[Guest Post] Late Medieval & Renaissance weapons & armour

[Phew, we made it! The longest and most complex equipment list of them all. I nearly went blind fiddling with the formatting for the tables in this one. I can't believe I forgot to add pictures to the last post in the series, so I'm going to make up for it with a ton of plate mail here. Having added pages of Steve's notes in the earlier entries, there isn't too much left to explain, I hope. Enjoy! - HDA]

Part 1 - Intro & Prehistory
Part 2 - Antiquity/Bronze Age
Part 3 - Dark Ages
Part 4 - High Medieval

*****

-RANGE: After reading the comments on the last post, I did a possible retuning of the archery ranges across the board. I went with flat 30/120 for one handed bows, 60/120 for two handed bows, as suggested. The “30” short range bracket can be simulated by the ideal ambush range, granting advantage only on surprise against targets within 30 feet. For any bow that gives us:
30 feet or less, advantage (if you have surprise)
60 feet or less, normal shot
120 feet or less, disadvantage

Obviously distance shooting would be way longer, especially for longbows. If you didn't read those links in the last post to Delta's archery breakdowns, do so now.

[This would - optionally - replace the range increments for ALL bow weapons. In the entries below, I have preserved the numbers as Steve originally sent them to me, for consistency with the previous weapon lists. -HDA]

-Repeating crossbows actually existed in ancient China. You can remove them to retain European flavour, or do what Warhammer did and make them the signature of dark elves, since hand crossbows only get you so far. If you want to make them simpler, just have them do a single attack for 2d4 or 2d6, each attack roll representing a short volley. Also, like the blowgun, repeaters were basically designed to employ poisoned bolts since they lacked some oomph, another reason the Drow flavour fits.

-The elephant in the room: while realistic, the reloading numbers on the crossbows make them basically unusable in actual play, or at least very inconvenient for dungeon crawling. A feat that lowers the number of turns to reload by 1 (to a minimum of 0) would be a welcome replacement for 5e's Crossbow Expert feat, which basically turns you into damn Legolas.

-I included brigandine as late-period scale mail. Same stats. It's basically just a breastplate that rattles, so it gives the stealth disadvantage. Instead of one full piece, it is made of segmented overlapping pieces riveted to the inside of a garment. If you hit a guy wearing it, it would feel like hitting solid steel but sound like you were breaking a glass at the same time.

Transitional armour

Late Middle Ages (14th-15th century) & Early Renaissance* (16th century)

