One size doesn't fit all.[IDEA]

[AtlasSniperman]

I know this might seem like a lot of hassle for a lot of people, but as a bit of immersion help for my campaigns, I have armour not be a one size-fits-all system. The way to track it can be a little bit of a pain, but I'm sharing here in case anyone else cares or has a better system:


To wear a piece of armour you have stolen or looted, you need to meet some conditions; You have to be the same race as whom it was made for(subraces might not be important depending on the shape difference between subraces), have a STR within 2 points of who it was made for, and have height and weight within 30% of who it was made for.
E.g. An human cannot wear armour made for an elf. An elf could wear armour for another elf as long as they are of compatible body builds(Str, Height, Weight)

Masterwork armour cannot be worn unless you are a match on all points(Race, Str, Height, and Weight are all exactly the same), unless it is magical armour, in which case it will size to match anyone of the race it was made for.


When carrying armour you can't use, the following is the easiest way to note what it will fit:
Races MM book number,'.',races MM page number,alphanumeric of strength,alphanumeric of height dieroll, alphanumeric of weight dieroll.

Yes I know that looks confusing, have an example:
A suit of Full plate made for a 5'1", 125lb Elf with 16 strength would have the value: 1.101HEP (MM1, Page 101, +8 height roll, x5 weight roll, 16 strength). It cannot be worn by a human paladin, but his Elven fighter friend(5'5", 157lb, 15 Str) can just squeeze into it, though it is getting a little tight in some places.

Any feedback is appreciated, I know it looks stupidly complex, sorry about that.

[Lacco]

I know this might seem like a lot of hassle for a lot of people, but as a bit of immersion help for my campaigns, I have armour not be a one size-fits-all system. The way to track it can be a little bit of a pain, but I'm sharing here in case anyone else cares or has a better system:


To wear a piece of armour you have stolen or looted, you need to meet some conditions; You have to be the same race as whom it was made for(subraces might not be important depending on the shape difference between subraces), have a STR within 2 points of who it was made for, and have height and weight within 30% of who it was made for.
E.g. An human cannot wear armour made for an elf. An elf could wear armour for another elf as long as they are of compatible body builds(Str, Height, Weight)

Masterwork armour cannot be worn unless you are a match on all points(Race, Str, Height, and Weight are all exactly the same), unless it is magical armour, in which case it will size to match anyone of the race it was made for.


When carrying armour you can't use, the following is the easiest way to note what it will fit:
Races MM book number,'.',races MM page number,alphanumeric of strength,alphanumeric of height dieroll, alphanumeric of weight dieroll.

Yes I know that looks confusing, have an example:
A suit of Full plate made for a 5'1", 125lb Elf with 16 strength would have the value: 1.101HEP (MM1, Page 101, +8 height roll, x5 weight roll, 16 strength). It cannot be worn by a human paladin, but his Elven fighter friend(5'5", 157lb, 15 Str) can just squeeze into it, though it is getting a little tight in some places.

Any feedback is appreciated, I know it looks stupidly complex, sorry about that.

I agree with the idea - the two things that break my immersion are one-size-fits-all items (even swords) and "equipment drops" (once we found few gold pieces after killing a wolf... and everyone was surprised my rogue didn't want them - but I imagined there was only one way the wolf could have stored those...).

But to your idea: I can't discuss the notation (don't really understand it), but few pointers/ideas...
- In my games, I use modern clothes notation (...XS,S,M,L,XL...) - these work fine for humans. If a human (XL) wants to wear an elven chainmail (L), it doesn't fit. Taking into account also the figure (e.g. slim vs. average vs. rounded) helps. I don't usually consider the attributes of characters directly, and most of my characters have no specified height/weight. However, I have an idea about their shape - and if the shape fits, it's fine. It works for races too - if the human fencer is thin and tall, she'll most likely fit into average elven chainmail. However, the burly paladin won't... and the paladin wearing dwarven armour without modifications would be a funny sight.
- As for masterwork armour, I that it can be worn if you match the size, but it won't provide full bonuses until you make some modifications (it should be tailored). The same goes however for some weapons - if the weapon has been modified to fit the 6'4 paladin, the 5'2 fencer will have some trouble with handling and will not receive full bonuses (e.g. a dwarf using human-sized double axe modified for the paladin above? visit local blacksmith or get penaltieeeees).

