Sindri
2022-02-01, 04:14 AM
Why I think there's a problem:
The RaW armor table in 5e makes no sense. At all. I have major problems with more than half the armor types listed. And since there's nothing like a coherent logic behind the design, there's no way to remember the different kinds of armor without either just memorizing the whole thing by rote, or continually looking things up in the book and holding up game time.
-Padded armor applies disadvantage to stealth. Why? How? The only answer I can come up with is they needed some way to make it worse than leather, but were unwilling to give leather a second point of AC, because...
-They insist on including "studded leather". I know it's tradition at this point, but seriously, this entry on the table just shouldn't exist. Because studded leather just doesn't exist. It never did. Think about it rationally, how would adding a few dozen rivets to a suit of leather make it stop swords and arrows any better? Are you relying on the one-in-a-thousand chance of the sword striking exactly on the head of the stud, and then for some reason bouncing off instead of sliding off the side and continuing to cut through the leather? I'm pretty sure the whole 'studded leather' meme started with some writer looking at a suit of brigandine, not having any idea that there were big solid metal plates inside there, and assuming that the rivets themselves somehow projected a magical protection field. It's time to put that idea to rest.
-Scale Mail. The game mechanics say that it is strictly worse than all your alternatives, regardless of circumstances, so why would anybody ever wear this? And if nobody would ever wear it, why is it taking up space in the book?
-Half Plate. Also known historically as 'plated maile', 'plate and maile' or the common modern term of 'platemail'. Consists of solid plates of steel over the parts that don't need to bend, and chain over the parts that do need to bend. Essentially, a heavier but more protective version of chainmail. So why in the name of all the gods is half plate classified as "medium" while chain is classified as "heavy"?
-Ring mail. This is studded leather all over again, but somehow worse. Yeah, just make the studs bigger and heavier, that will totally prevent somebody from just stabbing you through the multi-inch gaps between them where you're just wearing leather! Never existed in the real world, doesn't make any kind of logical sense, and as an added bonus the game mechanics make it completely worthless because anybody who can wear it will have better as part of their starting equipment. Why is this taking up space in the book?
-Chain mail. See half plate.
-there's just a lot of wasted spaces. Nobody would wear Leather if they had 45gp to their name, because Studded is mechanically strictly superior. Nobody would wear a chain shirt instead of a breastplate, or scale instead of half plate. There's a clear "right answer" in each of the three categories, and no reason to ever choose differently, so why are there all these wrong answers presented to you?
So, while I initially tried to just run 5e by the book, I couldn't stand this. And since it would be more work to try to fix what's already there than to just make up something new, I'm ripping out the whole table and making up my own.
Main goals of this project, in order of priority:
1) Every entry on the table needs to serve a purpose. If there isn't some circumstance in which this is the best choice then nobody would be wearing it, which means nobody would be making it, which means we shouldn't waste any time and energy writing or talking about it.
2) The whole table should make sense, logically and where possible historically, so we can save our suspension of disbelief for things that make the game more fun.
3) The whole table should be easy to remember, so you never need to hold up the game by looking things up.
lower priorities include:
4) Within each category, there should be some opportunity for PCs to improve their gear as they advance and get access to better resources
5) Within each category it should be possible to achieve AC 18, but no higher, and it should always be difficult to do so
6) The most iconic armors depicted in fantasy books and art (leather, chain/scale, full plate) should be the ones most Heroes are wearing at high levels once they can afford whatever they want.
After some consideration, I gave up on trying to describe every single possible style of armor, and instead separated each kind into three 'tiers' of increasing protection and increasing weight/drawbacks. Within those tiers I'll list common examples, but allow for variation based on the character's personal style, the culture/technology of the region, etc. For example, chain and scale will be mechanically identical, and therefore only use one slot on the table, but you can choose whichever you think is cooler. This also means that any time a new or exotic form of armor is introduced, it can generally be slotted smoothly into one of the existing categories rather than needed an entire set of homebrewed stats.
tier
AC
cost
weight
special
Light
1
11
5gp
5lb
2
12
20gp
10lb
3
13
100gp
20lb
Disadvantage on Stealth
Medium
1
13
10gp
25lb
2
14
100gp
25lb
3
15
300gp
30lb
Disadvantage on Stealth
Heavy
1
16
300gp
40lb
Str 13+
2
17
1,000gp
50lb
Str 15+
3
18
2,500gp
60lb
Str 15+
Light Armor: always allows the use of your full dex bonus, does not impose a penalty for sleeping in armor, takes one minute to don or doff.
