1

Dazzling Camouflage: The armor has been painted, stained or dyed in specific areas to create complex patterns of geometric shapes in contrasting colours, interrupting and intersecting each other. Unlike typical camouflage, the intention of the bizarre arrangement is to attract and confuse the eye, making it difficult for enemies to accurately judge the wielder’s exact movements. While the chaotic disorder of lines and shapes in no way render’s the wielder invisible, they do greatly obscure the armor’s vulnerable points in a blur of contrasting colours. Similarly to trying to focus on a single fish in a school, a solitary bird in a flock or an individual zebra in a herd, an attacker will find it immensely difficult to see and strike at an inch wide gap in plate armor when said armor is covered in a sea of falsely painted segments design to fool the eye. Imperceptible to most humanoids, the armor has also been fitted with small acoustic and kinetic resonators (Similar to chimes or tuning forks) and a rare animal pheromone was infused into the fabric, leather or metal during production. These additions cause the armor to vibrate, drone and smell in ways that are slightly “off” causing sightless enemies who rely on tremorsense, supernatural hearing, scent or are simply fighting blind to be similarly deceived by the armor. While not foolproof, the bold patterns of the optical illusion moving quickly in combat can deceive, distract and disorient an attacker just enough to miss landing a crippling blow. Whenever the wielder is the target of a critical hit, the wielder’s play can roll 1d6. On a result 1-5 the blow is a critical hit as normal. On a result of 6 the attack still lands but is negated to a regular hit rather than a critical. —Note: For actual images of what how these patterns might looks follow this link.

2

Steadfast: The armor is extraordinarily durable and any wielder can plainly feel the solid construction under its unyielding form. The armor could be made from a higher quality material than normal, reinforced with metal struts, rivets or bands, been marked with magical or divine sigils of protection and abjuration, or have been made by a labour intensive process that isn’t commonly used such as folded steel, spell sung wood or damascus steel. The armor is five times more durable than normal, never bending, bursting or breaking as a result of casual use and is all but impossible to crack or damage as a result of combat, even when targeted by enemies who attempt sundering or armor breaking techniques. —Note: Depending on your game system the armor may either have five times as many hit points or have a greatly increased hardness or damage reducing quality. If there is no existing system in place and armor simply breaks or do not break as a result of damage, consider giving the armor five “charges” or “lives”. Each time it would be broken as a result of damage, it instead remains fully intact but loses a life or charge and it is destroyed when all five have been used up.

3

Survival: The armor is a testament of exceptional ergonomic arrangement and sports a number of special features all designed to keep the wielder alive and healthy while he travels from one fight to another. Veteran soldiers know that exhaustion, sickness and exposure kills more men during wartime than blades, bow and catapults ever could and the various aspects of the armor protects the wielder from virtually everything that the wielder could be subject to short of actual combat. The armor is fashioned from lightweight components (10 pounds lighter than normal) and arranged to better distribute the weight over the wielder’s frame to make long distance travel easier. The material is waterproof, rust resistant and is layered to create an insulating effect which keeps the wielder warm in cold environments and sports a number of heat sinks and thermal vents that can be opened to provide airflow and ventilation in hot climates. The armor contains a mesh vest composed of wool or silk, which lies against the wielder’s skin and wicks away moisture and sweat keeping him dry and comfortable. There is built in hood and facemask, both of which can be fully retracted into the armor or pulled on in a moment’s notice. The hood can be pulled down to cover the eyes so that the wielder can peer through the built in bone goggles with two narrow horizontal slits carved through the front, which function as eye protection against bright lights or blowing debris. The facemask covers the mouth and nose and is lined with activated charcoal and contains a small inflatable bladder capable of holding one or two shallow breaths of air. These features allow the wielder to travel in areas of toxic air as well as provide an emergency breath of air while in noxious clouds or underwater. The combination of all of these improvements increase the wielder’s general endurance meaning that harsh conditions and long exertions do not as easily tire or sicken him. While wearing the armor, whenever the wielder would have to roll a saving throw or ability check to resist a negative effects caused by environmental condition (See Note) he adds +1 to the roll. This bonus is not usually applicable in combat scenarios as the +1 provided by the armor typically reflects a saving throw that is representing minutes to hours of time rather than a few seconds. Meaning that it would protect a wielder trying to save people from a hot, smoky burning building but not from the blast of a fireball spell. —Notes: Environmental hazards can include but are not limited to; Being blinding from bright light from snow glare, direct harsh sunlight or a sandstorm, heat exhaustion, becoming fatigued by hypothermia, exhaustion caused by forced marching or hustled travel, breathing smoke and ash while in a volcanic area, holding your breath while underwater, being nauseated or poisoned by breathing fetid swamp or sewer air.

