Semi-Historical Arms and Armor The following are some notes about the weapons and armor tables in D&D 5th edition, as they pertain to their relationship to modern understandings of historical arms and armor. In general, 5th edition is far more accurate to ancient and medieval sources regarding these topics than prior

editions, but for the sake of balance and ease of play without the onerous restrictions of reality, there are still some expected incongruences. This article attempts to explain some particular facets about the use of arms and armor throughout our long, shared history, and to offer some suggestions (imbalanced as they may be) on how such items would have been used in particular times and places. A note on generalities: One of the best things 5th edition offers in these tables is the generalization of particular weapons and armor compared to prior editions. Is there a significant, functional difference between a half-sword, arming sword, backsword, wakizashi, tulwar, or any other various forms of predominately one-handed pokey and slashy

things with 13 inch, sometimes 14 or 20 or even 30 inch blades? Well, actually yes, but that level of discrimination is often not noticeable in the granularity of the combat mechanics of most systems, and, more importantly, how modern readers often distinguish them is often anachronistic. For instance, almost all straight sword-like weapons, be it arming swords, half-swords, back swords, longswords or even great swords like claymores (but not Messers!) are referred to in ancient and medieval texts (MS I.33, Liberi, etc) as… swords. Just swords. Often when there are references to sword types by specific names (such as a bastard sword, which is often identified as a hand-and-half sword in modern reviews), it is not always clear what that name refers to and popular culture attempts to fill in the blanks. In modern archeology, arms and armor have been variously categorized by age, function, physical shape, or any number of other salient attributes. Most of it is fairly dry and boring to the uninitiated, so we’ll try to

strike a balance. Armor: General overview: Now and again the modern reader may ask to himself, “why would someone wear lamellar armor when laminar is listed in this table right below and is mostly better in every single aspect?” Conversely, game designers sometimes try to ‘balance’ armor and give a disadvantaged one some aspect that is superior in some fashion. Both viewpoints skirt around the historical rationale: there are considerations when acquiring armor (is it legal to wear? Is it comfortable to wear for long hours, much less day-to-day? Will it last me a

long while? Is the form acceptable by my professed religion? Does it make me look ridiculous in front of my peers?) completely aside from the armor’s protective function. You will also note that with the change in descriptions of the armor, the armor in each class may seem a bit ‘heavier’ than in the PHB, with examples of plate armor derivatives in medium armor, for example. This, however, should not be interpreted as to mean that soldiers historically wore quite substantial armor across all time periods; to the contrary, the vast majority of soldiers for much of history (especially prior to the Hundred Years War and in any location that is relatively warm) wore quite a ‘light’ assortment of armor. Armor Changes: for more detailed fluff descriptions, see the Armor Description section below.

Rename Studded Leather to Brigandine. Studded leather is an erroneous modern reference to the way the inside of Brigandine looked; steel or iron platelets were studded to the inside of the leather jacket. It is those platelets, and not the studs, that offer the defensive capabilities of that armor. Rename Chain Shirt to Mail, or Byrnie/Hauberk. Rename Scale Mail to Scale Armor. In general, “scale” armors, with the scale plates attached to a leather or linen back and not (usually) punched together, predate or are concurrent with early mail, and, especially

in its earlier usages during the Bronze Age, did not include mail. Mail with scale-shaped iron or steel plates either sandwiched between or attached on top are a much later invention and are lamellar or laminar. Rename and replace Breastplate with Lamellar Armor. They’re different things entirely, but mechanically Lamellar would fall somewhere here. Breastplate as separate armor is more a late-Renaissance affair and as armor would not be more protective than Brigandine.

Rename Half-Plate to Partial Plate or ¾ Plate. Half Plate is a modern amalgamation of early transitional plate armors and Landsknechts wearing plate armor, just without greaves for greater on-foot mobility. Rename and replace Ring Mail with Laminar Armor. Ring Mail is ahistorical (see below for a description). Laminar armor is representative of “heavy” armor prior to the rediscovery of trip hammer technology allowing large steel plates to be readily formed. Later examples of Laminar armor may mechanically count as plated mail. Rename and replace Chain Mail with Plated Mail or Splinted Plate (but not splint mail, which is ahistorical). Head-to-toe mail was generally only used in conjunction with plate as a single set of armor; this type of mail is much finer and lighter than mail armor used as the primary form of armor. Transitional plate

armors show a wide variety of experimentation with plate placement. Replace Splint with Early Plate. Almost all the armors presented in the PHB are too heavy and are on the high end of spectrum of weights of surviving pieces of armor. Historical armors would typically be in a range from 50% PHB weights up to PHB weights for basically every armor type. Shields: Tower Shield/Pavise: a tower shield provides +3 AC, but imposes -10 ft/round to speed and Disadvantage (stealth checks). Tower Shields count as heavy armor with regards to effects that mitigate movement reduction.

Helmets, Gauntlets and Vambraces: The PHB does not include helms with any armor other than plate. That’s a bit silly, but whatever. Helmets may not be very heroic but were absolutely essential pieces of armor. Similarly arm protection was a high priority (when you whack at someone their natural reaction is to raise their arms to protect their face/body). Even if one were to carry a shield gauntlets and vambraces (leather, mail, or plate) are generally widespread. Armor Summary

Cost (gp) AC Str Weight (lbs.) Properties

Light Armor

Padded 5 +1+dex mod - 4-7 DA (stealth)

Leather 10 +1+dex mod - 6-8

Brigandine 45 +2+dex mod - 13-15

Medium Armor

Hide 10 +2+dex mod (max 2) - 12

Mail 50 +3+dex mod (max 2) - 20-30

Scale Armor 50 +4+dex mod (max 2) - 22-44 DA (stealth)

Lamellar Armor 400 +4+dex mod (max2) - 20-30

Partial Plate 750 +5+dex mod (max 2) - 20-45 DA (stealth)

Heavy Armor

Laminar Armor 30 14 15-30 DA (stealth)

Plated Mail 75 16 13 20-40 DA (stealth)

Early Plate 200 17 14 35-55 DA (stealth)

Plate Armor 1500 18 15 40-60 DA (stealth)