Tier 1: typically represents Padded armor, a quilted gambeson, exceptionally heavy clothing, un-hardened leather, "thieves' clothes", etc. This will never be your first choice in open warfare unless you have to equip a large force for very cheap, but it has two major points in its favor: first, this is the heaviest (mundane) protection that you can wear without making it obvious that you're wearing armor, so if you're in disguise as an ordinary civilian or trying to look harmless during a diplomatic mission or whatever, this is your best option. Second, every suit of Medium or Heavy armor comes with a free layer of padding underneath, which means you have something that you can sleep in, or put on when you don't have time to don your real armor, that's significantly better than nothing.
Tier 2: most likely, this is your classic Leather Armor, hard plates of boiled leather arranged in such a way that they'll turn or at least slow a significant fraction of potentially deadly blows, but it could also represent clothes made from spider silk or woven through with wires or some other exotic material. This is usually the armor of choice for roguish types, because anything that gives more protection will either slow you down or make too much noise.
Tier 3: the Chain Shirt, or something similar. Light enough, and leaving the limbs unencumbered enough, to allow the wearer full mobility (as long as they can carry the weight) while keeping your vitals safer than anything softer would, but at the cost of making cheerful little jingling noises when you move. The best protection available for a high dex combatant who fights openly rather than relying on subterfuge, but inappropriate to stealthy operations. Also allows you to achieve the maximum AC of 18, but only if you have a Dex of 20.
Medium Armor: Allows up to a +2 from Dexterity, or +3 if you spent a Feat on Mastery, but no more. Sleeping in armor does not remove exhaustion, and only recovers a quarter of spent hit dice.
Tier 1: mostly represents Hide Armor, the result of just piling enough dead animal parts on to stop a blow. It could also represent wooden armor, or the scales of some tough but not extraordinary monster. This doesn't protect you as well as metal would, but has two main advantages. First, Druids can use it without penalty, and it's the heaviest thing they can use. Second, if you're stranded in the wilderness with only what you can gather or hunt, you can make yourself a suit of Hide when you wouldn't be able to manufacture anything else except for tier 1 Light.
Tier 2: this covers things like Brigandine which grant reasonable protection to the whole body while remaining relatively flexible, as well as things like a Breastplate which grant excellent protection to the torso alone while leaving other body parts undefended. This will be the standard equipment for a lot of professional soldiers, hitting a sort of sweet spot between protection and expense if you need to equip a small army or mercenary band. For player characters and other elite forces, this is the heaviest that armor gets without impairing Stealth.
Tier 3: primarily Chain or maile, but also covers Scale, some of the lighter forms of Lamellar, etc. The best protection that you can get without losing your Dex bonus, and the best you can wear without slowing down if you don't have high Strength, making it the armor of choice for dedicated high ranking warriors and nobles who don't like the restrictions of Plate. It also allows you to reach the max AC of 18, but only if you spend a Feat on Mastery and you have 16+ Dex (but if you do spend that feat, you also remove the penalty to Stealth, so that's a very real option at higher levels).
Heavy Armor: All forms remove your entire Dex bonus (or penalty), all forms impose Disadvantage on Stealth, and if your strength is below the requirement listed (and you aren't a Dwarf) your movement rate is reduced by 10. Ten minutes to don, five minutes to doff, assuming you have somebody around to help you with the straps. Without assistance, times are doubled and your AC is reduced by 1.
Tier 1: Splint mail (chain with strips of reinforcement forming sort of incomplete vambraces and greaves and such), heavy lamellar, laminar, and other kinds of protection made from overlapping pieces of hard metal but with incomplete coverage, more gaps, or lighter plates than higher tiers. Sturdy enough most of the time, but often primitive or crudely made. Most people who wear this do so because it's the best that they can afford, or because their culture doesn't have the advanced level of technology required to make the higher tiers of heavy armor, but if your Str is a 13 or 14 and your Dex is nothing special, it might genuinely be the best option.
Tier 2: Half Plate, Plate and maile, Plated Maile, or Platemail. Anything that doesn't need to bend is made from solid, thick steel, while joints and gaps are protected by high quality chain. This is the best available in many cities in many worlds, and is the heaviest form of protection that can be worn without being precisely customized to the wearer. Generally you pick this if you've looted the best battlefields in the world but never had custom gear, or if you don't have the time, money, or connections to commission a smith to spend the better part of a year working to give you the best protection in the world.
