Introduction
Sufficiently Safe Shirts is a supplement for Pathfinder 1e written by yours truly. It is designed to better model armor as it works in real life. Why would you want to do that? Pathfinder, D&D, and every other RPG on the face of the earth says armor slows you down and limits your mobility. Totally not how it works.
Armor is a fairly simple concept: wearable garments designed to prevent certain harms from befalling those who don them. The execution of this concept is complicated, as one would expect. Many people believe the complexity of armor lies in its use when this is not the case. Armor is easy to use. It has to be, someone is going to fight in it, and they had better be able to kill their opponent while wearing the armor.
Yes, some armor, such as late gothic plate, required assistants to help don and remove the armor. This didn't make the armor harder to fight in. Once on the body, properly fitted plate armor is hardly encumbering at all. While a suit of armor of this type (gothic era plate) does indeed weigh approximately 110 pounds (50 kg), and does indeed require the wearer to burn about twice the calories they would otherwise, here's a video of a man performing all kinds of athletic and acrobatic feats in plate armor.
Why yes. He was running in a foot race, possibly a marathon, in plate, in that video. But how can this be if armor makes you burn twice the energy? Certainly it would be so hard to move and you do- Bro. It's not any worse than being a body builder, football player, or obese person. Many (perhaps most) humans carry a ton of "extra" weight around all the time and still run marathons, climb the alps, translocate the hand egg towards the enemy gate, and more.
Permanent weight such as extra muscle or fat isn't the be-all-end-all of this either. Backpackers and campers routinely carry 80 pounds on their backs miles into the wilderness. Soldiers march all day carrying over 80 pounds in their packs, with another 40 pounds of gear including body armor, weapon, ammo, and a bunch of crap their squad dumped on them. Are those two groups just pooped at the end of a 20 mile march? No. They have enough energy to set up tents, cook food, dig a latrine, and tell spooky stories until late into the night. Then they wake up at the ass-crack of dawn and do the same thing for another 3 days in a row.
It's almost like strength and endurance training trivializes carrying heavy things around.
So why then in RPGs does wearing armor slow you down, mess with your ability to perform simple tasks, and otherwise jack up your character for having the audacity to want to not be transfixed by arrows? That's part "Everyone just ripped off Dungeons and Dragons, and Mr. Gygax came up with his game in the pre-internet dark ages." and part "Muh game balance!"
As you can probably tell from my tone, I do not find game balance a compelling reason to have armor do things armor dosn't actually do. There are plenty of other way to balance armor without making it so terrible that real life knights would rather go into battle without any armor than use RPG armor.
The following armor supplement draws on my own experience fighting in armor as a HEMA fighter, historic records, experimental archaeology, and scientific study. It is intended to create an armor system which is realistic, focuses on properties rather than stats, and gives players more choices than "Humm, leaf armor or Lamalar?".
Armor Rules
Armor Categories
Armor comes in several categories. These are:
- Armored Clothing
- Light Armor
- Medium Armor
- Heavy Armor
- Super-Heavy Armor
Light, Medium, and Heavy armor are familiar to everyone, but what is armored clothing and super-heavy armor? Armored clothing is what it says on the tin; clothing that has been modified to add protection for the wearer. It is typically lacking the features of a proper suit of armor, but will still stop you getting shanked for a klondike bar. Super-Heavy armor is of a protective class beyond heavy armor; it is mostly magical (or technological) in nature, but represents anything which is mundane and also overbuilt to hell and back (Or as the Engineer's say "Skookum as frig".)
Armor Proficiency
Characters are either proficient, or not proficient, with armor in these categories. Everyone is considered to be proficient in armored clothing. Each proficiency is individualized and carries no benefits to other categories of armor. Profishency dosn't allow you to wear and use armor of that category. Everyone can wear and use any armor (other than Super-Heavy armor), but as they are not trained with that armor they are penalized. The penalties are as follows:
Wearing light armor without proficiency imposes a -2 penalty to endurance checks, and a -2 penalty to all Dex based skills (as well as Use Magic Device).