Shield

Buckler 5 +1 - 2 Light, deals 1d4 bludgeoning

Shield/Targe 10 +2 - 4-6 1d6 bludgeoning

Tower

Shield/Pavise

35 +3 14 22-50 DA (stealth), -10 ft speed

Helmets

Mail Coif 15 +0 - 1-4 Counts as light armor

Steel Cap 15 +0 - 2-5 Counts as medium armor

Great Helm 250 +0 12 2-5 Counts as heavy armor, DA (perception) (with visor down)

Arms: As is the case with most competitions, there was/is a historical arms race between arms and armor. As armor improved, particular weapons became popular as a counter; large axes were prevalent in Western Europe circa AD 1000 because such weapons could cause structural failure of mail whereas swords generally cannot penetrate mail. Fast forward a few hundred years and the proliferation of larger and larger plates on armor forced a proliferation of specialty anti-armor weapons, such as war-hammers. Simple vs. Martial: As with many aspects of life, social and legal convention often dictated what an individual may wear just as much as cost or weight concerns. In particular, in many city-states across the world in pre-industrial times,

it was often illegal for the common man to wear a sword, just as some modern nation-states may ban the open carrying of certain firearms. The sword, apart from any other common weapon (spear/bow/axe), had no other purpose than to kill a man, and was thus viewed as a high-status instrument (even when they became increasingly cheap and prevalent during the late middle-ages). In addition, “martial” weapons with the exception of some swords, were typically too large or cumbersome to be carried around while one went about their daily duties, and thus not openly carried except on the battlefield or by guards. At the end of this article are some more historical anecdotes as well as some tables to help ‘spice’ up legal tenants regarding the carrying of weaponry and armor in your fantasy world. Soon™. Fighting Style:

Many historical martial styles focused on the use of a single-handed weapon in one hand and an open hand in the other without a shield. As depicted in numerous medieval treatises, an open hand would be quite useful, particularly in grappling or deflecting an opposing polearm. Also, as a meta-note, many cultures utilized and refined fighting techniques that would be less effective in different circumstances. For instance, light bladed weaponry is exceptionally useful against unarmored targets and as metal armor (plate in particular) is exhausting to use for extended periods in hot desert temperatures, this sort of weaponry proliferated in that setting. However, in an effort to balance encounters more generally, we add Fighting Styles that highlight the variance of historical melee combat options. Fighting Style: Baroque: The following feature can be selected by classes that have the Fighting Style class feature.

So long as you are not carrying a shield, you may treat any melee weapon used in one hand as a finesse weapon. While you have a melee weapon in one hand and no shield or weapon in the other, you gain +1 AC. Fighting Style: Tempo/Flourish: (this is the late medieval German school of fencing emphasizing unarmored longsword techniques, following 14th century master Johannes Liechtenauer) The following feature can be selected by classes that have the Fighting Style class feature. You are trained to measure the rhythm of battle and counter foes by beating an adversary’s attack. You may treat the following weapons as finesse weapons: quarterstaff, arming sword, long sword, great sword, small sword, estoc, partisan and spear.

If you are not wearing heavy armor, you also gain +1 to attack rolls you make with all melee weapons. Fighting Style: Ward: (again, following Liechtenauer) The following feature can be selected by classes that have the Fighting Style class feature. You have trained extensively in using two-handed weapon stances to counter and deflect enemy attacks.

While any warrior has trained in some of these stances, you are a master of them. These stances are particularly formulated for longsword combat, but similar varieties abound for other two-handed weapons. Choose one of the following stances. At 5th, 10th, and 15th level, you may choose an additional stance. Only one stance may be active at a given time. You can switch to a known stance on your turn as a bonus action. At 5th level you can change your stance as a free action on your turn. German Guards: Close/Plow Guard: While you are wielding a weapon in two hands you gain +1 to AC. Low/Fool’s Guard: While you are wielding a weapon in two hands you deal +2 damage on all Opportunity Attacks. You also gain a +2 bonus to initiative.

Roof/Day Guard: While you are wielding a weapon in two hands and you roll a critical hit, roll an additional die of damage equal to the weapon’s damage die and add it to the total damage. Ox/Unicorn Guard: While you are wielding a weapon in two hands you have reach (5ft). Near/Tail/Iron Guard: While you are wielding a weapon in two hands, you deal +1 damage. Wrath Guard: While you are wielding a weapon, after a successful melee hit you may immediately use your bonus action to force the hit target to take a Strength saving throw (DC = 8+ proficiency bonus + str or dex mod (your choice)) or be pushed 10ft directly away from you.

Italian Guards: Boar’s Tooth Guard: While you are wielding a weapon in two hands and are hit by a melee attack, you may use your reaction to add ½ your proficiency bonus to AC, potentially causing that attack to miss. Crown Guard: While you are wielding a weapon in two hands you gain advantage on strength (athletics) checks to disarm an opponent. Extended Tail Guard: While you are wielding a weapon in two hands, when you make a successful attack, one creature within 5ft of the original target takes str mod or dex mod damage (whichever is highest). Long Guard: While you are wielding a weapon in two hands and an opponent misses a melee attack against

you, you gain +2 to your next melee attack roll against that opponent. Proud Woman’s Guard: While you are wielding a weapon in two hands creatures that gain bonuses (including advantage) on attacks due to the presence of allies within 5ft (such as pack tactics) do not gain that bonus. New Arms

Name Cost Damage Damage Type Weight Properties

Simple Melee

Dart/Piercer 1 gp 1d3 Piercing - Concealable, finesse, light, thrown (30/60)

Mace (Steel) 8 gp 1d6 Bludgeoning 2.5 lbs. Hammer

Quarterstaff 2 gp 1d6 Bludgeoning 3 lbs. Reach, versatile (1d8)

Farm implements 1 gp 1d4 Slashing, Piercing, or Bludgeoning

2 lbs. Light

Spear, short (Hasta/Angon/Assegai/ Falarica)

1 gp 1d6 Piercing 2 lbs. Thrown (20/60), versatile (1d8)

Martial Melee

Arming Sword/Back Sword/Jian

15 gp

1d8 Slashing 2.5 lbs. Sword, versatile (1d10)

