Armor
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Overview
This page will familiarize players with the properties and availability of various armor types, their strengths and weaknesses in combat, and technical terms to reduce confusion. It is primarily a quick reference to assist in the resolution of disputes. Details here are similar to those in real life, but certain aspects may have been changed for balance or to take into account factors that real warriors never had to deal with, such as magic.
Padded Armor
While cheap and unimpressive, padded armor actually provides a surprising amount of protection. Generally a quilted garment stuffed with cotton, wool, fur, or down, it may also be formed by several layers of a thick cloth, as in some robes. While many articles of clothing meet this description, 'padded armor' refers to something worn purely for protection. The armor may range anywhere from a centimeter to an inch in thickness, and its protective benefits are reliant solely on this.
Coats (with or without sleeves) are the most widespread form of padded armor. Gloves and helmets are not uncommon, though the latter are probably better classified as hats. Padded pants are almost unheard of. Some thin suits are used as backing for larger armors like the various mails.
Padded armor provides no protection against piercing attacks; arrows, rapiers, and daggers will slip through the armor regardless of thickness. Crushing blows are still painful, though it depends largely on the type of weapon; unarmed blows, quarterstaves, and thrown rocks experience good reduction, while attacks from dedicated weapons such as warhammers or maces receive next to none. Surprisingly, the flexibility of padded armor affords it good protection from slashing weapons; it is easier to cut a material pulled taut than one that is loose, and padded armor falls into the latter, unlike leathers.
The nature of padded armor means it is extremely susceptible to fire; it ignites with ease and burns quickly. This also means it is effective against ice and cold temperatures and is ideal for winterwear or frozen environments. It performs poorly against water, however, and can become so heavy when soaked as to be unbearable, though down-stuffed coats don't have this problem. It is non-conductive when dry, but thinner suits will provide little to no protection against electrical attacks, and it isn't much better for the inch-thick suits.
Leather
Leather is perhaps the most prevalent armor, and also one of the most varied. While most leathers perform similarly, the hides of certain beasts may have unique properties. Additionally, the treatment of the leather affects its protective qualities; suits which are boiled in oil become 'hard' leather, sacrificing flexibility for strength. Metal studs may be found in some suits of soft leather, and while they do not improve overall protection, its wearer may 'get lucky' and see a sword land on a stud. Like padded armor, leather is also used for regular clothing, but provides almost no protection in this form. Thickness varies greatly, with protection largely dependant.
There exists a leather form of armor for everything: helmets, coats, greaves, breastplates, gloves, bracers, boots, pauldrons, gullets and gorgets. If it's armor, it can be made with leather (the exception being chainmail). Soft, thin leathers may be used for padding and backing in other suits, while harder 'plates' may be present on the exteriour of others.
Leather armor is most effective against slashing attacks. While it is not proof from blades, it is certainly thicker than skin, and studded suits provide greater protection should the blade hit a stud. Hardened leather cuirasses are almost like plate in respect to sword swipes. Against crushing blows, protection is based on thickness and hardness; the presence of metal studs is also helpful. Piercing attacks have little difficulty with soft leather armors, and most good thrusts will slide off a stud and pierce the surrounding leather.
Like flesh, leather does not ignite easily. It is difficult to burn leather armor, even moreso with hard suits. They will scorch and smoke, but rarely catch fire (and are usually self-extinguishing in those cases). Soft suits are good protection against the cold, but not as good as padded armor. Leather armor is non-conductive (but not lightning-immune) and water-proof; hardened suits especially, though these feature gaps unlike soft armor. Metal studs will allow heat and cold to be felt more easily through the armor and promotes electrical attacks.
Chainmail
Chainmail is a good choice for the professional warrior on a budget. Made of hundreds of interlinked chain hoops, it forms an armor mesh of great flexibility, coupled with the strength of metal. While the individual chains can vary in size (some being quite large and thick, as in ringmail) they are almost always quite small. The gaps between rings are generally tiny, even smaller than a rapier blade.
Chainmail is produced most often as a pull-over coat called a haubergeon, or hauberk for smaller pieces. These may or may not have sleeves and an attatched coif (helmet), but usually extend past the waist. Gloves are a little uncomfortable unless lined, and boots are extremely rare. Some thinner chain pieces are worn under the joints of plate armor or helmets.
While the gaps in the ring mesh are smaller than almost all piercing blades, chainmail is still highly ineffective against them. Spears, rapiers and arrows will easily slip into a gap and force open a wider hole with almost no diminishment of power. Chainmail transforms slashing blows into blunt force, but will prevent cutting, to a degree. They are more effective against swords than axes, but a strong blow from either can shear open the rings and ruin a portion of the suit. Chainmail is wholely ineffective against crushing blows, except perhaps punches (if the wearer isn't wearing gloves). Hooked weapons may catch the chain links and ruin portions of the suit, in addition to jarring its wearer.
Flames will slip through the chain mesh and may affect the clothing beneath it, though the armor will cool much faster than solid plates and is therefore better against flameless heat. Again, gaps in chainmail make it a lousy insulator, and the armor is perhaps the most uncomfortable of all in the cold. Water has little effect on chainmail -- the wearer gets wet, but his armor does not become heavier and has perfect drainage. Electrical attacks are extremely effective against chain suits, even moreso than scale or plate due to the way the mesh hangs on the wearer.
Ringmail
Ringmail is much like chainmail, though its links are larger and thicker. Their orientation has been altered to keep the size of gaps as small as possible, though this results in a larger number of rings used per area and has the downside of increasing weight. It functions much like chainmail, but both its strengths and weaknesses are more pronounced.