4

Insulated: A set of armor designed to withstand the harshest abuses and punishments that the natural world has to offer, be it a dragon’s fiery breath, an ooze’s caustic slime or a yeti’s frozen claws. While the armor does protect against mundane weapons as one would expect, it has been specially reinforced with a variety of thermal layers and alchemical treatments which offers its wielder’s a measure of security against injury that even plate mail cannot withstand and a tower shield cannot block. The armor is enhanced with a mixture of fairly common materials and the remains of exotic creatures. A set of Insulated chain mail could have each of its links covered in a thin but durable layer of non-conductive rubber infused with a small measure of potash that is unharmed by extreme temperatures or acids. Insulated Plate mail might sport a shell of galvanized steel inset with copper wiring that runs from helmet to boots providing a grounding effect while having a thin layer of ceramic plating on the interior which acts as a heat sink and thermal regulator. Leather armor is made directly from hardy creatures who live in harsh environments and whose hide is naturally suited to shrugging off the extreme heat of the sun, winter’s chill, the alkaline soil of deep dungeons or the occasional lighting strike. Similarly, padded armor is sourced from tenacious or exception fabrics such as thick felt made from werewolf fur or druid spun silk made from silkworms whose caterpillars ate the leaves of magical plants. Additionally, the armor may be covered in protective gyphs, sigils, seals or symbols of warding that have been painted on, or etched into the material with painstaking care. The combination of the physical components and expert craftsmanship, creates a set of armor that bestows a small portion of the material’s natural resistance to the elemental damage onto the wielder. When the armor is being worn, all acid, cold, lighting and fire, damage that the wielder receives is reduced by one point. —Note: If a DM finds that having one point of damage resistance for multiple damage types is too strong, just choose one or two types and discard the rest.

5

Spiked: It is said that the best defence is a good offence and Spiked armor is physical proof of this concept in action. While not actually offering any improvements to protecting its wielder from harm, it serves as a painful deterrent to attackers. The armor has been fitted with dozens of lethal spikes that protrude out from the protective covering to injure those who attack the wielder. These spikes can vary in form depending on the armorer’s personal taste and the style of the armor itself, some razor sharp while others are jagged, barbed or saw-like. Cheap padded armor can be spiked with simple iron nails or large sewing pins, affixed to a vest sewn into the padding. Cheap padded armor can be spiked with simple iron nails or large sewing pins, affixed to a vest sewn into the padding. Leather armors may source local materials that are naturally sharp such as animal claws, teeth, quills and plants thorns, or have worked components such as flint, crystals, seashells and bones honed to fine points. Heavy metal armors have proportionally heavy, lethal spikes built into the metal plating. Regardless of their composition, the skewering implements provide the wielder with a bristling array of deadly ends on which to slice and impale enemies that strike at him. Whenever a creature successfully attacks the wielder with a melee attack (Including touch spells, natural weapons and unarmed strikes), the attacker suffers one point of nonmagical piercing damage. When this occurs, the wielder can chose to ram the spikes in further and deal an additional dagger's worth of damage (1d4) as an action equivalent to an attack of opportunity. ---Note: If desired, the a DM could easily rule that the armor is fitted with large curving blades or large rigid studs that deal slashing or bludgeoning damage instead of piercing.