Wearing medium armor without proficiency imposes a -4 penalty to endurance checks, a -4 penalty to all Dex based skills (as well as Use Magic Device), and a -2 penalty to attack rolls.
Wearing heavy armor without proficiency imposes a -6 penalty to endurance checks, a -6 penalty to all Dex based skills (as well as Use Magic Device), a -2 penalty to all strength based skills, and a -4 penalty to attack rolls.
Wearing Super-Heavy armor without proficiency imposes a -8 penalty to endurance checks, a -8 penalty to all Dex based skills (as well as Use Magic Device), a -4 penalty to all strength based skills, and a -8 penalty to attack rolls.
Lastly, all armor applies its weight to carry weight (ie unproficient characters must count the weight of their armor towards their carry capacity while proficient characters need not) and applies the Restricted Movement condition for as long as it is worn.
Restricted Movement
Your movement is hampered, be it by restrictive clothing or armor which you are unused to wearing, half-removed bonds / manacles, or any other means. So long as your moment remains constricted you critically fail on both a 1 and a 2. Additionally, you treat an opponent's AC as 4 points higher for the purpose of confirming a critical hit.
Armor
Armored Clothing
Armored Clothing is clothing which has been modified to offer mild protection from harm. It's intended to appear to be ordinary clothing and wearable in normal daily life. Its meant for individuals who fear they may be attacked, and for use in the uniforms of law enforcement officers, protecting officials, and other individuals who require protection but wish to remain inconspicuous.
Armored clothing offers minimal protection, and nothing else. It is not possible to add additional features or attachments to armored clothing, but armored clothing can sometimes be used as an addon for other armor.
Armored Coat
Armored coats are long coats which have had metal plates sewn into the lining over the vital areas, and are made from many layers of linin fabric. They are similar to gambersons, though thinner and lighter. An armored coat can be donned or shed as a move action. An armored coat can be worn over any light armor to grant DR 1/magic.
Armored kilt
Armored Kilts are kilts made from multiple layers of linin with metal plates sewn between the layers for some if not all of their pleats. They primarily protect the upper legs and groin. An armored kilt can be added to any set of armor to grant a 50% chance to negate bleed damage when it is inflicted. An armored kilt does not provide this bonus on its own, but does prevent the wearer from getting struck in the genitals.
Armored Sash
An armored sash is a sash with a layer or fine chainmail or small metal plates sewn within it. It can be wrapped around the body to serve as armor, or even a coif. It can be worn with any armor, granting a +1 bonus to AC vs critical confirmation rolls when used in this way.
Hide Shirt
A shirt made from leather with thick pieces of hide covering the vital areas to protect them.
Plated Clothing
A clever arrangement of hexagonal plates made from iron or hardwood and sewn to cloth, granting the wearer greater flexibility than that provided by many armors that afford similar defense. The plates may be left exposed or hidden by a layer of cloth. It can be worn with any armor, granting a +1 bonus to AC vs critical confirmation rolls when used in this way.
Padded Clothing
Padded clothing combines heavy, quilted cloth and layers of densely packed stuffing to create a cheap and basic protection in a package which looks more like clothing than armor. It is typically worn by those not intending to face lethal combat or those who wish their maneuverability to be impacted as little as possible.
Reinforced tunic
A simple tunic containing thick chords, cables, or fine chains which are sewen or woven into the tunic to protect vital areas. It can be worn with any armor, granting a +1 bonus to AC vs critical confirmation rolls when used in this way.
Armored Robes
A set of thick robes which contain hardened leather plates (or sometimes hardwood or metal plates) that protect the vital areas, while the thick loose layers of cloth make it very difficult to stab or cut the wearer. Armored Robes can be worn over any other armor to grant Resist 5 Cold.
