 |
|
- Animal Rending (Physical 1, Dexterity/Aim +2) — This skill confers expertise
in skinning and butchering animal carcasses. It lets a character
derive the maximum amount of food from a carcass (see Table 5.3.11 in the Hunting skill entry). It also lets him harvest valuable
products from the carcass without damaging them. Such products
typically include furs, horns, teeth, hides and organs. Use of
this skill requires access to the necessary tools.
- No skill check is necessary to butcher most animals, but the DM
may require a check in unusual situations. For instance, a check
may be required to butcher an animal the character has never seen
before or to successfully harvest a delicate body part (say, the
eye of an immature beholder). If the check fails, the character
is only able to obtain an average amount of food (the number to
the left of the slash on Table 5.3.11), or he damages the body
part he was attempting to harvest.
- Armorer (Mental 1, Physical 1, Intelligence/Knowledge, Strength/Muscle)
— With the Armorer skill, a character knows how to construct all
varieties of armor. Armorer overlaps with a couple of other skills:
- Prerequisite:The Armorer knows enough Blacksmithing to forge metal armor and craft scale and chain mail, thus Blacksmithing
50% is the prerequisite for this skill.
- The Armorer knows enough Leatherworking to cut and shape boiled leather into leather armor, shield coverings
and banded mail (though he cannot make dress jerkins, saddles,
elaborate pouches or rucksacks, or any sort of good-looking garment)
and has enough skill as a Seamstress/Tailor to create padded armor and padded lining for other armors. Leatherworking 25% and Seamstress/Tailor 25% are prerequisites for the Armorer skill.
- The armorer can repair existing armor that has taken damage and
can also craft barding through use of his skill.
- The Workshop: To craft armor, the character must first have a a workshop (a
place to work and tools with which to do work).
- Metal armor: If he intends to make any sort of all-metal armor
(chain mail, field plate, full plate, plate mail and helmets),
the workshop is a smithy, complete with tools, bellows, a furnace,
an anvil, tongs, cauldrons, casting molds and all the other materials
necessary to process metal into armor.
Such a workshop costs at least 200 gp, plus the cost of the shelter
where it is set up: An additional 100 gp for a pavilion tent,
300 gp for a well-crafted hut/workshop or more as part of a larger
dwelling, such as a mansion, villa or castle. Included in the
price of the smithy is the cost of the tools necessary to make
leather hilt wrappings, padded armor, armor linings and padding
and the simple leather straps used to hold all metal armors together.
- This workshop is large enough to accommodate the character and
up to two full-time apprentices. (The apprentices must have the
Armorer skill. A character can always take in an apprentice without
the skill, but he doesn’t count as a productive element of the
workshop.)
- In theory, the character could hire another three-man crew to
work a second shift in the same workshop; thus the workshop could
be occupied nearly 24 hours a day. (This presumes eight- to ten-hour
shifts and necessary nonproductive time each day for furnaces
to cool and be cleaned, tools to be repaired and sharpened, etc.)
No more than three people can work in this workshop effectively;
with more than three people, the workshop suffers a loss of efficiency
so that it produces goods just as though it were only manned by
three armorers.
- To expand the workshop costs an additional 50 percent for each
additional set of three workers. If the smithy costs 200 gp and
is set up in a 300 gp hut, thus costing 500 gp, the builder could
pay an additional 250 gp to expand the workshop to accommodate
three additional armorers. For another 250 gp, now totaling 1,000
gp, the shop can accommodate nine armorers.
- Leather armor: If he intends to make any sort of all-leather armor
(hide armor, leather armor and armored leather caps), the workshop
is a leatherworker’s shop, including apparatus for leather soaking,
scraping, tanning, boiling, boiling in wax, shaping, hole punching,
sewing and all the other processes by which leather is transformed
into armor.
- Such a workshop costs 25 gp, plus the cost of the shelter where
it is set up: An additional 25 gp for a large tent, and additional
75 gp for a well-crafted hut/workshop or more as part of a larger
dwelling. Included in the price of the leatherworker’s shop is
the cost of the tools necessary to make padded armor and armor
linings and padding.
- As with the smithy, this price presumes one principal leatherworker
and up to two apprentices may work together at the same time.