Estoc 20 gp

1d0 Piercing 4.5 lbs. Sword, two-handed

Long Sword 25 gp

1d10 Slashing 3 lbs. Sword, versatile (1d12)

Morningstar 1d8 Piercing 4 lbs. Hammer

Partisan/Falx 1d6 Piercing or Slashing

4 lbs. Reach, thrown (10/30), versatile (1d8)

Polearm (specialized) 20 gp

1d10 Special 5 lbs. Heavy, reach, two-handed, polearm**

Small Sword or Side-Sword

15 gp

1d6 Piercing 1 lbs. Finesse, sword

War-Pick/War-hammer 1d8 Piercing or bludgeoning

2 lbs. Hammer

** polearms have polearm modifications (see below) General Changes:

Rename Longsword to Arming Sword. A historical Longsword straddles the difference between an Arming sword and a Greatsword. As with armors, the PHB weights for Arms are too heavy by about 30-50%. New Arms: Arming Sword: Depictions of “longswords” in most D&D material is closer in length to an arming sword. Estoc: An estoc looks quite like a thin longsword but it has blunt edges and usually a diamond cross-section. This makes the Estoc quite useful for piercing mail, which was its primary function.

Longsword: A longsword is not just a sword that is long (though it is that as well). It is specifically a sword designed to be used in two hands (though it could be used in one) that is a primary battlefield weapon (as opposed to an arming sword, which is, as its name suggest, a side arm). Spear, Short: spears up to the height of the wielder are variously useful because their shorter length allows them to stab quickly and accurately, and allows them to be thrown if necessary. Partisan/Falx: If you want to build a spear with the intention of keeping your enemies away from you, you will make a long shaft with a small metal spearhead; a heavier or longer spearhead makes the end away from your grip heavier, and due to the increased torque, would make the end less precisely maneuverable

and more tiring. A light, small spearhead, however, means that the weapon is mostly restricted to thrusting motions. A larger bladed spearhead could be used for parrying or slashing, as is the case with a Partisan or Falx. Weapons of this type can be found as far back as bronze-age Scotland but became popular again in the late medieval period (though possibly less as a battlefield weapon and more for ceremony). Polearms: Polearms are often highly specialized weapons with modifications for different tasks. A polearm will typically have two or three different bits or heads at one or both ends of a long wooden stick. At the price indicated in the table, a polearm is equipped with one (1) of the following heads at no extra cost or weight. Additional heads increase cost and weight. Generally, a polearm can be fitted with up to 3 heads per end (though very few weapons outside of ceremonial or judicial trial weapons have heads at both ends).

- Axe head (slashing damage, special rules (Axe), +1 gp, +1 lbs) - Blade head (slashing damage, special rules (Sword), +1 gp, +1 lbs) - Greataxe head (this head deals 1d12 slashing damage, special rules (Axe), +10 gp, +2 lbs) - Great blade head (this head deals 1d12 slashing damage, special rules (Sword), +15 gp, +1.5 lbs) - Spear point/Spike (piercing damage, +1 gp, +1 lbs) - Curved Hook/Thorn or Crow’s beak (Bec de Corbin) (piercing damage, +5 gp, +1 lbs, double proficiency on trip/disarm attempts)

- Hammer head (bludgeoning damage, special rules (Hammer), +5 gp, +1 lbs) - Maul/Great hammer head (this head deals 1d12 bludgeoning damage, special rules (Hammer), +15 gp, +5 lbs) The following are examples of polearms with varying heads:

Danish Axe, Sparth Axe, or Bardiche: polearm with a heavy, crescent-shaped Axe or Greataxe head. Fauchard, Glaive, Voulge, Naginata, Svärdstav: polearm with Blade or Greatblade head in either concave (Fauchard) or convex (Glaive) positions. Later Fauchards also add a Spear point as a second head). Polearms with secondary concave-edged blades are sometimes given names with –Fauchard attached afterwards. Guisarmes: polearms designed for dismounting horsemen, with a Curved Hook. Bladed polearms with hooks are often given names with –Guisarme attached afterwards, such as a Volge-Guisarmes. Corseque or Ranseur: polearms with three-bladed head, typically a Spear point and two blade heads.

Halberd or Poleaxe: polearm with an Axe/Great-Axe head, a Spike, and a Hook Bec de corbin or Lucerne Hammer: polearm with Hook, Hammer head, and Spear point; its designation depended on which head was the primary tool for the weapon. Very Optional Special Rules: If you want to differentiate between arms a little more, try these: Axe: applies to any weapon with the word “axe” in it, as well as any pendulum blade with its center of gravity closer to the apex of the blade rather than the hilt.

On critical hit, roll an additional (1) die of damage and add it to the total. Hammer: applies to any weapon with the word “hammer” in it, as well as maces, morningstars, and mauls. On a critical hit, the target must make a constitution save against the damage dealt or be stunned for 1 round. Sword: Increase the critical hit range by 1 step (19-20 without additional features). Normal: critical hits on a roll of 20.

Half-Sword: The Greatsword can be gripped along its ricasso and used akin to a spear. In this manner, these weapons deal piercing damage. Polearm – polearms may take polearm modifications. Notes: Quarterstaff: The quarterstaff, whose name likely derives from the fact that a proper quarterstaff of the late medieval period would be cut from one section of a quartered tree trunk (you don’t want to use the center of the tree

as the wood there is the softest), is a bit more substantial an investment than the PHB makes it out to be. Swords: D&D has typically broken down swords into two types: “long” and “short”, with some variation for uncommon (from a European standpoint) or specialist swords. This is slightly problematic, for 2 reasons. The term “short” sword is typically absent from most pre-modern sources, but we’ll retain this as a catch-all terminology for bladed weapons with blades between 1 and 2 feet long. Some texts refer to such sidearms

as long knives or long daggers. Examples include the famous Gladius, as well as Seax, Xiphos, Baselard, Cinquedea, and Dirk. The “longsword” of popular imagination, however, is not the longsword of antiquity; the sword that popular culture typically envisions as a “longsword” is really termed an “arming sword”; a principally single-handed, cruciform hilt, straight double-edged blade with a 27 to 32 inch blade that could be used with two hands in a

pinch. Actual, historical Longswords, on the other hand, were much longer; they were primarily two-handed straight double-edged swords (though they could be used in one hand for certain maneuvers) with 35 to 43 inch blades. As Longswords became more prevalent in the late medieval and renaissance periods, the arming sword became a sidearm and was called as a “short sword”, though, in comparison with earlier swords, the arming sword is actually fairly substantially longer. Therefore, these rules rename D&D ‘longswords’ as arming swords, and add longswords as an intermediary weapon between arming swords and Greatswords.