Ringmail is rarely seen, but comes most often in coifs (which are uncomfortable) and hauberks. Gloves and boots do not exist, though one may find a pair of leather boots affixed with rings rather than studs. Ring greaves are heavy and awkward, and thus never produced or worn. Some pieces of ringmail, especially coifs, may have a thin cloth or leather backing.
Anything chainmail is good for, ringmail is better. The reverse is true as well; piercing weapons will demolish a man in ringmail. Thicker suits of ringmail provide perhaps the best protection of all from slashing attacks. An extremely powerful blow from an axe or two-handed sword may shear the rings and wound, but its wearer would certainly be dead without the armor. Unlike chainmail, a suit of good ring offers decent protection from crushing attacks. Hooked weapons (some axes and polearms) will catch the individual rings and may tear a suit or drag its wearer around, so care must be taken to avoid these situations.
Ringmail acts almost exactly like chainmail in regard to elemental attacks, the only difference being electricity. While still extremely ineffective against lightning, it is only -slightly- better than a suit of chain.
Scalemail
Scalemail is made of small, often overlapping plates of leather, metal, or even chitin. Due to the overlap, breastplates can be quite heavy, though they are flexible. The size and thickness of the 'scales' may vary, but generally follow that of other armor made from the same material. Good, well-strung scalemail is expensive and hard to find, especially suits made with organic components like animal shells.
Scalemail comes most often in the form of a pull-over breastplate with seperate sleeves. Greaves aren't seen often and there are no scale gloves (though the rare pair of boots pops up from time to time). Scalemail helmets do exist, but they are cumbersome and look rather goofy, in addition to providing little additional protection. Suits are often backed by soft leather and very rarely thin chain.
Scalemail offers exceptional protection against slashing attacks. Its flexibility and flat scales create a larger striking surface than platemail, causing less pressure against the metal. Some shoddy and ill-maintained suits may have a scale or two cut off by a particularly lucky blow. Scalemail is also good protection from crushing blows, though not as effective as banded or platemail. Suits with overlap are even better in this regard. Scalemail is split in regard to piercing attacks, as it is exceptionally strong against arrows and bolts, but defeated by a lucky (or smart) melee opponent. In bad suits, a rapier or spear may slip between two plates, though they do not seperate as well as chain; in suits with overlap, a thrust from below (while difficult) can slide under two scales and into the wearer. Additionally, suits of leather scales are more effective against bludgeoning, but less against piercing, than those of metal or chitin.
The gaps in scalemail are not large enough to allow the permeation of fire, and their wide surfaces allow for excellent heat dispersion. They are not particularly good insulators, falling somewhere between chainmail and leather. A good suit of scale, especially one with overlap, is resistant to rain and other hurled water sources, but will flood if submerged. Leather and chitin scalemail offer electric protection on par with leather armors, and metal scalemail is perhaps the most electrically resistant of all metal armors.
Banded mail
Somewhere between scale and plate, banded mail is formed of large, circular bands of metal (hence its name) that stretch around horizontally.
They may or may not overlap or go completely around the body. The bands are generally 2mm in thickness, the same as plate. Suirikun yoroi armor falls into this category.
Breastplates, greaves, and helmets are common, though the latter two are often supplemented with scalemail. Banded mail gloves do not exist, nor do boots, generally speaking (though the rare pair of leather boots with metal bands instead of studs may show up). Some suits may be directly sewn in to soft leather, but most are simply backed by it.
In suits where the bands do not overlap sufficiently, a lucky slashing blow may strike the area between plating and slip through, but otherwise banded mail enjoys good resistance to swords and axes. Banded mail is not as effective against piercing attacks as scalemail, since there are larger and more accessible areas between plating. Banded suits perform slightly better than platemail in regard to arrows and bolts, IF the missile strikes a plate. Powerful crushing blows have a tendancy to deform the bands, but otherwise the suit is good protection.
Banded mail offers protection somewhere between scale and platemails in respect to elemental attacks.
Platemail
The pinnacle of the armorsmith's craft, the most expensive and sought-after armor, and yet surprisingly the most common. Large plates of iron or steel, roughly 2mm thick, allowing for cover of every body part while remaining surprisingly agile if well-articulated (a high quality plate suit is actually more flexible than human joints). A full suit of plate weighs around 50lb, though that weight is spread all about the body and can cause some fatigue in the arms and legs of weaker or inexperienced users.
Anything can be made out of platemail, even gloves. Plate suits come most often in three forms: fullplate, which has a piece of armor for every part of the body; field plate, which usually foregoes boots and some leg armor, ideal for cavalry; and half plate, which is just upper body protection. Breastplates are also extremely common and may be worn with other forms of less cumbersome armor on the legs and arms.
Platemail offers superiour protection from slashing and (melee) piercing attacks. It will deflect most arrows at an angle, though it is not so effective against crossbows. A good spear blow will likewise skewer plate, but rapiers and other smaller piercing weapons are largely ineffective unless aimed at the joints. It is for this reason that many plate suits feature secondary plates over the joints. Platemail is proof against all but the largest of swords, but some axes (particularly those with rounded heads) may cut on powerful blows. Platemail's glaring weakness is crushing weapons: it deforms often, and repeated attacks may crumple the suit and ruin its jointing, in addition to delivering nasty concussive to its wearer.
While flames will have a hard time penetrating a suit of good plate, it is possible, though more likely that the suit heats up uncomfortably. It is permeated easily by cold and performs as one would expect against snow and bad weather. Suits of plate suffer from poor drainage and will become waterlogged for a time if submersed. Lightning attacks are extremely damaging, though not so much as chainmail. Still, a man in a platemail suit is a much more appetizing target for a lightning bolt, given its size and density.