Light Armor
Light Armor is the least protective, cheapest, and lest encumbering armor possible. It's a step up from armored clothing in that it is able to have features designed to mitigate certain specific types of damage. Light Armor offers decent protection for basic threats, and is an economical choice for many armies. It is possible to add additional features and attachments to light armor to augment its defencive properties.
Chain Shirt
A simple shirt made of interlocking rings of metal. While highly resistant to cutting, slashing, and chopping attacks, chain armor is heavy, baggy, and its weight cannot be evenly distributed, making it difficult to move in. Chain shirts grant DR 2/piercing, but impose a -2 penalty to attack rolls and dex-based skill checks if more than a 5 foot step has been taken that round.
Lamellar (leather)
A full body suit of armor, or full length coat, constructed by overlapping hardened leather plates atop a leather or linin backing material. While quite protective and cheep, lamalar is vulnerable to piercing attacks. Lamalar grants a +2 bonus to dex-based skills due to being highly flexable and very light but is treated as having 2 less AC vs piercing attacks.
Lamellar Cuirass
A vest-like garment created from overlapping plates (typically metal but occasionally hardwood) on the outside of a backing material (leather or linin). While it only protects the vital organs, it does so quite well. A Lamellar Cuirass negates 25% of the damage from any critical hits.
Leaf Armor
Leaf Armor is any suit of armor created by alchemicaly treating and binding thin sheets of material into a larger, shaped, protective suit or garment. While traditionally made from leaves or bark, paper, leather, and seaweed are also common base materials. Leaf Armor is shaped like plate armor so it can deflect projectiles. Its AC is treated as 2 higher for the purpose of resolving ranged attacks from projectile weapons (including firearms), but not spells or other energy attacks.
Leather
Leather armor is made from soft leather backings and boiled leather plates. It is almost armored clothing, but is able to be modified as its technically the undersuit for plate armor. It is quite cheep, in both cost and durability. Leather Armor grants a +2 circumstance bonus on stealth checks if properly oiled (to prevent squeaking) and dyed a dark blue (Fun Fact: black is more visible at night than dark blue).
Parade Armor
This is any form of armor, of any type, which is designed for show. It's not very functional as armor, but can be modified into something moderately protective, and can prevent a stabbing or shooting if the wearer is lucky. As it is impressive looking, it grants a +2 bonus to diplomacy checks, and also to intimidate checks.
Wooden Plate
Some hardwoods are as protective as pooer quality iron and steel alloys. They're merely not as durable. All wood glue is stronger than any known wood (Yes, really.). Consequently, many woodworkers have been asked to make plate armor from exotic hardwoods from time to time. Its light, durable enough, can last a long time if lacquered, and since its shaped to deflect attacks rather than stop them, it works perfectly fine. Wooden Plate's ACP is never applied to swim checks. There is a 50% chance of any non-magical set of wooden armor to ignite and burn until extinguished or the armor's HP is depelated in which case it is destroyed, AND dealing the standard 1d6 points of fire damage to the wearer, and itself, per round.
All wooden armor has the disadvantage of being something weapons can be stuck in. When an enemy rolls a natural 1 on a melee attack with a weapon vs someone in wooden armor, there is a 20% chance it becomes stuck in the armor. This imposes a -5 penalty to all d20 checks to the armor's wearer due to the sudden weight and balance issues, but does disarm their opponent. The stuck weapon can be removed by either party as a full round action.
Brigandine Cuirass
Fun Fact: Studded Leather is a myth. It never existed. What it really was is called Brigandine, which is a form of armor with a leather exterior to which iron plates were riveted. Similar to Lamalar, but more refined, this armor is very good at absorbing cuts and piercing attacks, but offers little protection against blunt force. Brigandine grants DR 2/blunt.
