Armor as Damage Reduction
Why change armor?
Crafting DC Increase: +5 Armor made from this durable material are harder to pierce than normal armor, and must be made mostly of metal. They gain the following abilities, depending on the armor's weight:
Crafting DC Increase: +3 Armor made from this material are lighter than their steel counterparts. The exact benefits depend on the type of armor. Unlike most other metals, mithril can be drawn into threads, allowing even cloth armor to be made from mithril.
Crafting DC Increase: +2 Armor plated in Solarium glows with a warm light. This light counts as sunlight, and is bright in a 5ft radius. Undead dislike the light. Unfortunately, it must be repaired frequently as Solarium is a very soft metal, prone to being damaged.
Crafting DC Increase: +7 Armor made of Delirium is tough but heavy. It weighs twice as much as normal and counts as one weight category higher than normal (wearing heavy Delirium armor treats Dexterity as -4 unless your Strength is at least 20). Creatures within 5ft of the wearer (including the wearer) are subjected to all of the effects of Delirium, including Delirium Sickness and spontaneous mutations.
In real life, armor does not prevent you from being hit. Instead, armor is designed to make hits against you less effective. Wounding someone in armor is not so much a matter of breaking through the armor or slashing at the chinks in the armor. Armor increases the wearer's durability, which means that the wounds you leave are going to be less severe than if they were not wearing armor. Damage reduction reflects this functionality much more accurately than an increase in AC.
Another benefit of armor as damage reduction is the separation the protection of armor from the protection of agility. It allows the particularly tough but slow monsters to be easier to hit but hard to damage, while smaller, more agile monsters (or adventurers) are much harder to hit, but easier to damage. This adds a nice level of depth to combat and strategy to combat for more strategically or historically inclined players.
Another benefit of armor as damage reduction is the separation the protection of armor from the protection of agility. It allows the particularly tough but slow monsters to be easier to hit but hard to damage, while smaller, more agile monsters (or adventurers) are much harder to hit, but easier to damage. This adds a nice level of depth to combat and strategy to combat for more strategically or historically inclined players.
How to Calculate AC
If you are wearing armor that does not cap your AC (most light armors), then very little will change. However, the heavier the armor, the more of a change you will notice.A Note
But what about shields? The heavier the armor you wear, the less you are able to dodge attacks, but the more damage you are able to resist. Additionally, adding the proficiency bonus to AC represents your ability to block, deflect, or parry attacks with the weapon you are wielding. Note that some attacks cannot be parried by weapons. Finally, note that armor's damage reduction does not help against things that ignore armor. For example, an attack from a ghost or a fall from a great height bypass most armor, dealing damage directly. To add your proficiency bonus to your AC, you must be wielding a melee weapon with which you are proficient. Natural ArmorMonsters with Natural Armor treat AC differently. They instead have two different ACs as listed below.
- True AC: 10 + Dex + Str or Con; deal regular damage.
- Glancing AC: 10 + Dex; damage is halved.
- True AC: 10 + Dex + Str + Con; deal regular damage.
- Armored AC: 10 + Dex + Str or Con; damage is halved.
- Glancing AC: 10 + Dex; damage is minimized.
Types of Armor
Note that the armors listed below are for torso armor. Helmets, gauntlets, greaves, and other armor addons are covered in Armor Addons below. Each type of armor calculates AC differently.Light Armor
Light armor AC is: 10 + Dex + Proficiency Die Average (if wielding a melee weapon you are proficient with).Medium Armor
Medium armor is calculated the same way as light armor, with a maximum Dex bonus of +2. Medium armor AC is: 10 + Dex (max +2) + Proficiency Die Average (if wielding a melee weapon you are proficient with).Heavy Armor
Heavy armor does not grant Dex bonus to AC. Heavy armor AC is: 10 + Proficiency Die Average (if wielding a melee weapon you are proficient with).Damage Reduction Values
NOTE: many of the heavier armors include a layer of lighter armor (such as a hauberk or gambeson) worn underneath| Armor | Damage Reduction | AC Formula | Disadvantage On | Typical Cost |
| Clothes | 1d2 | 10 + Dex + Prof | 1gp | |
| Thick Clothes | 2d4 | 10 + Dex + Prof | 2gp | |
| Hauberk | 3d4 | 10 + Dex + Prof | Stealth | 80gp |
| Gambeson | 1d10 | 10 + Dex + Prof | 8gp | |
| Medium | ||||
| Brigandine (studded) | 2d8 | 10 + Dex (max 2) + Prof | Swimming | 130gp |
| Cuirass (breastplate) | 4d4 | 10 + Dex (max 2) + Prof | Swimming | 200gp |
| Scale Mail | 3d6 | 10 + Dex (max 2) + Prof | Stealth, Swimming | 400gp |
| Chain Mail | 2d10 | 10 + Dex (max 2) + Prof | Stealth, Swimming | 300gp |
| Heavy | ||||
| Lamellar | 2d12 | 10 + Prof | Stealth, Acrobatics, Cannot Swim | 800gp |
| Plate and Chain (half-plate) | 4d6 | 10 + Prof | Stealth, Acrobatics, Cannot Swim | 1,200gp |
| Plate | 4d8 | 10 + Prof | Stealth, Acrobatics, Cannot Swim | 2,000gp |
Armor Addons
The bonuses from these extra pieces of armor stack, the penalties do not.Special Materials
Also see Special Crafting Materials.Adamantine
Cost Increase: 100 Suns per pound to make it from adamantine directly or +3 Tiers.Crafting DC Increase: +5 Armor made from this durable material are harder to pierce than normal armor, and must be made mostly of metal. They gain the following abilities, depending on the armor's weight:
- Extreme Durability: this armor reduces the Armor Piercing value of non-adamantine weapons by 2.
- Blessed by Brumil and Makil: armor made from adamantine is blessed by the judge gods to keep them safe. The exact blessing depends on the type of armor as listed below.
- Light Armor: this armor helps protect you from glancing blows, attacks that tie your AC deal half damage.
- Medium Armor: this armor enhances your enemies' bad luck, enemies attacking you treat natural 2s the same as natural 1s.
- Heavy Armor: the armor shifts to block particularly bad blows, doubling its percent chance to ignore a crit.
Mithril
Cost Increase: 80 Suns per pound of the item being made or +3 Tiers.Crafting DC Increase: +3 Armor made from this material are lighter than their steel counterparts. The exact benefits depend on the type of armor. Unlike most other metals, mithril can be drawn into threads, allowing even cloth armor to be made from mithril.
- Light Armor: this armor is particularly tough for its weight, granting you an additional 1d8 armor die.
- Medium Armor: this armor is less cumbersome than its steel counterpart, allowing you to increase Dexterity cap by 2.
- Heavy Armor: this armor is far lighter than its steel counterparts, allowing you to add up to half your Dexterity bonus to your AC.
Solarium Plating
Cost Increase: 50 Suns per pound of the item being made or +2 Tiers.Crafting DC Increase: +2 Armor plated in Solarium glows with a warm light. This light counts as sunlight, and is bright in a 5ft radius. Undead dislike the light. Unfortunately, it must be repaired frequently as Solarium is a very soft metal, prone to being damaged.
Delirium
Cost Increase: 200 Suns per pound of the item being made or +3 Tiers.Crafting DC Increase: +7 Armor made of Delirium is tough but heavy. It weighs twice as much as normal and counts as one weight category higher than normal (wearing heavy Delirium armor treats Dexterity as -4 unless your Strength is at least 20). Creatures within 5ft of the wearer (including the wearer) are subjected to all of the effects of Delirium, including Delirium Sickness and spontaneous mutations.