Fluff Modifications: These things were historical but don’t provide a significant difference in the granularity of D&D’s combat system. Hilt modifications: In Western Europe in particular, sword hilts became increasingly complex throughout the late middle ages and into the renaissance, starting with small modifications such as the nagel, or nail, on such weapons as the Messer, and developing into ringlets, and eventually to such things as basket hilts. The increased protection of the striking hand changed neutral stances from often being held behind or above the head (to protect the vulnerable hand) to being far more forward and close to the opponent.

Riccaso: In late medieval/early renaissance large bladed weapons a riccasso was the blunted portion of metal along the blade ahead of the hilt. This modification allowed the user to grip the weapon and reduce the length of the blade, allowing the sword to be used like a polearm. Quillons: Metal flangels extruding from the blade ahead of the Riccaso, Quillons protected the user’s hand while it held the blade along the Riccaso. Chappe: A Chappe was a piece of leather fitted to the crossguard. The true rationale for this modification is unknown

but it is likely that it was used as a seal on the scabbard to prevent rainwater from touching the blade. Langets: Weapons with wooden handles (particularly polearms, warhammers, and earlier maces) sometimes have riveted bits of metal called Langets along the side to increase durability against parried blows, which may have otherwise compromised the weapon’s integrity. Tassels: Tassels, usually of horse hair, are occasionally found on (particularly eastern) Asian weaponry, most notably just behind the spear-point of the Qiang, and attached to Jians. Supposedly they were useful in distracting an enemy from being able to see or grab the tip, though there are sparse records of whether or not that actually worked in massed combat. What they were useful for, however, was in soaking blood and

preventing it from getting onto the wooden shaft of a spear, which would make it slick (if wet) or sticky (if dried). They’re also quite pretty, and that should never be discounted. Armor Descriptions: Light Armor: Padded Jack/Gambeson:

A Gambeson is a quilted, padded jacket (sometimes with trousers) typically made either of cotton (in Egypt and Asia-Minor) or of linen (particularly in medieval Europe). A similar piece of clothing, called the arming doublet or aketon, was worn underneath plate armor and later became a civilian fashion in Italy during the late medieval period. Heavy armor comes fitted with an aketon or other padded material. Padded armor of this type was common across the ancient and medieval world, as it was relatively easy to produce and could protect against blades (especially) and arrows. It is known by a variety of names: aketon (medieval French,

possibly on loan from Arabic), arming coat, auqueton, gambeson, hacketon, haqueton, panzari (medieval Norse, on loan from Middle Low German), vapnterya, etc. Padded armor tailored to be worn under other armor was typically 3 lbs or lighter.

Soldier on far left wearing red gambeson, fol. 10r of the Morgan Bible (ca. 1250, Northern France) Hide/Leather, specifically either Raw Hide or Cuir Boulli: Animal hides, either untanned (rawhide) or tanned (leather), would have likely been used as some form of armor and certainly for clothing, though very few historical examples survive as leather is biodegradable. However, it is unlikely to have been used alone as armor, without reinforcement from metal plates or mail, when those were available and permissible. Tanned, hardened leather is tougher than rawhide, but also

more brittle. Cuir Boulli has the consistency similar to a hard, plastic shell. Buff Coats, protective leather clothing developed in the renaissance and early modern period, is of this type of armor.

Soldier wearing Buff Coat (English Civil War 1642-1651) – John Pettie Brigandine: A Brigandine is a cloth garment (usually plain-woven fabric or leather) lined with steel plates riveted to the inside of layers of the fabric. Compared to most other armors, it was developed fairly recently during the late 14th century during the transitional period from mail to plate armor in Europe, and as recently as the 15th and 16th centuries in Asia. It was commonly used by Men-at-Arms, and while not as protective as Plate, it was cheaper, easier to make and repair, and offered greater mobility.

Note: the D&D idea of “studded leather” likely arises from the way Brigandine sometimes looks like from the inside; the steel plates between the cloth are sometimes riveted to rounded studs, though these would be on the inside of the armor and are not the protective substance of the armor. Note: Other armors that are more substantial than Padded but less so than metal armors (such as the famous Linothorax, attested to as a linen laminate, though physical evidence is scant), would have roughly the same mechanical statistics as Brigandine.

Brigandine – Wendelin Boeheim, 1890 Medium Armor: (aka: lighter, less developed, or less encumbering metal armors)

Scale Armor: The earliest forms of metal (that is, typically metal, but sometimes rawhide or leather) body armor is typically of this type; separate pieces of metal (usually bronze, but occasionally iron or tin) sheets, held together by leather thongs and attached to a cloth or leather backing. Surviving examples of these armors suggest that they often consist of chest protection with vambraces and greaves, but typically not more. Scale armor was predominant on ancient battlefields in Egypt and Western Asia as early as 2500 BC, and remained in use into “classical antiquity” because it is comparatively lighter and more flexible than more rigid armor of the time and “breathes” well, making it suitable for warmer climates. Scale armor, particularly in Europe, began to fall out of favor to Mail during late antiquity.

More substantial metal barding for horses in the ancient world through the early middle ages typically was of this construction (It is attested to in Shi Jing and was often used for Sassanid-era cataphracts, though the riders were usually in mail). It was easier to manufacture than later period armors, and remained in use among cultures without access to high-quality steel-working centers up until the early modern period. Mycenaean Era armor was typically scale armor, as was Scythian, Ancient Vietnamese, Republic-era Roman Lorica Squamata and Lorica Plumata, Persian “Fish”-scale armor as recounted by Herodotus, and Japanese gyorin kozane. In other words, this is the type of armor that better equipped soldiers in the Ancient world would wear. Some forms of Muscle or Heroic Cuirass, body armor (typically of bronze) cast to fit the wearer’s torso and mimic an idealized physical form that was widespread in the 5th and 4th centuries BC, would be mechanically

similar to Scale armor, even though they would typically be too cumbersome and costly for typical infantrymen. Although there is some indication it was used in combat (mostly by officers), this type of cuirass was likely reserved for formal events like military reviews or parades. Chinese scale armors were typically of a “fish-scale”-like pattern made of leather or iron strips during the Han, though they developed into the Mountain and Star Scale armors during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), which would be mechanically more similar to lamellar or even laminar armor.