Simple Melee	dmg	notes
Club	D4 B	light or versatile
Dagger: bollock, rondel, stiletto	D4 P	finesse, light
Handaxe	D6 S	light
Javelin, war dart	D6 P	thrown (30/120)
Mace	D6 B	-
Mace, footman’s	D6 B	versatile
Military flail	D6 B	-
Morningstar	D6 B	-
Peasant flail	D8 B	two-handed
Quarterstaff	D6 B	two-handed
Sap	D4 B	finesse, light, knockout
Sickle	D4 S	light
Spear	D6 P	thrown (20/60), versatile
Simple Ranged
Crossbow, assassin*	D4 P	ammunition (20/80), loading (4), light
Crossbow, hand*	D6 P	ammunition (30/120), loading (1)
Crossbow, hand-spanned	D6 P	ammunition (60/120), loading (1), two-handed
Crossbow, belt or lever-spanned	D8 P	ammunition (80/160), loading (1), two-handed
Crossbow, windlass	D10 P	ammunition (100/200), loading (6), two-handed
Crossbow, cranequin*	D10 P	ammunition (100/200), loading (4), two-handed
Hand cannon / culverin	D8 P	ammunition (10/40), misfire, loading (4), two-handed
Matchlock, pistol*	D8 P	ammo (20/60), light, misfire, loading (5)
Matchlock, arquebus / carbine*	D10 P	ammo (30/90), loading (5), misfire, two-handed
Matchlock, arquebus / musket*	D12 P	ammo (40/120), heavy, loading (5), misfire, two-handed
Shortbow	D6 P	ammo (80/160), str 11, two-handed
Sling (stone)	D4 B	loading (0), ammunition (30/90)
Sling (bullet)	D6 B	loading (0), ammunition (30/120)
Martial Melee
Battleaxe, horseman’s	D8 S/P	-
Greataxe, bardiche	D12 S	heavy, two-handed
Greatsword, claymore / zweihander*	D12 S/P	heavy, two-handed
Lance, heavy	D8 P	heavy, reach, two-handed on foot, versatile (D10)
-couched charge	2D8 P	heavy, reach, two-handed on foot, versatile (2D10)
Maul	D12 B	heavy, two-handed
Pick, horseman’s	D8 P/B	-
Pike	D8 P	heavy, reach (15 ft, cannot attack 5 ft), two-handed
Polearm, bec de corbin	D10 B/P	heavy, reach, two-handed
Polearm: halberd, poleaxe, bill, glaive, voulge	D10 S/P	heavy, reach, two-handed
Polearm, partisan / ranseur	D10 P	heavy, reach, two-handed
Shortsword, baselard	D6 P	finesse, light
Shortsword, cinquedea	D6 S	finesse, light
Sword, arming / side*	D8 S/P	-
Sword, long / bastard*	D8 S/P	versatile
Sword, estoc / tuck	D8 P	versatile
Sword, messer	D8 S	-
Sword, rapier* / koncerz*	D8 P	finesse
Sword, sabre/scimitar	D8 S	finesse
Warhammer	D8 B/P	versatile
Martial Ranged
Crossbow, light repeating	D4 P	ammunition (20/80), bonus attack, two-handed
Crossbow, heavy repeating	D6 P	ammunition (60/120), bonus attack, two-handed
Longbow	D8 P	ammunition (150/300), heavy, str 13, two-handed
Longbow, heavy / recurved	D10 P	ammunition (150/300), heavy, str 15, two-handed
Net	-	special, thrown (5/15)
Shortbow, recurved	D8 P	ammo (100/200), str 13, two-handed

Special weapon rules
Light: Ideal for off-hand use when dual wielding.
Versatile: May be used in one or two hands. Roll the next higher die for two-handed damage.
Finesse: May use DEX modifier in place of STR for attack/damage rolls.
Heavy: Small creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls.
Reach: Adds 5 feet to striking distance, unless more is indicated.
Ammunition/Thrown: A ranged weapon. The first number is short range (attacks incur no penalty), the second is maximum range, in feet.
Loading (x): Require the user to spend an indicated number of actions reloading the weapon. If the number indicated is 0 it can be fired once per round, but no more.
Misfire: These weapons fail spectacularly on a to-hit roll of 1 and cannot be used until fixed.
Bonus Attack: These weapons can make an additional attack as a bonus action, similar to the rules for two-weapon fighting.
*Early Renaissance: Add or subtract these weapons to taste, depending on the culture & technology level of your setting. Including them instantly gives you that WFRP feel.

Light Armour	AC	notes
Arming doublet	11+dex	-
Buff coat	11+dex	-
Padded jack	12+dex	-
Medium Armour
Mail shirt, bishop’s mantle	12+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Mail shirt	13+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Jack-of-plates	13+dex (max 2)	-
Brigandine	14+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Breastplate	14+dex (max 2)	-
Breastplate, mirror	14+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Coat of plated mail	15+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage, str 13
Half-plate	15+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Heavy Armour
Suit of plated mail	17	stealth disadvantage, str 15
Half-plate and mail	17	stealth disadvantage, str 13
Three-quarter plate	17	stealth disadvantage, str 13
Transitional plate	18	stealth disadvantage, str 17
Full plate	18	stealth disadvantage, str 15
Shields
Buckler**	+2	no AC bonus vs. ranged
Shield	+2	-
Pavis	-	3/4 cover when positioned

**Bucklers: considered proficient if proficient with shields, or with light armour and any type of sword

*****

Want to dig deeper? Here are a few informational links that ought to have you kids writing up your own weapon lists in no time:

Armour & Weapons by Charles Foulkes (pdf). I found this on the OSR links to wisdom wiki.
A Glossary of the Construction, Decoration and Use of Arms & Armour by George Cameron Stone. I have linked this before, but surely this is the most appropriate place to remind you all. Loads of pictures are included. If this doesn't get you excited to game, get your circulation checked.