Above the number costs 50 percent of the workshop and housing
costs per additional three workers.
- Combined armor: If he intends to make both sorts of armor or armor
which combines both metal and leather elements (banded mail, brigandine,
bronze plate mail, ring mail, scale mail, shields, splint mail
and studded leather), a combined workshop is needed.
- Such a workshop costs 250 gp, plus the cost of the shelter where
it is set up. An additional 100 gp for a pavilion tent, an additional
300 gp for a well-crafted hut/workshop or more as part of a larger
dwelling. Included in the cost of the armorer’s shop is the cost
of the tools necessary to make wooden shield blanks and shield
frames, padded armor and all armor linings and padding necessary
to the armored goods.
- As with the smithy, this price presumes one principal armorer
and up to two apprentices; above that number costs 150 percent
of the workshop and housing costs per additional three armorers.
- Player character workshops: Often, a PC armorer who is also an
adventurer will set up an armorer’s shop and crew it with a single
overseer and two apprentices. This shop’s duty will be to keep
the PC supplied in armor: also whenever the PC returns home, he
can if he wishes, operate the shop — especially on the off-shift.
- If he does hire an overseer, he’ll have to pay the rates according
to the overseer’s ability as described previously.
- Note, a PC armorer can make armor for his friends. However, he
can’t avoid paying the minimum cost for the materials, of course.
The character can carry a tent and leatherworker’s shop on the
back of a horse, so he can work on any sort of all-leather or
padded armor while on the road. But on the road, he can only get
in a couple of hours of work per day. So multiply all armor making
time by four to determine how long it takes on the road.
- The character who does all this extra work will be a little more
tired than his fellows reducing his Observation ability checks
by -1 on a day following the Armorer work.
- Apprentices and overseers: The cost of the workshop constitutes only the set up cost for
the armoring operation. Maintenance of the workshop, pay for the
employees and cost of materials also come into play. Of course,
so do the profits from the sale of manufactured goods.
- Each apprentice costs 2 gp per week for food, upkeep and training.
Once an apprentice has reached young adulthood and has achieved
an Armorer ability check of 60% or better, he’ll demand to be
promoted to overseer status (described below) or will find more
favorable employment elsewhere.
- Apprentices cannot run a workshop unsupervised. Supervision comes
in the form of an overseer, an adult with an Armorer skill check
of 60% or better. Each overseer costs 15 gp per week for an overseer
with a skill check of 60% and an additional 15 gp per week per
five skill points over 60 the overseer has in the Armorer skill
(i.e., if the skill check is 80%, the overseer costs 75 gp per
week.)
- Time to craft armor: To determine the standard time it takes an apprentice (supervised
and assisted by an overseer) to make a piece of armor, subtract
the armor’s AC value from 10 and multiply the difference by two
weeks. Thus, a set of chain mail (AC 5) takes 10 weeks to construct
(i.e., 10-5 = 5; 5 x two weeks = 10 weeks.) For pieces of armor
which don’t grant specific AC benefits (like helmets) figure the
time at one week per 7.5 gp retail value. Thus, a great helm would
take more than 10 weeks to make (it costs 80 gp); a basinet, one
week and a few hours of the sixth day (it costs 8 gp).
- The time to craft a piece of armor can be reduced by assigning
additional workers to the job. Doubling the number of apprentices
working on a job cuts the time required to complete the project
by half. An overseer counts as two apprentices, and no more than
twice the standard amount of workers needed to complete a piece
of armor can work on that piece. Some armor types can be constructed
in less than the usual time for their Armor Class value as listed
on Table 5.3.04.
- Cost to craft armor: The costs to craft the various forms of armor are listed on Table
5.3.04 below. The cost of a piece of armor is equal to about half
the retail cost for materials and the cost of maintaining one
or two apprentices during the time it takes to make the piece.
Additionally, the cost of the overseer’s time and attention is
added to projects that cannot be completed by unsupervised apprentices.