Footsoldier (presumably) in scale armor. Or it could be artistic license. Mail Shirt/Hauberk/Byrnie:

A shirt made of small metal (usually iron or occasionally bronze) rings, linked together to form a mesh. Typically credited as a Celtic invention, mail armor has been found as early as the 4th century BC in Central Europe, and spread quickly throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. Though quite labor-intensive (30,000 rings would have gone into a lorica hamata, a task that would take up to 2 months even with continual slave labor), mail armor very flexible, reliable, strong (particularly against light slashing weapons), and, with good maintenance, could be used for several decades. When its weight was distributed across the body, often with the help of a heavy belt, mail could be worn for extended periods of time (a very important consideration), and the constant friction on the rings prevented rust and corrosion. Mail armor was very common on the ancient and medieval battlefields in Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia and in ancient texts is often synonymous with “armor”. A Hauberk describes a sleeved mail shirt that typically covers up to the mid thigh; a Haubergeon usually

refers to a smaller, shorter Hauberk, but historical sources sometimes used them interchangeably. Not all mail was equally made; one of the major differentiators was whether or not the mail was designed to be worn as secondary armor, below lamellar, plate, or more substantial armor; these could be quite light (the half-sleeved Wallace A1 (early 15th(?) century) weighs 9.87 lbs.). On the other hand a hauberk designed as the sole piece of protection could be much more substantial (the Kungslena hauberk (1208) weighs 33.7 lbs). This entry refers to the latter type: mail as the primary armor.

Taking off a Hauberk, fol. 28r of the Morgan Bible (ca. 1250, Northern France) Lamellar: Lamellar armor consists of rows of lamellae, small (usually metal) platelets, laced and punched together (usually with leather tongs; if it’s punched together with mail, it’s laminar or plated mail). Unlike Scale

armor, lamellar armor is not attached to a cloth or leather backing, though it is usually worn over a padded undergarment or mail hauberk (which, for mechanical purposes, is part and parcel of this armor). Lamellar was especially popular throughout Western and Eastern Asia into the 16th century. It was the armor of choice for Byzantine heavy cavalry.

Partial, Half or ¾ Plate: Plate armor was sometimes worn without greaves or lower leg protection in order to improve mobility on foot in difficult terrain, to reduce the weight a warhorse must carry, and/or to reduce cost. Swiss mercenaries and Landsknechts in the 15th and 16th centuries often wore “three-quarters” plate, with exposed legs. Typically Half Plate consists of a steel cuirass (back and breastplate) with or without a fauld, tasset or

culet, mail skirt, gorget, pauldron (later versions with roundels, besagews, couters), vambraces, and gauntlets. For the purposes of these tables, a helmet is purchased separately. Four Mirror armor (Charina Armor), a type of partial plate armor used in Asia and Eastern Europe up to the 17th century with a large, plate shaped like a (round or rectangle) mirror situated at the abdomen of the wearer, with 3 additional plates covering the sides and back, is of this type of armor. There are particular cultural connotations regarding the warding of the evil eye, particularly in Western Asia, that are taken into consideration with the design of mirror armor.

“Three-quarters” plate, Munition Armor of Savoyard style (early 17th century) Heavy Armor:

Laminar/Banded Plate: Laminar armor is made from overlapping rows or bands of armor plates, as opposed to lamellar, where smaller plates are laced together. The famous Lorica Segmentata is representative of this category of armor. While the Lorica Segmentata was only used for a relatively brief period of time (about 9 BC to 3rd century AD), likely due to the difficulty in maintaining this type of armor during the Migration Period, other forms of Laminar armor remained in use until superseded by plate armor in the 16th century due to the invention of, amongst other innovations, the trip hammer. Later examples of Laminar armor in the 16th and 17th centuries sometimes used sliding rivets to connect the metal plates, forming an animated, highly mobile armor, or anima, an Italian invention. Late examples of samurai armor (those that aren’t lamellar, that is) are of this type of armor.

Lorica Segmentata

A word on “Banded Mail”: in the 19th century, antiquarians such as Fairholt and Hewitt believed that a type of predominately Eastern armor with banded plates (sometimes of leather) sewn on top of mail was worn in ancient times, as shown on a number of effigies and tomb artwork. No surviving artifact suggests that this was the case (compare with plated mail below, where the plates are embedded within the mail, not sewn on top). Much aside from the fact that many depictions had artistic license, those examples were either mostly laminar or splinted armor (see: the Behterets of the Golden Horde), but it remained in popular consciousness (probably because of its inclusion in prior editions of D&D equipment tables).

Lorica Segmentata – Trajan’s Column (113 AD)

Laminar Armor, William Herbet, Earl of Pembroke (1501-1570) Plated Mail: Plated Mail, also sometimes referred to as Splinted armor, is a type of mail with (usually rectangular) embedded metal plates and was particularly common in Asia and Eastern Europe after the 14th century. Different combinations resemble brigandine, lamellar, or mirror armor. It was used by the Ottomans in Mamluk barding and armor. By the end of the 15th century, this type of armor began to supplant Lamellar (a type of armor that, at first glance, looks very similar) in most cultures that produced it.

Plated and Splinted Mail, bottom left. Transitional armor (plated jack over mail, plated greaves), bottom right.

Plated Mail Armor and Barding, Syrian, Iranian and Turkish, 1450-1550, Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY Plate Armor: Full suits of plate armor developed out of 13th century European coats of plate over mail, slowly adding more and more plate, reaching a peak during the late middle ages and renaissance period. The wearer remained

relatively agile and could jump and run. While any armor does hinder mobility to some degree, custom-made plate armor (though, see Munition Armor, below), distributed weight across the wearer’s body (unlike mail), and allowed a great deal of mobility. It is, in general, more difficult to make armor out of large, shaped plates than smaller ones, so the development of plate armor is intimately tied to improvements in metallurgy as well as the development of

massive water-wheel powered hammers, known as trip or helve hammers. Though these tools were in use in Rome and China as early as in the 1st century AD (and were important in the proliferation of Laminar armors such as lorica segmentata), the crises of the 3rd century, collapse of the Han, and the Migration era disrupted industrial production of this level throughout much of Eurasia until roughly the 12th century.