As before, images are from Osprey Publishing. Go check 'em out.
Here is a nice piece on costs of medieval items. Weapons & armour are limited, but it's quite interesting and this article is as good a place as any to link it.
A huge article on early firearms. What is a matchlock, really? Find out here. Packed with references, links and pictures.

Matchlocks vs. armour:

[Guest Post] High Medieval weapons & armour

[The fourth in our ongoing series. This one is probably closest to your basic D&D equipment list. Most of this should be familiar to folks, except that plate mail hasn't fully developed yet. Let's check it out, with a couple of explanatory notes and links that reveal Steve's obsession with bows and crossbows... -HDA]

Previous posts in the series:
Primitive
Antiquity
Dark Ages

[EDIT: I guess we made it to the big time! Finally on the board at the OSR links to wisdom wiki. Chin-chin! - HDA]

[EDIT AGAIN: I can't believe I forgot to include pictures in this post. Here are a few illustrating the armours of the day. - HDA]


*****

-I spoke with a medieval anthropologist who shoots both crossbows and longbows and he shared an interesting theory with me. He's willing to swear by an academic work (the name escapes me) that the find of the Mary Rose has been misinterpreted to indicate that English archers used monstrously high draw weights like 185 or 200 lbs, because the bows are so stiff and the skeletons found had disfigured spines. The article's opinion was that remains of sailors were mislabelled as the skeletons of archers (supposedly there were only a few archers on board and a much larger crew) and that the back problems came from the crew's manual labour on the ship.

The bow staves being carried were actually half-finished munitions bows in transportation. The idea is they get shaved down by a bowyer to suit the individual man who would draw them, therefore reducing draw weight. Maybe they think so because the natural texture of the wood was left on the back of the bows. Anyway, if you believe that as this guy I talked to did, he was sceptical that any war bows were heavier than 110 pounds, arguing that a 190 pound bow is impossible for even a very strong man to draw. He thinks that the emphasis on the superhuman strength of English archers is a kind of historical myth perpetuated by England because it reinforces national pride and glorifies their ancestors. However, there are archers today who can draw and shoot the Mary Rose bows and they haven't trained from the age of 8. [Of course today we have access to a high-calorie, high-protein diet and fitness gyms. English peasants didn't. I saw a video of a dude squatting 1,001 lbs for 3 reps the other day. You be the judge. -HDA]


-Similar to the ancient Sica, the Baselard of the late Medieval had the connotation of a scoundrel's weapon, used by criminals, murderers, etc, and banned in certain places and towns. The high medieval/crusade era was trickier, but I did find a reference to an 11th/12th century short sword called a servile. It was assumed to be a boy's sword, or blade for a servant. They could have it wrong, it could have been a perfectly good weapon for war. Either way, in a fantasy context, a boy's sword is perfect for the Frodos and Bilbos and it might be an unassuming weapon for a rogue.


-Basically, everything we know about splint mail, banded mail, whatever, throw it all out. There is mail, and there is plate. One grew into the other over time. At the beginning it was "plated mail" or "mail & plate", which was just plates covering important parts. Europeans started putting plate over their mail, until it was all plate with just mail in the gaps (called transitional armour). Then they got so good that they didn't need the mail and just had a shirt with mail armpits that they put on beforehand.

-Lamellar is better scale armour using bronze wire to lace the scales to each other instead of to a backing. It was popular with the Byzantines and spread to the Byzantine-influenced areas of Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Turkey, Persia and into Asia from there. The cataphracts would upgrade their mail with a shirt of lamellar on top which then turned into mail-and-plate armour (or plated mail), and then the mail limb armour went back to higher grade lamellar (the same style as Roman lorica segmentata), so the highest levels of armour in the era were a composite of chest plates and segmented limb armour.