Lamellar (wood)
A full body suit of armor, or full length coat, constructed by overlapping hardwood plates atop a leather or linin backing material. While quite protective and cheep, lamalar is vulnerable to piercing attacks. Lamalar grants a +2 bonus to dex-based skills due to being highly flexible and very light but is treated as having 2 less AC vs piercing attacks. Wooden Lamalar specifically never has its ACP applied to swim checks, but can be ignited. If struck by any source of fire damage, there is a 50% chance of any non-magical set of wooden armor to ignite and burn until extinguished or the armor's HP is depelated in which case it is destroyed, AND dealing the standard 1d6 points of fire damage to the wearer, and itself, per round.
All wooden armor has the disadvantage of being something weapons can be stuck in. When an enemy rolls a natural 1 on a melee attack with a weapon vs someone in wooden armor, there is a 20% chance it becomes stuck in the armor. This imposes a -5 penalty to all d20 checks to the armor's wearer due to the sudden weight and balance issues, but does disarm their opponent. The stuck weapon can be removed by either party as a full round action.
Medium Armor
Medium Armor is an economical choice of armor which offers good protection. While not as protective or sturdy as heavy armor, it is certainly better than light armor in this respect. It is possible to add additional features and attachments to medium armor to augment its defencive properties.
Chain Hauberk
A long tailed coat made of interlocking rings of metal that hangs down long enough to protect the legs, and can be partially supported by a belt around the waist. While highly resistant to cutting, slashing, and chopping attacks, chain armor is heavy, baggy, and its weight cannot be evenly distributed, making it difficult to move in. Chain Hauberks grant DR 4/piercing, but impose a -2 penalty to attack rolls and dex-based skill checks if more than a 5 foot step has been taken that round.
Hide Armor
Hide armor is similar to leather armor, but much thicker as it is crafted from untreated leather. It often keeps the fur or scales of whatever beast the hide belonged to for added protection. Hide Armor grants a +4 circumstance bonus on stealth checks if properly oiled (to prevent squeaking), dyed a dark blue, and the fur or scales are retained (this helps break up the wearer's silhouette).
Lamellar (horn)
A full body suit of armor, or full length coat, constructed by overlapping sections of animal horn atop a leather or linin backing material. While quite protective and cheep, lamalar is vulnerable to piercing attacks. Lamalar grants a +2 bonus to dex-based skills due to being highly flexible and very light but is treated as having 2 less AC vs piercing attacks. Horn Lamellar grants DR 2/magic.Scale Mail
A suit of armor comprised of tiny overlapping plates (typically metal, but occasionally hardwood) which are designed to cause attacks to slide off the scales rather than continue on their original path. While almost impossible to cut, scalemale is easily damage and has half the hit points of any other armor, but can be repaired with a craft-sewing check as the damage is almost always scales being ripped from the body. This makes it so cheep to maintain it may as well be free as anyone, even a child, can repair it in short order. Scalemail imposes a -2 penalty to stealth checks due to its rattling.
Breastplate
A shaped piece of metal designed to cover the chest. Breastplates are designed to deflect incoming attacks of all kinds, and are quite effective at doing so. Breastplates grant DR 4/magic, their ACP never applies to swim checks, and grants a +2 bonus to swim checks.
Breastplate (agile)
A shaped piece of metal designed to cover the chest. Breastplates are designed to deflect incoming attacks of all kinds, and are quite effective at doing so. Agile breastplates are slightly less protective than their counterparts, but allow for a greater range of movement. They are typically employed by those who use firearms. Agile Breastplates allow the wearer to negate the first critical hit from a projectile weapon they are struck with per round as per deflect-arrows, but the ammo is destroyed. This ability stacks with deflect arrows, allowing them to deflect both the first ranged attack, and first ranged crit. It also grants DR2/magic. Their ACP never applies to swim checks.
Chainmail
A body suit which has a layer comprised of interlocking rings of metal attached to the outside. This armor is highly resistant to cutting, slashing, and chopping attacks, and negates the disadvantage of chain armor being baggy, and unevenly distributed. It is however, quite heavy. Chainmail grants DR 4/magic, as the undersuit helps protect against piercing attacks.
