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Another textile armor similar to the aketon, in the form of a long quilted coat with long sleeves and extending to the knees, made of several layers of linen with some kind of filler material like horse hair or felt. Very good quality gambesons would be made of silk (these would rate an additional +1 DR). Like an aketon, a gambeson could be worn under or over mail or plate armor (or both) conferring a +1 DR to any armor which does not already incorporate a gambeson in the description. If worn over armor which already includes a gambeson underneath, the DR and the Armor Check penalty are both cumulative.

This is a simple helmet (see Iron Helmet), worn with a heavy gambeson. This heavy gambeson is typically a quilted coat made of 10-30 layers of linen and stuffed with horse hair or felt. The thickness varied on each part of the body, more exposed areas being thicker with more layers, and there may be holes or slits in the armpits to enable movement. Sometimes there was an outer layer of doeskin to make it waterproof, and pitch is also known to be applied for the same reason in at least some areas. Fancier gambesons could be made of better linen or even silk in fewer (8-15) layers. (DR 4 armor check -2, speed 30, cost 50 SP)

The first row (with the high value) represents the protective values of the Helmet, with DR 2, the second value represents the protective value of the Gambeson. See Armor Table Key, Layered armors for more about how this works.

This is a mail hauberk worn over a light gambeson, with a mail coif, mail chausses (leggings) and mail (mitten) gauntlets, and a helmet or helm, and an aketon worn over the mail. The various pieces overlap somewhat which provides extra protection. The hauberk is often reinforced with a second piece of mail either on the chest and / or shoulders.

Cap-a-pied (full coverage) Mail panoply first appeared around the 11th Century AD, peaked in the 12th Century, and remained in use through the 14th. This type of armor was often used during the first Crusade. It was common to also wear a jupon or aketon over the mail armor, as represented here. The helmets worn with this armor often included a partial helmet with a facemask, or alternately in a cavalry context a great-helm worn over a bascinet or a cervelliere. The first row represents the helmet and the thicker parts of the armor where there are usually two layers of mail plus the aketon. The second row represents a single layer of