High Middle Ages (11th-13th century)

Simple Melee	dmg	notes
Club	D4 B	light or versatile
Dagger, knightly	D4 P	finesse, light, thrown (10/30)
Handaxe	D6 S	light
Javelin	D6 P	thrown (30/90)
Mace	D6 B	-
Mace, footman’s	D6 B	versatile
Military flail	D6 B	-
Morningstar	D6 B	-
Peasant flail	D8 B	two-handed
Quarterstaff	D6 B	two-handed
Sap	D4 B	finesse, light, knockout
Sickle	D4 S	light
Spear	D6 P	thrown (20/60), versatile
Simple Ranged
Crossbow, hand-spanned	D6 P	ammunition (60/120), loading (1), two-handed
Crossbow, belt-spanned	D8 P	ammunition (80/160), loading (1), two-handed
Dart	D4 P	finesse, thrown (20/60)
Shortbow	D6 P	ammunition (80/160), str 11, two-handed
Sling (stone)	D4 B	loading (0), ammunition (30/90)
Sling (bullet)	D6 B	loading (0), ammunition (30/120)
Martial Melee
Battleaxe	D8 S	versatile
Greataxe, dane axe/sparth	D12 S	heavy, two-handed
Lance, light	D6 P	reach, thrown (20/60), versatile
Lance, heavy	D8 P	heavy, reach, two-handed on foot, versatile
(couched charge)	2D8 P	heavy, reach, two-handed on foot, versatile (2D10)
Pike	D8 P	heavy, reach (15 ft, cannot attack 5 ft), two-handed
Polearm, fauchard/guisarme	D10 S	heavy, reach, two-handed
Polearm, spetum	D10 P	heavy, reach, two-handed
Shortsword, servile	D6 P	finesse, light
Sword, arming	D8 S/P	-
Sword, falchion	D8 S	-
Sword, long	D8 S/P	versatile
Sword, scimitar/sabre	D8 S	finesse
Whip	D4 S	finesse, reach, knockout, no opportunity attacks
Martial Ranged
Longbow	D8 P	ammunition (150/300), heavy, str 13, two-handed
Longbow, heavy/recurved	D10 P	ammunition (150/300), heavy, str 15, two-handed
Net	-	special, thrown (5/15)
Shortbow, recurved	D8 P	ammunition (100/200), str 13, two-handed

Special weapon rules:
Light: Ideal for off-hand use when dual wielding.
Versatile: May be used in one or two hands. Roll the next higher die for two-handed damage.
Finesse: May use DEX modifier in place of STR for attack/damage rolls.
Heavy: Small creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls.
Reach: Adds 5 feet to striking distance, unless more is indicated.
Ammunition/Thrown: A ranged weapon. The first number is short range (attacks incur no penalty), the second is maximum range, in feet.
Loading (x): Require the user to spend an indicated number of actions reloading the weapon. If the number indicated is 0 it can be fired once per round, but no more.

Light Armour	AC	notes
Padded aketon	11+dex	-
Padded gambeson	12+dex	-
Medium Armour
Mail shirt	13+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Mail coat	14+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Scale shirt, lamellar	13+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Scale armor, lamellar	14+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Plated mail shirt	14+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Coat of plated mail	15+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage, str 13
Heavy Armour
Suit of mail	16	stealth disadvantage, str 13
Suit of plated mail	17	stealth disadvantage, str 15
Shield	+2	-

*****

[Here are some great links for more info:

The mighty Delta explains archery, range & accuracy in D&D Plenty of further reading. Archery is much more complex an issue than I thought!
Military kits of British soldiers, 1066-today with lots of pictures
How did swords work against armour anyway?