Full Plate Armor and Barding. Sigismund II Augustus (1548-1569)

Quality of Arms and Armor: As is the case often with archeological ruins, those artifacts that survive sometimes do so because an individual found that it had sufficient worth to be kept in good condition, whether because of its significance or for its craftsmanship or sentimental reasons. Poorly or quickly made armor, would often be recycled for

their materials. What happens is that the surviving examples of arms and armor tends to be of fairly high quality, and usually tailor-made for persons of great wealth and power. Apart from some examples of mass burial where the looters did not remove armor (see, particularly, the Battle of Visby), we usually don’t find, for example, shoddy plate armor, with chunks of ill-fitting steel almost haphazardly riveted as word of a siege arrives. That level of craftsmanship, however, would be the norm, particularly in less developed areas. In addition to Masterwork versions of arms and armor, there are also Poor quality versions, as well as mass-produced Munitions armor.

Legal, Cultural, and Practical Issues (Messing around with a Messer): A Messer is a long-bladed (~20 inches), single edge weapon often with a short concave edge on the blunted end toward the tip and a flaring Nagel perpendicular to the cross guard. To the modern viewer it looks like a sword, but because of the construction of its tang it was, by Germanic law, a “knife”, and thus, unlike a sword, legal for the common peasant to wear. For our purposes, the point of the Messer is that the considerations for what weapon to have is not simply down to “how much damage it does” or how well it works with a given class feature. Historically, legal and cultural traditions played a huge role, as did how heavy and comfortable a weapon was to wear. People didn’t walk around everyday wielding halberds unless they wanted to attract a good deal of unwanted

attention. For instance, take the famous Hispanic Gladius. Gladius have a prominent curvature to the distal point of the blade, the famous characteristic of the weapon. What was interesting was the later development of triangle-shaped bits towards the cross-guard of the weapon. What were they for? Greater integrity? Better weight distribution? Well, as it turns out, your scabbard has to be as wide as the widest edge of the blade, and if the blade closer to the hilt is thinner than the tip, then it rattles around in the scabbard a lot. And as any modern soldier will tell you, loose gear is extraordinarily annoying. So this is fixed by making the hilt end a bit wider.

Wearability and comfort is actually an important consideration, as the vast majority of militia and drawn up soldiers in the ancient and medieval world (apart from career soldiers, of course) would likely never get into a single battlefield fight in their entire lives. (Sidenote: this is why spiked armor didn’t exist historically.) It is also worth noting that swords, particularly one-handed swords, were secondary weapons throughout the ancient world, similar to a pistol (in both functionality and public fascination) to a modern soldier today; generally a combination of some reach weapon (either with or without a shield) would be the primary battlefield instrument for the majority of foot-soldiers. The following is a collection of random tables to generate mores and laws regarding the availability and

acceptability of particular arms and armor. Law & Order: Most civilizations in the ancient and medieval world made it illegal to own weapons that D&D classify as “martial”. That is, any weapon that was clearly a battlefield weapon is not something you want to arm your peasantry with. Farmers revolted with pitchforks and farm implements, not greatswords and voulge-fauchards.

Conversely, some states had laws requiring its citizens to be armed to a certain degree. By the late medieval period metalworking in Western Europe was sufficiently advanced and widespread that an average farmer could not only afford a sword, but could, depending on his kingdom/state, be required to own a sword. To determine what customs are acceptable in any given polity, choose or roll once from each of the following

categories: civilization, economy, and twice on the following: glories, and threat. Add together the Law modifiers and check the Law table to see what is generally acceptable. Civilization

Roll d6 Type/Example Law

1 Up to Neolithic. Tribal organization 0

2 Calcolithic to Bronze Age Collapse. Tribal, city-state organization.

1

3 Classical Antiquity. City-states, small Kingdoms and Empires.

2

4 Migration Period to early Medieval. Cities in Kingdoms and Empires.

3

5 High Medieval to late Medieval. Cities in Kingdoms and Empires

3

6 Early Renaissance. Early Countries. 4

Economy

Roll d6 Type/Example Law

1 Hunter-gatherer. 0

2 Agrarian, post-agricultural revolution, pre-history. 1

3 Centralized “Palace” economies. Presence of Locks in archeological sites.

1

4 Coinage. 2

5 Merchant-class citizens. 3

6 Guilds or Merchant republics 4

Civilization and Economy together give a rough description of the size and complexity of a given polity.

Glories: what does

Roll d6 Type/Example Law

1 War -3

2

3

4

5

6

Materials for Arms and Armor: D&D generally assumes that the arms and armor presented were forged from the most common materials in Western Europe during the period in which those artifacts were found. That is, we see mostly hides and leathers for lighter armors, and some form of iron or steel for most heavier armor and arms. This is,

however, a fairly narrow band of time, and throughout history, various different materials were used. Not all of these materials have different mechanical rules, however, and (apart from more mythological items) most are fairly minor and probably will not come up in many campaigns. Some historically rare materials are included as well, as well as extrapolations of mythological materials. All iron and steel items have an AC of 19 (DMG p. 246) Note: the “material” used for weapons refers primarily for its striking proportion; a steel-hafted mace and a wooden-hafted mace with langets would generally function identically in the granularity of this game. Bone:

Bone, while tremendously dense, made for a relatively poor material for war once iron became widespread. In pre-historical times, however, elk or deer bone is known to have been used in (probably ceremonial/burial) armor and bone chips were certainly used as hunting implements. Many mythologies consider the idea of living creatures to have a certain special spirituality separate from non-living, and as such, items made out of Bone may be particularly receptive to certain magicks. Characters creating magic items out of Bone can spend double the usual gold worth (25 -> 50gp) per day to craft it so long as the character can justify the particular magical connotation of doing so (ex: a bone staff for a necromancer). Bone items (common) have an AC of 15 (DMG p. 246).