6

Fortified: The armor has been fitted with heavily reinforced set of materials, creating a sense of sureness and strength far exceeding that of a typical set of armor. Protection as simple as padded clothing armor is fashioned from dozens of additional layers of fabric interwoven in such a way that each strand of thread takes part in a tapestry of defence that somehow is just as light and flexible as it’s expected to be. A full set of Fortified plate mail is a hulking mass of hardened, carbon steel that cocoons and protects the wielder as if he was fighting from within an impregnable stone fortress. The technical advancements in the armor’s design provide substantial protection to bodily areas that are normally considered under-protected, making critical strikes harder to land. Whenever the wielder is the target of a critical hit, the attacker has only scored a threat of a critical and must make an attempt to confirm the critical. The attacker immediately makes another attack roll (See Note) with all the same modifiers as the initial attack. If the attacker’s confirmation roll also results in a hit against the wielder’s armor class, the original hit is confirmed as a critical. The confirmation roll just needs to be enough to hit the wielder, it doesn’t need to be a critical hit again. If the confirmation attack roll would be considered a miss, then the initial attack still lands but is just a regular hit not a critical. —Note: This confirmation attack role is not another true attack and does not take an action or use any resources. A combat example: The attacker rolls a natural 20 against the wielder in Fortified plate mail, thus scoring a threat of a critical hit. The attacker then rolls another attack to confirm the critical and gets a result of 15, which is less than the wielder’s armor class of 18. Since the confirmation rolls is a miss, the original attack still lands but is just a regular hit not a critical.

7

Resilient: A set of armor that has been fabricated specifically to withstand the rigors of combat in order to shelter its wielder to the best of the armorsmith’s capabilities. This is achieved by starting with the very best of materials that can be collected; leathers from dire or magical beasts cured with strong alchemical solutions, plant based linens and fabrics made from rare species or those grown along ley line intersections or in druid groves, silk harvest from monstrous phase spiders, rare deep earth metals, high carbon steel tempered in magical potions and elixirs or metal made of a meteoritic alloy and of course dragonscale as well as the skin of lesser drakes, wyverns and great lizards. These rare and potent materials are painstakingly assembled by expert craftsmen on specialized commission to create the best of the best of physical protection. It addition to providing the safety and security on par with their lesser made kin, these sets of Resilient armor cushion the wielder from the impact of a weapon in a way that mundane armor does not. Where a standard set of chainmail hit with a sling bullet would block and distribute the momentum of the lead pellet, saving the wielder from a fractured bone or a rupture spleen, it will still leave a nasty bloody welt. Comparatively, a set of high quality Resilient Chainmail absorbs the bullet’s force into itself and discharges a fraction of it into the wielder, leaving him with just a mild bruise. While a layman might not see the value of the amount of sheer effort involves in fabricating armor for such a relatively small amount of improvement, a seasoned adventurer knows that the small wounds build up the quickest. A goblin ambush can pelt an armored foe with a dozen arrows in a minute’s worth of combat. The difference between a dozen bruises and a dozen bleeding welts can mean the difference between being relatively fine versus being forced to drink a healing potion, cast a restorative spell or even not making it to the next battle. When the armor is being worn, all bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage that the wielder receives from nonmagical weapons is reduced by one point. —Note: If a DM finds that having one point of damage resistance for multiple damage types is too strong, just choose one or two types and discard the rest.

8

Safeguarding: The armor has been heavily reinforced to cushion the wielder from the worst blows that combat has to offer. Unlike other armor improvements that focus on additional protection for critically vulnerable locations such as the armpits, groin and neck, Safeguarding armor concentrates itself on shielding the wielder’s torso, further sheltering the spine, ribs and major internal organs. To further this goal, the armor sports a reinforced vest which lays underneath the armor’s chest piece and cushions the wielder from waist to the base of the neck. While severe blows do still land, the secondary layer around the wielder’s trunk absorbs the impact of the fiercest of strikes that would have fractured a rib or burst a spleen should they have hit, greatly lessening their effect. Whenever the wielder is struck by a weapon attack, the attacker must reroll any weapon damage dice that lands on the maximum result of that die (I.e. a 6 on a six-sided die.), until they receive a result that is not that maximum. —Note: This only affects the weapon’s damage die itself and not other sources of additional damage such as sneak attack, divine smite or spell effects.