Table 5.3.04: Standard Costs to Manufacture Armor
|
Armor Piece
|
Retail Value
|
Materials Cost (gp)
|
Time Taken
|
Apprentice/ Overseer Cost (gp)*
|
Total Cost
|
|
Banded mail
|
200
|
100
|
6 wk
|
241
|
124
|
|
Brigandine
|
120
|
60
|
6 wk
|
321
|
92
|
|
Bronze plate
|
400
|
200
|
12 wk
|
1142
|
314
|
|
Chain mail
|
75
|
37
|
9 wk
|
183
|
55
|
|
Field plate
|
2,000
|
1,000
|
16 wk
|
3044
|
1,304
|
|
Full plate
|
4,000
|
2,000
|
18 wk
|
3424
|
2,342
|
|
Helm, great
|
80
|
40
|
4 wk
|
83
|
48
|
|
Helm, basinet
|
8
|
4
|
1/2 wk
|
13
|
5
|
|
Hide armor
|
35
|
17
|
8 wk
|
85
|
25
|
|
Leather armor
|
5
|
16
|
2 wk
|
25
|
3
|
|
Padded armor
|
4
|
06
|
4 wk
|
45
|
4
|
|
Plate mail
|
600
|
300
|
14 wk
|
1332
|
433
|
|
Ring mail
|
40
|
10
|
4 wk
|
161
|
26
|
|
Scale mail
|
60
|
20
|
6 wk
|
241
|
44
|
|
Shield, body
|
10
|
5
|
1/2 wk
|
13
|
6
|
|
Shield, buckler
|
1
|
06
|
1 /2 day
|
2 sp5
|
2 sp
|
|
Shield, medium
|
7
|
3
|
2 days
|
8 sp3
|
3.8
|
|
Shield, small
|
3
|
1
|
1 day
|
4 sp3
|
3.4
|
|
Splint mail
|
80
|
40
|
4 wk
|
83
|
48
|
|
Studded leather
|
20
|
10
|
3 wk
|
35
|
13
|
|
Full Barding†:
|
|
Banded/splint
|
1,750
|
875
|
14 wk
|
2664
|
1,141
|
|
Brigandine/scale
|
1,000
|
500
|
8 wk
|
1524
|
652
|
|
Chain
|
500
|
250
|
10 wk
|
1904
|
440
|
|
Field plate
|
5,000
|
2,500
|
18 wk
|
3424
|
2,842
|
|
Full plate
|
8,000-20,000
|
4,000-10,000
|
20 wk
|
3804
|
4,380-10,380
|
|
Leather/Padded
|
150
|
75
|
4 wk
|
754
|
150
|
|
Plate mail
|
2,000
|
1,000
|
16 wk
|
3044
|
1,304
|
|
Ring/studded leather
|
800
|
400
|
8 wk
|
1524
|
552
|
|
Half Barding†:
|
|
Banded/splint
|
1,000
|
500
|
12 wk
|
2284
|
728
|
|
Brigandine/scale
|
500
|
250
|
6 wk
|
1144
|
364
|
|
Chain
|
300
|
150
|
5 wk
|
944
|
244
|
|
Field plate
|
3,000
|
1,500
|
16 wk
|
3044
|
1,804
|
|
Full plate
|
5,000-15,000
|
2,500-7,500
|
18 wk
|
3424
|
2,842-7,842
|
|
Padded/leather
|
100
|
50
|
2 wk
|
384
|
88
|
|
Plate mail
|
1,500
|
750
|
14 wk
|
2664
|
1,016
|
|
Ring/studded leather
|
400
|
200
|
6 wk
|
1144
|
314
|
|
*Dwarves produce armor in half the listed time. Gnomes, uldra
and elves produce armor in 75% of the normal time. Elves produce
chain mail in half the normal time.
|
|
†Table 5.3.4 gives the time required to make barding for warhorses
and mounts of comparable size. For smaller or larger mounts, the
DM should adjust the times accordingly. Elephant barding might
require an extra week or two; barding for a small mule might take
a week less.
|
|
1Two apprentices, no overseer 2One apprentice, 1/2 overseer
|
| 2One apprentice, 1/2 overseer |
|
3One apprentice, no overseer 4Two apprentices, one overseer
|
| 4Two apprentices, one overseer |
|
51/2 apprentice, no overseer
|
|
6Cost reduced because of easy availability of materials; cost of
“0 gp” means cost is negligible
|
- Chance of failure: For every item of armor the armorer makes, a successful skill
check must be made to determine its suitability for use in combat.