Wood: Sharpened hardwood can make for a sufficient edge in areas of the world where metallurgy is either not as developed or ores are very difficult to come by. While a wooden weapon may be expected to be damaged hitting against steel weapons, it is actually quite difficult to sufficiently damage a well-made wooden weapon of any sufficient thickness to the point where it would become unserviceable. Furthermore, when wielded in hand there is generally sufficient “give” in the wrist to dissipate most of the energy anyway. Many indigenous tribes in Oceania would supplement wood weapons with Shark teeth or Obsidian. Wood items (common) have an AC of 15 (DMG p. 246)

Stone: Stone has been in constant use by various hominin species for at least 3.4 million years and stone tools do not become supplanted until the advent of metalworking between 6,000 and 2,000 BCE, at the very edge of history. Stone items (common) have an AC of 17 (DMG p. 246) The following are some stone items that may be found in prehistoric settings:

Name Cost Damage Damage Type Weight Properties Approx. dates

Simple Melee

Oldowan Chooper or Hammerstone

- 1d4 Bludgeoning or Slashing

1 lb. Light, thrown (20/60)

2.6 mya – 1.7 mya

Acheulean Handaxe

- 1d4 Slashing 1 lb. Light 1.76 mya – 100,000 years ago

Mousterian Flake Knives

- 1d4 Slashing or Piercing

1 lb. Light 600,000-40,000 years ago

Aurignacian Core Blade

- 1d6 Slashing 2 lbs. Light 380,000 years ago-29,000 BC

Magdalenain Microlith Spears

- 1d6 Piercing 2 lbs. Light, thrown (20/60)

~17,000 BC -12,000 BC

Notes:

Larger stone implements from any time period that require one or two hands to use may be counted as Clubs or Greatclubs. Cost is a tricky issue; we know very little about social structures in pre-history, but the quality of workmanship of some items (see: the quite sophisticated equipment and clothing on Otzi) seem to indicate that, at the latest, professional specialization for things such as tanning, cobbling, and toolmaking were

fairly widespread by 30,000-40,000 BC. That is to say, a well crafted Flake Knife isn’t just something you pick out of the ground; it’s had some specialized worksmanship done to it. It should be noted that the Oldowan tool industry and most probably the Acheulean industry were not a modern human (as in homo sapiens sapiens) invention. Acheulean tools were the dominant technology for the vast majority of human history. Mousterian tools were a style of predominantly flint tools associated primarily by Homo neanderthalensis in Europe that were also used by anatomically modern humans in North Africa and the Levant. Roughly 200,000 years ago, humans became “anatomically modern”, meaning that their appearance would have been roughly consistent with the present array of phenotypes. Around this period there is the

appearance of stone blades (where a hard hammer percussion stone chips away the stone and leaves a sharpened core) as opposed to the prior use of sharpened flakes (from the same process as just described). Composite tools of stone spearpoints and arrowheads appear closer to the beginning of historical records, and required greater skill in manufacturing small flakes. Obsidian: In certain cultures near volcanically active regions, obsidian is often added to wooden clubs or other weapons due to their sharpness. While very brittle, it fractures with extraordinarily sharp edges, which can break off and become imbedded in a target. The production of flakes requires a decent amount of skill. Weapons (uncommon) made out of Obsidian deal slashing or piercing damage, even if the weapon is

bludgeoning. On a critical hit against fleshy targets (DM’s discretion), the hit target must take a Fortitude save vs. DC 14 or suffer 1 HP damage every minute from embedded shards of obsidian. Removing the shards requires a Medicine check vs. DC12 and 10 minutes. Copper: During the transition between the Stone Age (Neolithic) to the Bronze Age (c.6,000-5,000 BC), there is a gradual introduction of the use of Copper in cultures throughout Europe and Western Asia. This period is sometimes referred to as Calcolithic (literally “copper stone”). Copper is relatively abundant, its ores relatively pure, and is easy to work with. The civilizations that produced copper artifacts, sitting just at the edge of history, were already quite complicated and developed; copper artifacts from ~3,000 BC show casting, cold forging, polishing, and sharpening techniques.

Bronze: When modern historians refer to “bronze” artifacts, they are referencing a diversity of “copper alloy” pieces with varying compositions. Bronze is generally copper with 12% or less tin, though earlier artifacts from the 5th to 3rd millennium BC were typically of copper and arsenic. Except for two known ancient sites (in Thailand and Iran), copper and tin ore deposits are not found together, so the presence of Bronze historically required trade across substantial distances and its production would be indicative of the formation of city-states. Bronze blades typically have lower tin percentages, typically around 5%. Bronze is generally harder than wrought iron and not susceptible to rust but was supplanted by iron because iron was both easier to locate and easier to process.

Brass: Brass is a copper alloy consisting of copper and zinc. In pre-industrial times, brass was made when heated zinc vapor reacted with copper in a cementation process. The use of brass was fairly widespread in arms and armor throughout “classical antiquity”, though not much is known about its use during the migration period thereafter. Brass artifacts with zinc contents over 12% have a distinctly golden color to them. The oldest deliberately manufactured artifacts (~3,000 BC), however, have zinc percentages much lower than what would be expected from the cementation process. This is likely what ancient writers referred to as Orichalcum (see below).