9

Unyielding: The armor has been fitted with a number of additional protective features all designed to provide additional cover to the wielder’s vital areas. Oftentimes these include couters that cover the elbows, rondels that protects the armpits and a gorget that armors the neck. Special care has been taken to safeguard the wielder’s particularly vulnerable areas that are usually critical targets on standard sets of armor. These additional pieces of padding, leather and metal although fairly small, allow a proficient wielder to reactivity pivot, causing potentially crippling blows to glance off of the improvements, reducing the attack’s lethality. Whenever the wielder is the target of a critical hit, he can use an action equivalent to an attack of opportunity (See Note) to reduce the damage he takes by 1d4+1. —Note: If your system doesn’t use attacks of opportunity, the wielder can use the armor’s properties once per round. The amount of 1d4+1 represents the equivalent damage dealt by a dagger plus one additional point.

10

Guarded: The armor’s overall design has been slightly altered in a number of ways, allowing it to better function as a deterrent against specialized combat techniques. The suit’s weight is redistributed differently compared to a standard set of its type with a focus on denser, segmented materials around shoulders, shins and forearms. These interlocking pieces are designed to grant the wielder a wider and swifter range of motion, allowing him to easily pivot and block, placing the enhanced materials between himself and his enemy. As a further defensive measure, armor with this bonus often sport sweeping curves or sharpened spikes to ward off foes that attempt to wrestle the wielder. Overall, these modifications greatly improve the wielder’s ability to resist trips, feints, grapples, pins, being disarmed, pushed, shoved and other combat maneuvers. When facing such a tactic, the wielder can use the reinforced shoulders, shins and forearms as impromptu shields, imposing them between the enemy and his own vital areas. Whenever the wielder is targeted by one of the previously mentioned combat maneuvers, he can use an action equivalent to an attack of opportunity (See Note) to grant himself advantage on the roll made to resist the maneuver. —Note: If your system doesn’t use attacks of opportunity use the following rule: Once the wielder uses the weapon to grant himself advantage on the roll made to resist a combat maneuver, he is no longer able to do so until the start of his next turn.

11

Muffled: This armor has a thin inner lining of sound absorbing fabric that covers a large amount of the wielder’s body, greatly resembling a set of long underwear. This special fabric is often a magically enhanced or exceptionally well woven, cotton, wool or silk that traps the noise the wielder makes and has a unique quality in that when the material rubs against itself it creates no sound whatsoever. Armor sets that are particularly noisy with clanking interlocking joints or hundreds of rattling chain links, greatly benefit from this bonus, as the parts in question has been well oiled and sheathed in a layer of fabric or rubber padding that perfectly muffles the metallic grinding. There is built in facemask that covers the mouth and nose and can be fully retracted into the armor or pulled on in a moment’s notice. The facemask is fabricated of the same exotic material and completely stifles the sound of the wielder’s casual breathing, sharp intakes of air and even ragged panting, rendering him as quiet as a ghost. The wielder can still speak and be heard while the facemask is up by speaking slightly louder than he normally would. Armor with this bonus provides a benefit to checks made to be stealthy or move silently. A Muffled suit of armor removes any disadvantage that a typical version of that armor (Such as chain mail) would impose on stealth checks, allowing the wielder to roll without penalty. If the Muffled armor is of a type that doesn’t normally have a natural disadvantage on moving silently (Such as leather armor), the wielder gains a +1 bonus to the stealth check.