If the skill check indicates failure but is within 20% of the
amount needed for success, the armorer has created is usable,
but flawed. Such armor functions with a penalty of -1 to its AC,
although it looks like the armor it was intended to be. Only a
character with Armorer skill can detect the flaws, and this requires
careful and detailed inspection.
- If the flawed armor is struck in melee combat with a natural die
roll of 19 or 20, it breaks. The character’s AC immediately worsens
by 4 additional classes (although never above 10), and the broken
armor hampers the character’s movement. Until the character can
remove the broken armor, the character moves at half of his normal
rate and suffers a -4 penalty to all of his attack rolls. It takes
1d4 rounds to remove the broken section of armor. It takes 2d4
rounds to remove a section of broken barding from a mount.
- If the character misses his skill check by 25% or more, it’s obvious
to anyone, with casual inspection, that the armor is flawed. No
one will buy it at the normal retail value. The armorer might
be able to sell it at half the total value to someone desperate
for cheap armor, someone who’s willing to take the risk of wearing
flawed armor.
- Finally, the level of difficulty inherent in fashioning different
types of armor varies. Some armor is simple enough that apprentices
can work on it alone. Some is so complicated that only master
armorers should oversee this work, and hiring a master armor costs
more than just hiring a normal overseer.
- Table 5.3.05 shows the relative difficulty of manufacturing the
different types of armor and the skill score required to attempt
crafting armors of various types. An armorer without the required
skill score to construct a given type of armor may attempt to
construct it, but will at best (on a successful skill check) produce
a flawed suit.
Table 5.3.05: Armor Difficulty
|
Armor Type
|
Modifier to Skill Check
|
Minimum Skill Score*
|
|
Banded/splint
|
+5%
|
75%
|
|
Brigandine/scale
|
+5%
|
0%
|
|
Chain mail
|
+15%
|
50%
|
|
Field/full plate
|
-15%
|
90%
|
|
Helm, great
|
+15%
|
50%
|
|
Helm, basinet
|
+15%
|
0%
|
|
Hide armor
|
0%
|
50%**
|
|
Leather/padded
|
0%
|
0%
|
|
Plate mail
|
0%
|
75%
|
|
Ring mail
|
+5%
|
0%
|
|
Shield, any
|
+15%
|
0%
|
|
Studded leather
|
0%
|
0%
|
|
Full and half barding:
|
|
Banded/splint
|
+5%
|
75%
|
|
Brigandine/scale
|
+5%
|
0%
|
|
Chain
|
+15%
|
50%
|
|
Field/full plate
|
-15%
|
90%
|
|
Leather
|
0%
|
50%**
|
|
Padded
|
0%
|
0%
|
|
Plate mail
|
0%
|
75%
|
|
Ring
|
+5%
|
0%
|
|
Studded leather
|
0%
|
50%**
|
|
*This is the minimum score required to attempt construction of
an armor type before modifiers.
|
|
**A character must have Leatherworking 50% or better to attempt
construction of this type of armor.
|
- Making field plate and full plate is a risky proposition. Only
the best of independent armorers will undertake such a task because
the potential losses are so great. In addition, if an armorer
is creating a suit of field plate or full plate armor, the character
who will use the armor must be present at least once a week during
the creation of the armor, since such types of armor require very
exact fitting.
Barding must also be fit exactly. A set of barding styled for
one mount won’t work for any other animal, even of the same species.
- Added expenses: Some hidden expenses to armor making may arise at the DM’s option.
Bribery: In many places, local officials will expect a little
graft in order for them to process the necessary permits efficiently
and regularly. If the PC doesn’t pay up, those permits take a
long, long time to be processed, and during that time the PC can’t
operate a retail armorer’s shop.
- Theft: Armorer’s shops can be burglarized just like any other
operation. Thieves are quite willing to steal some high-quality
armor goods and fence them elsewhere in the city. Depending on
the quality of the merchandise in the shop, this can be a serious
financial blow.
- Unclaimed goods: Sometimes a patron who custom orders a piece
of armor never shows up to buy it. Maybe he’s been killed, ran
low on funds or has another reason for not returning. If the custom
piece of armor was decorated or fine-tuned to that specific customer,
it could be that no else is willing to buy it ... except at a
heavily discounted price.
- Unsold stock: Armorers don’t just work up pieces of armor to order.