Orichalcum: “Mountain copper”, attested to by Critias (460-403 BC) is likely a type of brass (copper and zinc alloy), possibly at first naturally occurring in rare amounts, possibly similar to Aich’s alloy (60% copper, 36% zinc, 1% tin, 2% iron) (used in the marine industry for its resistance to corrosion and toughness) or to Gunmetal (88% copper, 10% tin, 2% zinc). Regardless of its formulation, it is often referred to as having a reddish-

golden hue and compared to contemporary materials (bronze, mostly), would have had significantly less friction when slid against another material. Iron: Iron-based weaponry seems to have had scattered origins throughout Egypt, India, and Mesopotamia, though few early artifacts remain, due to corrosion. Some of the earlier implements were actually meteoric iron (from their high nickel content) and thus not manufactured. The production of iron seems to have begun in the intermediate bronze age (~2000-3000 BC) but did not displace bronze for several centuries. Early iron was typically produced in a Bloomery, a simple type of furnace that heats the raw iron ore (iron oxides mixed with silicates) above the melting temperature of the impurities, but not of the iron itself,

whereupon the impurities are separated into a slag and the two (the slag and iron, called sponge iron) are hammered (consolidated/shingled) into wrought iron. These bloomeries had been used for some centuries (if not millennia) to produce bronze items as well. Wrought iron is the iron that is referred to in Western histories, as cast iron was not introduced into Western Europe from East Asia until the 15th century. The invention of cast iron is likely related to the relatively poor quality of iron ores in Asia, and estimated yearly industrial output of iron of the contemporaneous Roman Empire and Han Dynasty (~85,000 T and ~5,000 T, respectively) reflects that (Craddock, 2008 and Wagner, 2001). Cast iron is the product of allowing more carbon (2-4%) into melting iron, and is usually the product of blast furnaces, which supplanted bloomeries by the Medieval period. Cast iron is more brittle than wrought iron.

Ancient Steel: Firstly, it should be noted that all the steels that are used in historical references are very much different than the steel that modern readers appreciate today. These materials are from a time before the invention of blister steel or crucible steel in the 17th century. Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon (usually ~2% by weight), sometimes in the presence of other elements. Compared to iron it has higher tensile strength (it can be stretched longer before breaking) but lower ductility (that is, steel will crack or shatter more easily). Steel could be produced by improperly removing the impurities when producing iron, thereby allowing some carbon to remain. By around 1800 to 1400 BC steel making became an industry for many civilizations. This early bloomery produced steel was supplanted

in more complex civilizations by the last few centuries BC as techniques such as quenching and crucible production allowed for higher carbon-content steels. Pattern Welding, better known as folded steel, most often identified with the Celts, Vikings, and, much, much later, the Japanese, was the result of necessity due to inconsistent and often unsuitable iron outputs from bloomeries, which was related to poor iron ore quality. After the Norman conquest of England in 1066 (roughly denoting the end of the Viking Age), pattern welding slowly fell out of favor in Europe as better iron ore deposits were exploited. This type of steel remained the steel that most Asian civilizations used straight through to the industrial age. Wotz Steel:

Wotz Steel, from Southern India (Tamil Nandu, in particular) and Sri Lanka, was renowned for its sharpness and toughness. Known as Seric Iron at the time, this steel had a high carbon content (about 6.67% for cementite) and clusters of Fe3C particles increased its hardness and at the same time produced a swirling banding pattern (of intermixed ferrite and cementite) which would later be attributed to Damascus steel. Wotz steel was heavily favored and traded between India and the Middle East and Europe, and remained an expensive source of high-quality steel throughout the middle ages prior to the wide proliferation of Toledo steel. Toledo Steel/Hard Steel:

Toledo Steel, from Toledo, Spain, was famed for it’s very high quality alloy and unusual hardness. Toledo had been a steelmaking center since at least 500 BC, and its steel was highly valued amongst Roman Legions, but, as with many industries, became isolated during the Migration Period. It isn’t until around the time of the Hundred Year’s War (1337-1453) that this form of hard steel becomes widespread and manufactured in mass quantities.

Toledo Steel is the most common steel that Western medieval cultures would have used and typical of the steel used in arms and armor in D&D. Damascus Steel: Based on Wootz Steel, Damascus Steel was reputed to be extraordinarily tough, resilient and sharp. An industry for this type of metalworking thrived in Damascus between the 3rd and 17th centuries AD. After this period production steadily declined and the process to produce these blades has since been lost, due to a combination of loss of trade routes, the British Raj, and, perhaps most interestingly, the increasing purity of the iron ores that lacked the trace elements that seemed to be required to make it. Damascus Steel items (rare) have an AC of 20.

Meteoric Iron/Sky Metal/Thunderbolt Iron: Metallic meteoroids were held in high regard across many peoples and civilizations both for their religious/spiritual connotations and for the presence of elements that are otherwise rare in the Earth’s crust (particularly nickel and iridium). It is also, apart from very minor amounts of Telluric iron (of which there is only a single major deposit in the world, in Greenland), the only source of naturally occurring native iron metal (that is, non-oxidized iron) on Earth’s surface. Prior to Iron Age, Meteoric iron was the primary source of iron that could be made into tools and often was the province of nobility and the elite. As such, it takes on a mythological status in the eyes of even medieval viewers.

Meteoric arms and armor (very rare) have an AC of 21 D&D Classic Materials: just for funsies and completeness. Mithril: Mithril owes its popularity partially to the fact that the Tolkien estate never trademarked the name, and thus we have references to it in D&D. It is described as being a silvery substance that could be beaten like copper, polished like glass, and yet was lighter and harder than tempered steel (paraphrased, LOTR, Book II, Chapter 4). Items made out of Mithril have an AC of 21 (DMG p.246). Armor (medium or heavy), uncommon. A Mithril

chain or breastplate can be worn under normal clothes. Mithril armor does not have DA (stealth) or strength checks. Furthermore (as in, not in RAW), Mithril items weigh half their normal listed amount. Adamant/Adamantine: Adamantine has historically been used in reference to a wide variety of particularly hard materials, regardless of their actual composition. By the Medieval period Adamantine became traditionally regarded as a reference to diamond, and also confused/corroborated with lodestones, which was noted at the time by contemporary scholars such as Thomas Browne (Pseudodoxia Epidemica, 1672). Armor (medium or heavy, uncommon) made out of Adamantine have +1 DR (all) and ignore critical hits (they become normal hits). The armor itself has AC 23 (DMG p. 246) Weapons (uncommon) made out of Adamantine

Dwarven Metal: Armor (heavy, very rare) made out of Dwarven Metal has +2 to AC. In addition, if an effect moves you against your will you may use your reaction to reduce the distance traveled by 10 ft. Dragonscale: Armor (medium, heavy, very rare) made out of a dragon’s scales have +1 AC, and have advantage on saving throws against Frightful Presence and breath weapons of dragons depending on color. Additionally, as

an action, you can magically sense the distance and direction of the closest dragon of the same type as the armor. This action cannot be used again until the next dawn.