12

Parrying: A set of armor with this benefit has a number of catching or deflecting features, allowing it to be used to parry incoming attacks far better than a typical version of its kind. This typically manifests itself as additional layers of metal or leather banding along the armor’s arms and shoulders allowing them to be used as impromptu shields. The forearms could have small built-in kite shields the size of bucklers with the narrow tip aimed towards the wielder’s hands, furthering the impression of emergency protection. In other cases there could simply be twice or three times the normal amount of material from the shoulder’s down creating a hulking mass of protection that is difficult to penetrate. Other designs can sport large spikes made to divert and glance attacks away rather than simply absorbing them. In any case, the improved quality of construction betters diverts and disperses the shocks of the enemy’s blows and the combination of the various defensive enhancements allows a wielder to potentially block melee attacks made against him that he is aware of. Using an action equivalent to an attack of opportunity (See Note) the wielder may attempt to parry an incoming melee attack, increasing his armor class or physical defensiveness as if he was properly wielding a shield. The wielder may benefit from the armor class bonus (Typically a +2) even if he is already wielding a shield. —Note: If your system doesn’t use attacks of opportunity use the following rule: Once the wielder parries an attack he is no longer able to do so until the start of his next turn.

13

Netcutter Spikes: The armor has been fitted with dozens of serrated spikes that protrude out from the protective covering to injure and destroy objects and creatures that engulf the wielder. These spikes can vary in form depending on the armorer’s personal taste and the style of the armor itself. These saw-like spines are slightly longer than typical armor spikes and rather than serving as a form of exotic weapon, they assist the wielder to avoid becoming immobilized in combat. Netcutter spikes have X-shaped cross-sections, with each of the four jagged edges sharpened to keen points. The specialized spikes are typically forged from good steel, but can also be fashioned from natural materials such as large thorns, animal quills, serrated teeth (Such as, sharks, crabeater seals or komodo dragons), fish spines or sharpened flint. Regardless of their composition, these slashing implements provide the wielder with a bristling defensive array that effortlessly slices through mundane nets, ropes and grappling enemies that attempt to confine him. Whenever the wielder is successfully grappled or restrained by a creature or object (See Note) the spikes shred through the fibers and flesh, immediately dealing nonmagical slashing damage to the creature or object equivalent to a dagger. This damage is repeated at the start of the wielder’s turn whenever he is being grappled or restrained by a creature or object and if the damage dealt is enough to kill the creature or destroy the object, the wielder is considered to be free of the grappled or restrained condition for his turn. —Note: Valid objects or creatures can be, but are not limited to the following: Ropes, bolas, lassos, weighted nets, brambles, vines and webbing such as that of giant spiders. Being swallowed, engulfed, wrestled, grappled or restrained by a creature such as a dragon, gelatinous cube or an animated rug will also trigger the spikes effect.

14

Feeler: A suit of armor with numerous slender wires extending from it. These long thin strands are held in place with padded felt and go straight through the armor’s material, ending in small wax covered nubs that directly touch the wielder’s skin. The wires can be fashioned from long strands of stiffened hair, giant insect antenna, delicate metal or reverberating shards of thin yet durable crystal. These feelers function like an animal’s whiskers or insect’s antenna, picking up minute air disturbances and sonic vibrations, while compressing and bending slightly when touched, providing the wielder with tactile feedback. The wires are equally spread out over the entire armor and creatures who come too close cannot help but inadvertently brush against the artificial vibrissa, alerting the wielder to their presence. Enemies within five feet of the wielder do not gain the usual advantage to attack him due to being invisible, concealed or otherwise unseen and the wielder is aware of the location (To a five foot square) of all creatures within five feet of himself.

15

Quick Change: A set of armor designed to be put on quickly and removed easily. The major pieces are all attached by small leather cords and rivets, allowing it to be draped over the wielder’s body all at once. Where it once may have taken precious time to get in or out a standard protective gear, the Quick Change version of the same armor can be donned or doffed in moments. A wielder who falls overboard into the ocean in heavy plate, surrendering during a losing fight or trying to blend in with a crowd of civilians can step out of their armor as easily as shedding a silk bathrobe. A wielder can take an action equivalent to making an attack or casting a spell to doff his armor completely. Furthermore the armor can now be fully and properly donned in one minute’s time and without any assistance rather than the usual time for its type. If that type of armor already took one minute or less to put on, it now takes half the normal time.