The armorer fabricates numerous examples of the most common sorts
of armor for the causal customer and as practice for the apprentices.
Not all of this gets sold and a piece that’s never sold is a few
gold pieces out of the shop’s coffers.
- All in all, it may be safer financially for a player character
to be a full-time adventurer and only a part-time armorer.
- Repairing armor: The Armorer skill can also be used to repair damaged armor.
Normal armor: It costs one percent of the armor's retail value
for each damage point repaired. This is the cost in materials
and employment of apprentices to perform the repairs. Each damage
point requires one hour to repair and every 10 damage points requires
one work day to repair (for non-magical armor). Repair work is
typically completed by apprentices. Armorers typically charge
a 50 percent profit on repair jobs.
- Repairing magic armor: Magic armor is repaired in exactly the
same way as normal armor. Base the cost for repairs on the normal
retail value of the armor as if it were not magic.
- When magic armor is damaged, holes may be driven into it, but
the basic enchantment is unchanged. Therefore, the armorer doesn’t
have to repair materials enchanted to “match” the original armor.
All he has to do is patch up the holes and the armor will be fixed.
However, repairing magic armor requires great skill and can only
be done by a master armorer.
- Of course, if a set of magic armor is damaged so severely that
the enchantment is ruined, nothing a normal armorer can do will
repair it. Armor that seriously damaged is ruined and an armorer
won’t be able to fix it.
- Castle armorer: One armorer is always required for every 40 soldiers or fraction
thereof, in the employ of a player character, and only spare time
can be spent on the manufacture of items, i.e. that fraction of
the normal month not spent caring for equipment of troops can
be used to make armor, helmets, and/or shields, prorating time
according to the number of men: 0 = 100%, 1-5 = 85%, 6-10 =70%,
etc. This includes the armorer and the apprentices which are assumed
to be present.
- Racial modifiers: Dwarves may take the Armorer skill as a Mental 1 or Physical
1 skill and receive a +25% bonus to their initial skill score.
Gnomes, elves and uldra may take Armorer as a Mental 1 or Physical
1 skill and receive a +10% bonus to their initial skill scores.
Arrakian human armorers receive a +10% bonus to their skill score
and Eradan and Peradian humans are penalized by -10% to their
skill score.
- NPC dwarf armorers cost triple the normal amount to hire and will
generally not work for more than a year for a anyone other than
a dwarf. Gnome and uldra armorers cost double the normal rate
to hire. Elf armorers charge five times the rate of a human armorer.
- Dwarven treatments: Dwarven armorers with a skill score of 75% or higher know many
treatments for metals, chiefly concerned with inhibiting oxidation
and other forms of corrosion or in altering appearance (shine
and hue). Two deserve mention here: the common blueshine treatment, used for all metals to resist acid (+1 bonus to saves)
and rust (especially “bloodrust”), and to give them a beautiful
gleaming deep blue appearance. And, the everbright treatment, that gives all metals an enduring bright shine (like
chromium), and absolutely prevents any tarnishing, discoloration,
rusting (even by a rust monster), or corrosion of a blade, unless
the blade is later actually broken or subjected to forge-fire,
earth-fire (lava) or dragon fire.
- Crude Armory: A character without access to a forge and other tools normally
used to make armor can use his knowledge of armory to make crude
but effective armor from natural materials like hides, furs, and
shells. He can't create armor better than AC 6.
- It takes one week per level of AC below 10 to make crude armor
(assuming the availability of the necessary materials). A character
can make hide armor in four weeks, a shield in one week.
Crude armor tends to be more flawed and less durable than standard
armor. After crude armor is created, make a skill check. If the
check fails by more than 20%, the armor is unusable. If a failed
check is within 20% of the amount needed for success, the armor
is flawed and functions at an AC two worse than normal (but never
worse than AC 10). Flawed crude hide armor has AC 8; a flawed
crude shield offers no protection whatsoever.
- If flawed crude armor is struck in melee with a natural die roll
of 19 or 20, it falls apart. The wearer's AC immediately worsens
by four (to a limit of AC 10). Removing the useless armor takes
1d4 rounds; during that time, the wearer moves at half his normal
rate and suffers a -4 penalty to all attack rolls.
|
