Armor
Armor increases your character’s defenses, but some medium or heavy armor can hamper movement. If you want to increase your character’s defense beyond the protection your armor provides, they can use a shield. Armor protects your character only while they’re wearing it.
- Armor Class Your Armor Class (AC) measures how well you can defend against attacks. When a creature attacks you, your Armor Class is the DC for that attack roll. Use your proficiency bonus for the category (light, medium, or heavy) or the specific type of armor you’re wearing. If you’re not wearing armor, use your proficiency in unarmored defense. Armor Class = 10 + Dexterity modifier (up to your armor’s Dex Cap) + proficiency bonus + armor’s item bonus to AC + other bonuses + penalties
- Category The armor’s category—Unarmored, Light Armor, Medium Armor, or Heavy Armor—indicates which proficiency bonus you use while wearing the armor.
- AC Bonus This number is the item bonus you add for the armor when determining Armor Class.
- Dexterity Modifier Cap (Dex Cap) This number is the maximum amount of your Dexterity modifier that can apply to your AC while you are wearing a given suit of armor. For example, if you have a Dexterity modifier of +4 and you are wearing a suit of Half-Plate , you apply only a +1 bonus from your Dexterity modifier to your AC while wearing that armor.
- Check Penalty While wearing your armor, you take this penalty to Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks, except for those that have the attack trait. If you meet the armor’s Strength threshold (see Strength below), you don’t take this penalty.
- Speed Penalty While wearing a suit of armor, you take the penalty listed in this entry to your Speed, as well as to any other movement types you have, such as a climb Speed or swim Speed, to a minimum Speed of 5 feet. If you meet the armor’s Strength threshold (see below), you reduce the penalty by 5 feet.
- Strength This entry indicates the Strength score at which you are strong enough to overcome some of the armor’s penalties. If your Strength is equal to or greater than this value, you no longer take the armor’s check penalty, and you decrease the Speed penalty by 5 feet (to no penalty if the penalty was –5 feet, or to a –5-foot penalty if the penalty was –10 feet).
- Bulk This entry gives the armor's Bulk, assuming you're wearing the armor and distributing its weight across your body. A suit of armor that's carried usually has 1 more Bulk than what's listed here (or 1 Bulk total for armor of light Bulk). An armor's Bulk is increased or decreased if it's sized for creatures that aren't Small or Medium in size, following the rules here.
- Group Each type of medium and heavy armor belongs to an armor group, which classifies it with similar types of armor. Some abilities reference armor groups, typically to grant armor specialization effects.
- Armor Traits Armor can have a number of traits.
- Armor Specialization Effects Certain class features can grant you additional benefits with certain armors. This is called an armor specialization effect. The exact effect depends on which armor group your armor belongs to, as listed below. Only Medium and Heavy Armors have armor specialization effects.
— Source Core Rulebook pg. 274 2.0
Suits of armor can be crafted from precious materials or infused with magic to grant them abilities exceeding those of typical armor. Many suits of magic armor are created by etching runes onto them, as described on page 580. The magic armor stat block lists the Price and attributes of the most common armors you can make with fundamental runes. Other special suits of armor might be made of precious materials, and some are specially crafted items all on their own.
Donning and Removing Armor
Getting in and out of armor is time consuming—so make sure you’re wearing it when you need it! Donning and removing armor are both activities involving many Interact actions. It takes 1 minute to don light armor, 5 minutes to don medium or heavy armor, and 1 minute to remove any armor.
Materials
Most suits of armor and weapons are made from ordinary, commonly available materials like iron, leather, steel, and wood. If you’re not sure what a suit of armor is made of, the GM determines the details.
Some armor, shields, and weapons are instead made of precious materials. These often have inherent supernatural properties. Cold Iron, for example, which harms
Fey, and silver can damage werecreatures.
Damaging Armor
Your armor’s statistics are based on the material it’s predominantly made from. It’s not likely your armor will take damage.
Armor Alternatives
If you don't want to wear armor, or you're trained in only unarmored defense, you can wear either
Explorer's Clothing or bracers of armor. Explorer's clothing can be etched with runes just like armor can, so it can provide item bonuses to AC or saves.
Bracers of Armor give a +1 item bonus to AC with a Dex modifier cap of +5, and they also grant a bonus to saves.
Precious Material Armor
Suits of armor made of precious materials are more expensive and sometimes grant special effects. You can make
Leather Armor out of
Dragonhide, wooden armor out of
Darkwood, and metal armor out of any precious materials except for darkwood. Because armor’s Bulk is reduced when the armor is worn, use its carried Bulk when determining its material Price.
Basic Magic Armor
The most common special armors are suits of armor with some combination of
Potency Runes and
Resilient Runes.
Specific Magic Armor
These suits of armor have abilities far different from what can be gained by etching runes. A specific magic armor lists its fundamental runes, which you can upgrade, add, or transfer as normal. You can’t etch any property runes onto a specific armor that it doesn’t already have.
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