Historical Armor
In the armor chart below, I was attempting to compile a simple but representative index of typical historical armors which could probably be found in the world of most RPGs.
The biggest problem is reconciling the costs, as the weight (in lbs) and effectiveness (an arbitrary but logical factor) seem to be relatively straight-forward. Various listings from medieval documents vary widely due to location and era, as well as a very fluid economy and lack of standardization or even partly workable exchange rate for different coins, therefore you get prices for suits of mail in 1600 for an English king, and prices for full plate in 1450 for a German baron, while peasants make anywhere from 1 penny a day to 3 shillings.
| Armor | Effectiveness | Weight | Cost |
| Full Plate | 20 | 60 | 1L/2c |
| Plate and Mail | 18 | 55 | 1L/1c |
| Plated Mail or Banded | 17 | 50 | 1L |
| Brigandine or Jazerant | 15 | 45 | 3c/5s |
| Splint | 14 | 45 | 3c/3s |
| 12 | 40 | 3c | |
| Lamellar or Lorica Segmenta | 11 | 40 | 2s/5p |
| Scale | 9 | 35 | 2s/3p |
| Cuir Bouilli (Hardened Leather) | 7 | 30 | 2s |
| Hide | 5 | 25 | 1s |
| Leather | 4 | 20 | 9p |
| Padded | 2 | 15 | 7p |
| Cloth | 1 | 10 | 5p |
L = Lira or Pound Sterling (20 shillings or 240 pence)
c = crown (5 shillings)
s = shilling (12 pence)
p = penny or pence (4 farthings)
About The Author
I assume this is for a specific sysem? If so what sytem?
Thanks for the unexpected comment. It is actually more a pseudo-system, taken from real-world resources as well as a few other role-playing game systems. I will reply to this by editing the original post I made.