Lamellar (steel)
A full body suit of armor, or full length coat, constructed by overlapping steel plates atop a leather or linin backing material. While quite protective and cheep, lamalar is vulnerable to piercing attacks. Lamalar grants a +2 bonus to dex-based skills due to being highly flexible and very light but is treated as having 2 less AC vs piercing attacks. Steel Lamellar grants DR 4/piercing.
Z̚oman Mountain Armor
Z̚oman Mountain Armor is an ancient armor design typically found in use by individuals living within old mountain settlements. It is composed of a thick gambeson, with added pauldrons and grieves. The entirety of the gambeson is augmented via the application of countless small trocar-shaped three-pointed metal "scales" which have holes punched through the tips to stitch them to the gambeson. The design prevents the stitching from being exposed via the scales interlocking and overlapping. While extremely protective, Z̚oman Mountain Armor is extremely hot, comparable to winter clothing. It grants 5 points of cold resistance, but vulnerability to fire, and a -2 penalty to endurance checks made at any temperature above 50F (10C).
Heavy Armor
Heavy armor is expensive, incredibly protective, but expensive. It is possible to add additional features and attachments to heavy armor to augment its defencive properties.
Segmented Cuirass
This armor is a jacket (and often pants) consisting of metal strips fashioned into circular bands, fastened to internal leather straps. It is the lightest and most protective form of armor available, but not flexible enough to be classed as anything but heavy armor. Many people count it as the sweet spot for protection, maneuverability, and price. A Segmented Cuirass grants a +2 deflection modifier to AC, but a -4 penalty to swim checks.
Footman's Plate
Footman's Plate is designed to be a cost effective version of plate armor for elite infantry. It protects most of the body, with gaps on the backs of the legs and notably no sabatons. The rest of the armor is most robust, and has better flexibility than other plate armors. This armor grants the feet deflect arrows while worn, but imposes a -4 penalty on swim checks.
Lamellar (iron)
A full body suit of armor, or full length coat, constructed by overlapping iron plates atop a leather or linin backing material. While quite protective and cheep, lamalar is vulnerable to piercing attacks. Lamalar grants a +2 bonus to dex-based skills due to being highly flexible and very light but is treated as having 2 less AC vs piercing attacks. Iron Lamalar grants DR 5/magic, but is too heavy to swim in imposing a -10 to any swim check, and reducing swim speed to 5.
Splint Mail
This armor consists of parallel strips of metal known as splints attached to a cloth or leather backing. It is most commonly found as limb armor such as greaves or vambraces,a nd sometimes is attached to thin chainmail rather than its traditional backing shen used as pants or jackets. Split Mail is effectively an upgraded chainmail, as the splints make it quite difficult for arrows and other piercing attacks to do serious harm to the user, and allow the armor to be better fitted. Splint Mail grants DR 5/blunt, but imposes a -4 penalty to swim checks.
Star Fortress Plate
Named for fortresses designed to withstand bombardment by cannons, Star Fortress Plate consists of overlapping plates molded to deflect projectiles (especially those from firearms). Whenever you are the target of a ranged weapon attack that would ignore your armor bonus to AC, you add half the fortress plate’s armor bonus (including enhancement bonuses) to your AC against that attack. This benefit does not apply to energy attacks (from spells, or weapons). Fortress plate is incredibly bulky, only just shy of the Super-Heavy armor class and reduces the user's speed by 5 feet while imposing a -4 penalty to endurance checks.
Its advocates like to point out it is an excellent armor for use by mechanized cavalry.
Half-Plate
This style of armor combines elements of plate armor with chainmail for greater protection of joints without the need for the sheer expence of custom-fitted made-to-order plate armor. It often replaces thigh and knee armor with a chain skirt. The armor is very effective, and seen as the best (unenchanted) armor a common person can easily obtain. Half-Plate grants a +2 shield bonus to AC, which stacks with any shield the user may wear, but is too heavy to swim in imposing a -10 to any swim check, and reducing swim speed to 5.
