Armor

A coat made of thick felt, which can be worn as under-armor or as stand-alone armor. This is essentially a very primitive type of gambeson, it offers fairly good protection but the armor itself is vulnerable to destruction.

A mail byrnie was a corselet or vest of mail, covering the torso, abdomen, shoulders, and sometimes a small part of the upper arms. Mail Byrnies in antiquity often featured a second layer protecting the shoulders in the form of a mail collar or shoulder piece. Mail isn’t really effective without some kind of padding worn underneath so it’s assumed that mail here will be worn with a light coat armor or aketon. For more information see the entry on Mail in the Armor Glossary, and also see Mail Habergeon and Mail Hauberk).

Also sometimes referred to as ‘half harness’, this means armor which includes a helmet and gorget, breast plate or cuirass, pauldrons to protect the shoulder, and articulated vambraces to protect the arms, and faulds to protect the hips, but there is little or no thigh protection (sometimes short tassets). This armor was made of good steel with a heat treatment has been ‘proofed’.

This is a special type of textile armor made of so called “Buff Leather” (buffalo rawhide) over padding, in the form of a long coat with sleeves. These were worn in the 17th century.

Heavier than an ordinary cuirass, typically bullet proof, these began to appear in the 16th Century, and were used by heavy cavalry through World War I. The shape of a heavy cuirass could be of the ‘gloubus’ type, the box-shaped type, or relatively form-fitting.

sometimes munitions grade i.e. ‘one size fits all’, sometimes custom-made for wealthy aristocrats. This armor covers the head, torso, shoulders, arms, and thighs down to the knees but not the lower legs.

Not a coat at all but rather a sleeveless padded doublet of 5-10 layers of linen, fustian, or canvas, quilted with some padding like horse-hair or wool. Primarily intended for use as under-armor, makes the wearing of a mail byrnie or iron corselet much more comfortable and enhances the effectiveness of the armor considerably (+1 to DR of any metal armor). These can also be worn over a byrnie or a cuirass, which has the same effect plus it provides extra protection for the metal armor (this ac

A cuirass with specific type of shape featuring vertical central ridge, called the tapul, which split the middle of the breast plate like sloped armor on a tank. This type was very good protection from both missiles and lance strikes.

The Japanese adopted the peascod cuirass from Portuguese soldiers, in many cases incorporating foreign made cuirasses into their own ‘modern armor’ panoplies (Toudei-Gusoku), and also copying the design. They called the peascod breast plate specifically Hatomune dô or ‘pigeon breast armor’

This is a heavier, somewhat crude version of three quarters harness which began to appear in the 17th Century, and was designed to be literally bullet-proof. This heavier armor was usually made of iron, and much thicker than earlier 15th Century armor. This remained in limited use by some heavy cavalry and (more rarely) pikemen, (typically officers, bodyguards, or standard bearers) through the 18th Century. By this time the ability to make steel armor had been nearly lost and to compensate this iron armor was so thick that it was significantly heavier than a full panoply was in the early 16th Century. That is why armor of this type was usually only worn by cavalry.

A heavy sleeveless padded doublet consisting of 10-30 layers of linen plus padding such as felt, hemp or horse hair. Contrary to the name this is a sleeveless vest not an actual coat. This type is meant as standalone armor usually for common soldiers, can be fairly effective protection. If worn over a cuirass or byrnie (as it sometimes was) it confers +1 to the DR but Armor Check penalties stack.