16

Interlocking Scale: Slightly heavier than a typical version of its kind (10 extra pounds), a set of Interlocking Scale armor features a long coat and leggings made of heavy quilted felt or tough boiled leather, covered with overlapping pieces of fine chain links, thin metal plates, or pieces of lacquered wood or bone. These armored scales are cunningly wrought, so that they lock together to offer greater protection when the wearer is relatively still. The additional pieces of armor fit together overtop of places that are usually left uncovered for reasons of movement and mobility, allowing the wielder to fortify himself in place rather than roam around the battlefield. If the wielder has not moved yet on his turn he can choose to remain still, allowing the scale to mesh together, which causes his speed to drop to 0 until the end of his turn. While the scales are interlocked in this way, the wielder’s armor class or physical defensiveness are increased as if he was properly wielding a shield. The wielder may benefit from the armor class bonus (Typically a +2) even if he is already wielding a shield. The interlocking scales cease providing their defensive bonus if the wielder moves, is successfully hit with a weapon attack (Which knocks them out of place) or at the start of the wielder’s next turn.

17

Banded: The armor had been fitted with a number of ridged metal or studded leather bands than crisscross the wielder and serve as a kind of emergency shield. These layers of additional protection are little more than decoration against the typical blow. Their true value truly shows when the wielder is caught unaware by an attack that has managed to penetrate the wielder’s dexterous movements and armored body and is about to deliver a critical blow. The reinforced banding has been expertly placed so that they periodically deflect these crippling attacks, causing the blow to fall in a better armored area, severely hampering the attack’s lethality. Whenever the wielder is the target of a critical hit, the attacker rolls damage as normal for the crit, then identifies whichever single damage die has the highest result out of all rolled. The wielder then roll the same die separately and if the wielder rolls the same result as the attacker, that damage die is negated and the attack deals that much less damage. —Note: A combat example: The attacker crits and rolls 2d12+1d6 for damage, getting a 4 and a 5 on the d12s and a 6 on the d6. The wielder then rolls 1d6 and gets a 6. Since the wielder’s result matched the attacker’s roll, that damage is negated and the attacker now only deals 9 damage instead of the 15 it would have dealt. This affects the weapon’s damage die itself and other sources of additional nonmagical damage such as sneak attack but not divine smite or spell effects.

18

Resistant: A set of armor that has been carefully prepared to withstand the crippling effects of arcane destruction, cradling its wielder within a protective cocoon. The armor is made from materials that are either supernaturally inert or contain anti-magic properties. Metallic armors could be made from cold iron, nullsteel, noqual or dimeritium, be coated in a layer of powdered silver or a thin layer of lead plating, or be tempered in an alchemical solution made from the blood of a magically impervious being. Leather armors are typically made from magically resistant creatures, such as lycanthrope pelt, dragonscale, angelskin or demonhide. The armor may be treated with alchemical mixtures and infused with herbs or physical remains, to provide a protective lacquer. These sources could include the aqueous humor of a beholder’s anti-magic eye, distilled essence of forkroot or blessed holy oil. Additionally, the armor may be covered in protective gyphs, sigils, seals or symbols of warding that have been painted on, or etched into the material with painstaking care. The combination of the base ingredients, secondary finishing treatment and expert craftsmanship, creates a set of armor that bestows a small portion of the material’s magically resistant nature onto the wielder, without impairing their ability to benefit from or cast magical spells. When the armor is being worn, all force, necrotic, psychic and radiant damage that the wielder receives is reduced by one point. —Note: If a DM finds that having one point of damage resistance for multiple damage types is too strong, just choose one or two types and discard the rest.