Lamellar (stone)
A full body suit of armor, or full length coat, constructed by overlapping thin flat stones atop a leather or linin backing material. While somewhat protective and kinda cheep, stone lamalar is vulnerable to blunt force. Lamalar grants a +2 bonus to dex-based skills due to being highly flexible and very light but is treated as having 2 less AC vs piercing attacks. Stone Lamalar grants DR 5/blunt, but is too heavy to swim in imposing a -10 to any swim check, and reducing swim speed to 5.
Plated Lamellar
This style of armor combines elements of plate armor with Lamellar for greater protection of joints without the need for the sheer expence of custom-fitted made-to-order plate armor. It replaces pauldrons, faulds, and cuisses with steel lamalar sections that typically hang from the plate, with overlapping sheets to protect the joints. The armor is very effective, and seen as the second best (unenchanted) armor a common person can easily obtain. Plated Lamellar grants a +3 shield bonus to AC, which stacks with any shield the user may wear, but is too heavy to swim in imposing a -10 to any swim check, and reducing swim speed to 5.
Full Plate
Full Plate is a fitted suit of steel, tailored and shaped for a single user such that their mobility is almost unimpacted. It looks and feels like a second skin on the person it was made for, and provides a level of protection which has been known to make people feel invulnerable. Full Plate grants the feat deflect arrows while worn, grants a 25% chance to negate critical damage when struck by a critical hit, and grants DR 2/- (which can stack with adamantine's DR).
Super-Heavy Armor
Super-Heavy armor is something most will never see in their lifetime, let alone be able to make use of. These suits of armor are either so massive or include mechanical or arcane enhancements such that they require users to be individually trained for each set. Furthermore, these suits of armor are so insanely expensive that many armored fighting vehicles are more affordable, available, and more broadly strategically useful.
Yet, sometimes, you need a few good men wearing armor with an airship's pricetag to guarantee a job gets done.
Grafa IV Miner's Coverall
We know what you want: lightweight and effective safety gear that dosn't break the bank. We're here to tell you... It dosn't exist! Lightweight is for suckers. It protects like garbage and if you say you like it you're an elf, or a liar. Be honest, this is what you want to wear. The Grafa IV Miner's Coverall. It feels amazing. What's it weigh? Who cares! How much does it cost? Shut up! It's awesome. Put it on your body, or be a corpse.
— Marketing Advertisement, Bedrock Ind., Undermountain
The Grafa IV Miner's Coverall is a fully sealed armored exoskeleton which is technically not a suit of armor as it is classified as a light truck. That said, it is one of the most protective suits one can wear, assuming they are immune to radiation. The Grafa IV features a hermetically sealed armored exoskeleton which renders the wearer immune to crushing forces (including pressure) as well as gas attacks, boosts the strength of the user (+4 STR), is equipped with an auto-retracting grappling hook (Fly speed 20 maneuver, none), fall-negating jet boots (immunity to fall damage), integrated mineral storage (bag of holding type III), twin diamond tipped tunnel borders (burrow speed 5), and attachment points for 2 weapons platforms. All of which is powered by the integrated 1.21 gw S9G reactor with an operational time of 120 years of constant use... which irradiates everything within 30 feet for 1 con damage per hour (Thus, most non-dwarves do not make use of this armor, even though it will happily be made to fit anyone).
RAIL Interface Suit
The RAIL Interface Suit contains several devices to monitor the pilot's health condition and provide limited medical aid using the built-in defibrillators to resuscitate the pilot if needed. The suits also have a basic display systems to allow the pilot to remotely monitor their allies, mech, and vittles. The suit's primary function is to provide a clean and stable interface between the pilot and any mech they interface with, including all sensory link information.