So basically - if it fits the general shape (and is non-masterwork), it's ok. If it's too large, you don't get full bonus and even may incur some penalties. If it's too small, sorry, can't wear it.
If it's masterwork, it should be modified for your figure/shape/fitness or you don't get full bonuses.

Sorry for the non-mechanical input. Hope

[AtlasSniperman]

That makes sense. I only use this system because I pay a bit more attention to ergonomics than most games. But yea, human clothes sizes would work well!
Thanks for at least the agreements on principle(different sizes, masterwork armour being tailored)

[Lacco]

That makes sense. I only use this system because I pay a bit more attention to ergonomics than most games. But yea, human clothes sizes would work well!
Thanks for at least the agreements on principle(different sizes, masterwork armour being tailored)

You are welcome - and the fact is, I don't pay much attention to this due to the fact my players usually don't loot bodies of their armour... except as souvenirs.

There are also two other things you maybe want to consider (one directly ties to the concept, second not).

1. For the player it's not about IF he can wear the clothes/armour, but WHEN/what must he do to wear it.
I mean, if he finds out that the cool winged helmet or beautiful dwarven axe is too large/small/anything, he will either immediately sell it, or - get it fixed. So I would maybe introduce also following rules;
- if the size difference is small (e.g. XL-L), it can be temporarily or permanently fixed with a tailor/blacksmith/armorer skill and some tools right on the spot (depends on what needs to be done),
- if the size difference is large, they will need to get some additional material (e.g. dwarven steel) and skillful craftsman to fix it.
- if the size difference is very large (e.g. halfling helmet for half-ogre), there is nothing they can do (...ok, they can wear it as finger-guard).

2. Looting armour isn't so easy. At first - since you just killed the guy, there can be some holes in it, banged/bent plates, scorch-marks or melt parts...and even if it's completely fine, the guy just bled all over it (and worse...)!
My players stopped looting bodies out of their armour when they found out that there were all these things. Oh, they do it sometimes, but don't use it without some washing, cleaning and a quick stop at local blacksmith to repair it.

[Nobot]

Nice idea! I completely agree with lacco36's comments above, which would simplify the mechanic.

I also used to work with a size system and had some rules about adjusting an armor to a size. I think the DC for the check was 10+armor bonus (or something like that) at a 10th of the armor's original cost. Anyway, that might be something you'd want to consider for some types of easily adjustable armors, so as not to render all found non-magical armor useless.

[sengmeng]

I don't remember the old rule off the top of my head, but it was NOT one size fits all for non-magical armor. I believe it was same race, and some armors had a resizing cost, especially the better ones. I think it's just a rule that no one likes to use.

[MoleMage]

I think vanilla 3.5 also requires that non-magical fullplate be fitted exactly to the person using it or the armor check penalty is increased.

[JNAProductions]

Since magic stuff bypasses it, it seems kinda pointless. In 3E or 4E D&D, you'll be swimming in magic items by level 5, long before it's an issue, and in 5E, what else do you have to spend money on than resizing gear?

[Lacco]

Since magic stuff bypasses it, it seems kinda pointless. In 3E or 4E D&D, you'll be swimming in magic items by level 5, long before it's an issue, and in 5E, what else do you have to spend money on than resizing gear?

Maybe a new magic power could be introduced for armours. One, that would say that it is one-size-fit-all. The armours that don't have it can only shrink/enlarge by a small amount (e.g. around the same size) and even that could be magic-based thing (e.g. your mage has to "reprogram" it to be your size, takes around 2-4 hours and only small cantrip?).