves reinforced with steel plates. Some suits feature long leggings of overlapping metal plates instead.
Splint Leg Armour Piece
These thigh guards and leggings are constructed of metal strips and chainmail.
Cloak
Cloak armour pieces provide an external layer of protection.
Head
Head armour pieces are intended to protect your exposed head and provide coverage that helps to protect the wearer from suffering injuries.
Shield
A shield is made from wood and/or metal and is carried in one hand. Wielding a shield grants a shield bonus to Strength and Dexterity defence vs melee and ranged attacks.
Additionally, shields can be raised. A raised shield takes the damage that melee and ranged attacks would deal to you (see Breaking an Object.