— Railknight Operations Field Manual
Required for piloting any modern mech (as the suit is the primary control system for these vehicles), a RAIL Interface Suit is in and of itself armor to ensure an ejected pilot is able to escape the battlefield. It contains an integrated self-charging series of talismans permitting 3 uses of the following spells once per day:
- Dimension Door
- Greater Invisibility
- Make Whole
- Locate Creature
- Locate Object
In addition to those systems, each suit can cast Breath of Life on its wearer once a week, and will automatically do so if they are killed. Lastly the suit contains a minor construct intelligence which assists its user in target acquisition, acrobatics, and hand-to-hand combat, granting a +2 competence bonus to ranged attack rolls, acrobatics checks, and melee damage.
Steam Armor
"Granted, its more primitive than what the elves are fielding these days, but we can field ten for every three they're putting on the field. There's something to be said for numbers, and it's not like their kit is that much better than this."
— Lord Jeis of Silva, 1977
Steam Armor is a set of full plate which has been fitted with a small alchemical boiler which allows steam powered pistons, gearboxes, and other mechanical mechanisms to carry the weight of the armor itself, and most of what the user is holding. The upside to this is it allows for the use of heavy weapons without fatiguing the user, and negates any disadvantage from firing such weapons while holding them instead of making use of a tripod, wheels, or turret mount. Allows for the use of weapons up to 1 size category larger, requires refueling with standard smokeless pellets once every 6 hours.
Galvanic Armor
"Hey guys? Check out what I threw together while visiting the scrapyard! No, it's not using any construct magic at all, its cheep and immune to anti-magic fields! We should totally take this thing out of the prototype stage."
— Chief Engineer Helen, 1975
Galvanic Armor is a fully sealed powered exoskeleton much the same as Construct Armor, though it is powered through the use of fuel cells rather than innate magic. It grants the wearer immunity to electricity and gas attacks, a +4 bonus to strength, +2 on reflex saves, a +4 initiative bonus, and the following spells as spell-like abilities with 10 charges each:
- Sheet Lightning
- Lightning Bolt
- Lightning Arc
These charges are replenished when the armor's fule cell is replaced, which requires doing once a month and costs 2,000 GP. Fule cells can be replenished with a craft construct check (DC 15) and 300 GP of materials. Lastly, if the wearer of Galvanic Armor is killed, the armor automatically discharges its power-pack, electrocuting everything in a 15 foot radius for 10d10 electricity damage.
Construct Armor
"The best armor can be your friend."
— Ancient Saying
Construct Armor is an iron golem designed not as an autonomous unit, but as a suit of armor. The armor is conscious, and if active for more than a century develops a personality. Many ancient suits are respected as warriors and educators, and consequently upgraded into full constructs to grant them autonomy. These suits are still armor at heart, and prefer to be worn in battle. Given this quirk, and their older designs and worn down features, these suits are often sold out of military service and serve adventurers.
Construct Armor is a fully sealed suit of armor powered by the inherent magic of an Iron Golem. It grants the wearer immunity to spells or spell-like abilities that allow spell resistance and any gas attacks, DR 5/-, and a +4 bonus to strength. It can make use of its breath weapon normal, unleashing a cloud of poison gas in a 15 foot cone once per 1d4+1 rounds (Fort 19; frequency 1/round for 4 rounds; effect 1d4 Constitution damage; cure 2 saves).
These suits do have weaknesses. They prevent their wearer from using any magical abilities, and have the same energy vulnerabilities as normal iron golems:
- A magical attack that deals electricity damage slows an iron golem (as the slow spell) for 3 rounds, with no saving throw.
- A magical attack that deals fire damage breaks any slow effect on the golem, but harms the user for 2x the damage (due to the metal remaining hot for an extended period)
- An iron golem is affected normally by rust attacks, such as those of a rust monster or a rusting grasp spell.
The upside is Construct Armor never needs refueled, and the user can wear other armor underneath, and even keep light weapons on their person while using the suit. This allows them to eject mid combat, and act independently of their armor, which will fight intelligently on its own, doing its best to support and flank with its user.