Scale Armor

Game Stats

• Type: Over Armor
• Slashing Resistance:
• Crushing Resistance:
• Impaling Resistance:
• Burn Resistance:

Description

Scale armor consists of a network of small plates, which are either overlapped like fish scales or attached to each other at their corners by small cloth or metal rings (a style called "lamellar" armor).  "Fish scale" armor is sometimes constructed as a single piece with a foundation of linen or leather armor, while lamellar armor does not require any backing fabric at all.

Most scale armor is flat.  However, in the best R'hundallese scale armor, the individual scales are convex, the better to withstand the shock of attacks.

Advantages

Scale armor is much less flexible than is mail, and provides a smoother surface.  This gives it good protective qualities against slashing and bludgeoning attacks, though it also makes it more susceptible to failing against impaling attacks.  Scale armor is also lighter than both mail and plate armor, which is one of the reasons it is popular with the vaikun of R'hundalla.

In a sense, scale armor is like plate armor, but it can be manufactured without the need to produce large sheets of uniform-quality metal.  This makes scale armor popular in metal-poor regions of the Circle (another reason for its popularity in R'hundalla).  Like mail, scale armor is relatively easy to repair, as broken scales can often be replaced on an individual basis.

Disadvantages

The rigidity that gives scale armor its usefulness against slashing and bludgeoning attacks makes it more likely to fail against impaling attacks.  In general, scale armor also tends to provide less coverage than does mail.  Fish scale armor is inflexible enough that it cannot be used to armor an entire limb.  The more flexible lamellar style of scale armor can offer greater coverage, but because the scales do not overlap, offers somewhat lesser protection.

Regional Variants

Scale armor is most commonly scene in the eastern and southern Circle, and is particularly associated with R'hundalla, where it is most commonly seen in the fish scale pattern.  Lamellar-style scale armor is also fairly common in the Kisugochi Empire, and linen armor partially reinforced with bronze fish scales is a popular lightweight style of armor in the Ugarite Valley.  Scale armor is almost unknown in Sevilla and Harkania.  Historically this can be attributed to the relative abundance of metals in those regions, though in the modern age it is just as much a product of scale armor being seen as foreign.

Scale armor can be constructed from a wide variety of materials.  It is most commonly seen in bronze, iron (that is, low-quality steel), and steel, but may also be constructed from hard boiled leather, bone, mithril, thaumic iron, or alchemically treated glass or crystal, according to locally available materials.

Party Associations

None.