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Chainmail and Breastplate but Split Mail and Banded Mail?

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 5:26 pm
by Gary

So Just tossing this out there for thought and discussion;

Chainmail is 150gp and Breastplate is 200gp both provide +5 AC and both are medium armor, my question is why would I pay 50gp more for something that I cannot get the value from. There is a similar situation for Splint Mail and Banded Mail. I can see an argument for having these various types of armor, at least from a role play perspective.

In ODnD there was a similar situation with all melee weapons doing the same damage and there was a cost variation(daggers cost 3gp, swords 10gp and both did d6).

If there is no significant mechanical difference: I would suggest the prices be the same.

If there is a significant mechanical difference: Please let me know, I missed it!

Thanks for your time!


Re: Chainmail and Breastplate but Split Mail and Banded Mail?

Posted: Mon Oct 07, 2019 10:32 pm
by Snorb

At least in 3.5e D&D, chain mail and breastplates had a bit of differences. Let me go check the armors in question...

ArmorCostArmor BonusMax DexCheck PenaltySpell FailureSpeed (30 ft/20 ft)Weight
Chain Mail150 GP+5+2-530%20 ft/15 ft40#
Breastplate200 GP+5+3-425%20 ft/15 ft30#
Splint Mail200 GP+6+0-740%20 ft./15 ft.45#
Banded Mail250 GP+6+1-635%20 ft./15 ft.35#

*Your running speed is tripled instead of quadrupled while wearing heavy armor.

Microlite20 by itself doesn't seem to include maximum Dexterity bonus, armor check penalties to physical skills, arcane spell failure, and speed reduction from medium/heavy armor, though, but you're always welcome to add those in! =)


Re: Chainmail and Breastplate but Split Mail and Banded Mail?

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2019 9:48 am
by Gary

Ahh ha!
This could correlate to utilizing ML20 and 3.x interchangeably. What I'm going take away is what was said in the intro "but one where all of the resources of Primary Fantasy SRD
(monsters, spells, adventures and equipment) could be used without conversion." So the core concept here is what I was missing. I think a further topic could be; at what point would does one treat the rule-set as a stand alone and no longer as conversion? And if nothing else I further appreciate the work/design that went into making the rule set.


Re: Chainmail and Breastplate but Split Mail and Banded Mail?

Posted: Tue Oct 08, 2019 2:07 pm
by randalls
Gary wrote:
Mon Oct 07, 2019 5:26 pm

If there is no significant mechanical difference: I would suggest the prices be the same.

That would work. Of course, in the "real world" prices for similarly effective items can be very different. Price is set by more things than effectiveness.

While Chaimmail and Breastplate may be equally effective as far as rules mechanics are concerned, their might be reasons other than rules effects to purchase the more expensive item. Examples: Character needs armor now and the only armor available that will fit at the character's location is the more expensive breastplate. Or breastplate is considered higher class (due to its price) and character's wearing it are generally seen as higher social class at first glance.

If there is a significant mechanical difference: Please let me know, I missed it!

As Snorb pointed out, if you want more nuance at the expense of more rules, you can use the rules from the SRD for armor which do have mechanical differences.