Tier 3: Full Plate. The chain component becomes unnecessary, because even your joints are covered by finely crafted, precisely interlocking bits of articulated steel plate. Allows the wearer to move almost freely while exposing nothing to enemy attack, but only available to the wealthiest patrons and the most technologically advanced nations in most worlds. If you try to loot this rather than ordering it custom-made (or spending a lot of downtime on it yourself if you have the smithing proficiency), and it isn't enchanted to resize itself to fit the wearer, it will cost a minimum of 2d4x100gp (and a week per 50gp) for a skilled smith to modify it to fit you. Trying to wear full plate which is not precisely fitted to your body applies the same penalties as wearing armor with which you are not proficient (disadvantage to basically everything).
So, how does this all affect your starting equipment?
The class gear packs in the book all start you with either Leather, Studded, Scale, or Chain.
If the books says Leather, it means 'mid-range light armor', so you get Leather (or some other tier 2 light). Enjoy the +1 AC.
If the book says Studded, it means you're an artificer 'the best light armor that doesn't impose a penalty', so you get Leather (or some other tier 2 light). Enjoy 3lb less encumbrance and stop complaining that you don't have better gear than the rogue anymore.
If the book says Scale, it means 'medium armor with ac 14', so you get Brigantine, a Breastplate, or some other kind of tier 2 medium. Enjoy losing 20lb, not having penalties to stealth, and most importantly not wearing a kind of armor that only exists on starting characters and you would have had to throw in the scrap heap after your very first adventure.
If the book says Chain, it means 'the worst heavy armor that isn't ******* ringmail.' You get tier 1 heavy armor, of whatever style you prefer.
Now, this does mean that characters that start the game with medium or heavy armor are getting a significantly higher gp value of starting equipment than before. After thinking long and hard about the issue, I have decided to just roll with it. If you as the GM see this as an issue, just declare that your old lamellar is so rusty and dented that, while it still protects you well enough until and unless you have a chance to upgrade, you would never be able to sell the thing for more than a tenth the price of a new suit. If somebody wants to use random starting money rolls instead of the basic equipment bundle for their class you might need to throw them a bit extra, but the exact number of coins available at chargen is a tiny issue compared to the entire rest of the campaign.
Thoughts?
The RaW armor table in 5e makes no sense. At all. I have major problems with more than half the armor types listed. And since there's nothing like a coherent logic behind the design, there's no way to remember the different kinds of armor without either just memorizing the whole thing by rote, or continually looking things up in the book and holding up game time.
-Padded armor applies disadvantage to stealth. Why? How? The only answer I can come up with is they needed some way to make it worse than leather, but were unwilling to give leather a second point of AC, because...
-They insist on including "studded leather". I know it's tradition at this point, but seriously, this entry on the table just shouldn't exist. Because studded leather just doesn't exist. It never did. Think about it rationally, how would adding a few dozen rivets to a suit of leather make it stop swords and arrows any better? Are you relying on the one-in-a-thousand chance of the sword striking exactly on the head of the stud, and then for some reason bouncing off instead of sliding off the side and continuing to cut through the leather? I'm pretty sure the whole 'studded leather' meme started with some writer looking at a suit of brigandine, not having any idea that there were big solid metal plates inside there, and assuming that the rivets themselves somehow projected a magical protection field. It's time to put that idea to rest.
-Scale Mail. The game mechanics say that it is strictly worse than all your alternatives, regardless of circumstances, so why would anybody ever wear this? And if nobody would ever wear it, why is it taking up space in the book?
-Half Plate. Also known historically as 'plated maile', 'plate and maile' or the common modern term of 'platemail'. Consists of solid plates of steel over the parts that don't need to bend, and chain over the parts that do need to bend. Essentially, a heavier but more protective version of chainmail. So why in the name of all the gods is half plate classified as "medium" while chain is classified as "heavy"?
-Ring mail. This is studded leather all over again, but somehow worse. Yeah, just make the studs bigger and heavier, that will totally prevent somebody from just stabbing you through the multi-inch gaps between them where you're just wearing leather! Never existed in the real world, doesn't make any kind of logical sense, and as an added bonus the game mechanics make it completely worthless because anybody who can wear it will have better as part of their starting equipment. Why is this taking up space in the book?
-Chain mail. See half plate.
-there's just a lot of wasted spaces. Nobody would wear Leather if they had 45gp to their name, because Studded is mechanically strictly superior. Nobody would wear a chain shirt instead of a breastplate, or scale instead of half plate. There's a clear "right answer" in each of the three categories, and no reason to ever choose differently, so why are there all these wrong answers presented to you?
So, while I initially tried to just run 5e by the book, I couldn't stand this. And since it would be more work to try to fix what's already there than to just make up something new, I'm ripping out the whole table and making up my own.
Main goals of this project, in order of priority:
1) Every entry on the table needs to serve a purpose. If there isn't some circumstance in which this is the best choice then nobody would be wearing it, which means nobody would be making it, which means we shouldn't waste any time and energy writing or talking about it.
2) The whole table should make sense, logically and where possible historically, so we can save our suspension of disbelief for things that make the game more fun.
3) The whole table should be easy to remember, so you never need to hold up the game by looking things up.
lower priorities include:
4) Within each category, there should be some opportunity for PCs to improve their gear as they advance and get access to better resources
5) Within each category it should be possible to achieve AC 18, but no higher, and it should always be difficult to do so
6) The most iconic armors depicted in fantasy books and art (leather, chain/scale, full plate) should be the ones most Heroes are wearing at high levels once they can afford whatever they want.
After some consideration, I gave up on trying to describe every single possible style of armor, and instead separated each kind into three 'tiers' of increasing protection and increasing weight/drawbacks. Within those tiers I'll list common examples, but allow for variation based on the character's personal style, the culture/technology of the region, etc. For example, chain and scale will be mechanically identical, and therefore only use one slot on the table, but you can choose whichever you think is cooler. This also means that any time a new or exotic form of armor is introduced, it can generally be slotted smoothly into one of the existing categories rather than needed an entire set of homebrewed stats.
tier
AC
cost
weight
special
Light
1
11
5gp
5lb
2
12
20gp
10lb
3
13
100gp
20lb
Disadvantage on Stealth
Medium
1
13
10gp
25lb
2
14
100gp
25lb
3
15
300gp
30lb
Disadvantage on Stealth
Heavy
1
16
300gp
40lb
Str 13+
2
17
1,000gp
50lb
Str 15+
3
18
2,500gp
60lb
Str 15+
Light Armor: always allows the use of your full dex bonus, does not impose a penalty for sleeping in armor, takes one minute to don or doff.
Tier 1: typically represents Padded armor, a quilted gambeson, exceptionally heavy clothing, un-hardened leather, "thieves' clothes", etc. This will never be your first choice in open warfare unless you have to equip a large force for very cheap, but it has two major points in its favor: first, this is the heaviest (mundane) protection that you can wear without making it obvious that you're wearing armor, so if you're in disguise as an ordinary civilian or trying to look harmless during a diplomatic mission or whatever, this is your best option. Second, every suit of Medium or Heavy armor comes with a free layer of padding underneath, which means you have something that you can sleep in, or put on when you don't have time to don your real armor, that's significantly better than nothing.
Tier 2: most likely, this is your classic Leather Armor, hard plates of boiled leather arranged in such a way that they'll turn or at least slow a significant fraction of potentially deadly blows, but it could also represent clothes made from spider silk or woven through with wires or some other exotic material. This is usually the armor of choice for roguish types, because anything that gives more protection will either slow you down or make too much noise.
Tier 3: the Chain Shirt, or something similar. Light enough, and leaving the limbs unencumbered enough, to allow the wearer full mobility (as long as they can carry the weight) while keeping your vitals safer than anything softer would, but at the cost of making cheerful little jingling noises when you move. The best protection available for a high dex combatant who fights openly rather than relying on subterfuge, but inappropriate to stealthy operations. Also allows you to achieve the maximum AC of 18, but only if you have a Dex of 20.
Medium Armor: Allows up to a +2 from Dexterity, or +3 if you spent a Feat on Mastery, but no more. Sleeping in armor does not remove exhaustion, and only recovers a quarter of spent hit dice.
Tier 1: mostly represents Hide Armor, the result of just piling enough dead animal parts on to stop a blow. It could also represent wooden armor, or the scales of some tough but not extraordinary monster. This doesn't protect you as well as metal would, but has two main advantages. First, Druids can use it without penalty, and it's the heaviest thing they can use. Second, if you're stranded in the wilderness with only what you can gather or hunt, you can make yourself a suit of Hide when you wouldn't be able to manufacture anything else except for tier 1 Light.
Tier 2: this covers things like Brigandine which grant reasonable protection to the whole body while remaining relatively flexible, as well as things like a Breastplate which grant excellent protection to the torso alone while leaving other body parts undefended. This will be the standard equipment for a lot of professional soldiers, hitting a sort of sweet spot between protection and expense if you need to equip a small army or mercenary band. For player characters and other elite forces, this is the heaviest that armor gets without impairing Stealth.
Tier 3: primarily Chain or maile, but also covers Scale, some of the lighter forms of Lamellar, etc. The best protection that you can get without losing your Dex bonus, and the best you can wear without slowing down if you don't have high Strength, making it the armor of choice for dedicated high ranking warriors and nobles who don't like the restrictions of Plate. It also allows you to reach the max AC of 18, but only if you spend a Feat on Mastery and you have 16+ Dex (but if you do spend that feat, you also remove the penalty to Stealth, so that's a very real option at higher levels).
Heavy Armor: All forms remove your entire Dex bonus (or penalty), all forms impose Disadvantage on Stealth, and if your strength is below the requirement listed (and you aren't a Dwarf) your movement rate is reduced by 10. Ten minutes to don, five minutes to doff, assuming you have somebody around to help you with the straps. Without assistance, times are doubled and your AC is reduced by 1.
Tier 1: Splint mail (chain with strips of reinforcement forming sort of incomplete vambraces and greaves and such), heavy lamellar, laminar, and other kinds of protection made from overlapping pieces of hard metal but with incomplete coverage, more gaps, or lighter plates than higher tiers. Sturdy enough most of the time, but often primitive or crudely made. Most people who wear this do so because it's the best that they can afford, or because their culture doesn't have the advanced level of technology required to make the higher tiers of heavy armor, but if your Str is a 13 or 14 and your Dex is nothing special, it might genuinely be the best option.
Tier 2: Half Plate, Plate and maile, Plated Maile, or Platemail. Anything that doesn't need to bend is made from solid, thick steel, while joints and gaps are protected by high quality chain. This is the best available in many cities in many worlds, and is the heaviest form of protection that can be worn without being precisely customized to the wearer. Generally you pick this if you've looted the best battlefields in the world but never had custom gear, or if you don't have the time, money, or connections to commission a smith to spend the better part of a year working to give you the best protection in the world.
Tier 3: Full Plate. The chain component becomes unnecessary, because even your joints are covered by finely crafted, precisely interlocking bits of articulated steel plate. Allows the wearer to move almost freely while exposing nothing to enemy attack, but only available to the wealthiest patrons and the most technologically advanced nations in most worlds. If you try to loot this rather than ordering it custom-made (or spending a lot of downtime on it yourself if you have the smithing proficiency), and it isn't enchanted to resize itself to fit the wearer, it will cost a minimum of 2d4x100gp (and a week per 50gp) for a skilled smith to modify it to fit you. Trying to wear full plate which is not precisely fitted to your body applies the same penalties as wearing armor with which you are not proficient (disadvantage to basically everything).
So, how does this all affect your starting equipment?
The class gear packs in the book all start you with either Leather, Studded, Scale, or Chain.
If the books says Leather, it means 'mid-range light armor', so you get Leather (or some other tier 2 light). Enjoy the +1 AC.
If the book says Studded, it means you're an artificer 'the best light armor that doesn't impose a penalty', so you get Leather (or some other tier 2 light). Enjoy 3lb less encumbrance and stop complaining that you don't have better gear than the rogue anymore.
If the book says Scale, it means 'medium armor with ac 14', so you get Brigantine, a Breastplate, or some other kind of tier 2 medium. Enjoy losing 20lb, not having penalties to stealth, and most importantly not wearing a kind of armor that only exists on starting characters and you would have had to throw in the scrap heap after your very first adventure.
If the book says Chain, it means 'the worst heavy armor that isn't ******* ringmail.' You get tier 1 heavy armor, of whatever style you prefer.
Now, this does mean that characters that start the game with medium or heavy armor are getting a significantly higher gp value of starting equipment than before. After thinking long and hard about the issue, I have decided to just roll with it. If you as the GM see this as an issue, just declare that your old lamellar is so rusty and dented that, while it still protects you well enough until and unless you have a chance to upgrade, you would never be able to sell the thing for more than a tenth the price of a new suit. If somebody wants to use random starting money rolls instead of the basic equipment bundle for their class you might need to throw them a bit extra, but the exact number of coins available at chargen is a tiny issue compared to the entire rest of the campaign.
Thoughts?