Firing speed of bows & crossbows:

[Guest Post] Dark Ages weapons & armour

[We're back with more of the period-piece weapons you crave! This is the beginning of familiar territory for most D&D settings. This is a nice easy weapon list before we get to the huge and complex arms proliferation of the high middle ages and beyond. Don't get cocky though, there are some key differences between the Dark Ages and latter times. -HDA]

Part One - Prehistory
Part Two - Antiquity

*****

Francisca - The classic one-handed axe, a few fellows hold them in the picture just above.

Shepherd's Axe - Similar, with a bigger head and longer handle.

Dane Axe - Long-handled axe with a differently-shaped head. [See link below]

Angon - Very similar to the pilum and maybe derived from it, used by the Anglo-Saxons.

Peasant Flail - Originally used for threshing, the two-handed versions had cylindrical heads unlike many one-handed flails.

DARK AGES (6th-10th century)

Simple Melee	dmg	notes
Club	D4 B	light or versatile
Dagger	D4 P	finesse, light
Handaxe, francisca	D6 S	light, thrown (20/60)
Handaxe, shepherd’s	D6 S	versatile
Javelin	D6 P	thrown (30/90)
Javelin, angon	D6 P	thrown (20/60), near miss disables wooden shield
Mace	D6 B	-
Mace, footman’s	D6 B	versatile
Military flail	D6 B	-
Morningstar	D6 B	-
Peasant flail	D8 B	two-handed
Quarterstaff	D6 B	two-handed
Sap	D4 B	finesse, light, knockout
Sickle	D4 S	light
Spear	D6 P	thrown (20/60), versatile
Simple Ranged
Crossbow, hand-spanned	D6 P	ammunition (60/120), loading (1), two-handed
Dart	D4 P	finesse, thrown (20/60)
Shortbow	D6 P	ammunition (80/160), str 11, two-handed
Sling (stone)	D4 B	loading (0), ammunition (30/90)
Sling (bullet)	D6 B	loading (0), ammunition (30/120)
Martial Melee
Battleaxe, bearded	D8 S	versatile
Greataxe, dane axe	D12 S	heavy, two-handed
Lance, light	D6 P	reach, thrown (10/30), versatile
Lance, heavy	D8 P	reach, heavy, two-handed on foot, versatile
(couched charge)	2D8 P	reach, heavy, two-handed on foot, versatile (2D10)
Shortsword, seax	D6 P	finesse, light
Sword, Carolingian/Viking	D8 S	-
Sword, sabre/scimitar	D8 S	finesse
Whip	D4 S	finesse, reach, knockout, no opportunity attacks
Martial Ranged
Longbow	D8 P	ammunition (150/300), heavy, str 13, two-handed
Net	-	special, thrown (5/15)
Shortbow, recurved	D8 P	ammunition (100/200), str 13, two-handed

Special weapon rules:
Light: Ideal for off-hand use when dual wielding.
Versatile: May be used in one or two hands. Roll the next higher die for two-handed damage.
Finesse: May use DEX modifier in place of STR for attack/damage rolls.
Heavy: Small creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls.
Reach: Adds 5 feet to striking distance, unless more is indicated.
Ammunition/Thrown: A ranged weapon. The first number is short range (attacks incur no penalty), the second is maximum range, in feet.
Loading (x): Require the user to spend an indicated number of actions reloading the weapon. If the number indicated is 0 it can be fired once per round, but no more.

Light Armor	AC	notes
Padded aketon/vápntreyja	11+dex	-
Padded gambeson	12+dex	-
Medium Armor
Hide armor, elk/reindeer	12+dex (max 2)	-
Mail shirt	13+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Mail coat	14+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Scale shirt, iron	13+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Scale coat, iron	14+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Shield, wooden	+2	-
Byzantine Cataphract Barding
Light Barding	AC	notes
Padded barding	11+dex	-
Leather scale barding	11+dex	-
Medium Barding
Hide barding	12+dex (max 2)	-
Scale barding, forequarters	13+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Scale barding, body	14+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage

*****

Here's a nice link that relates back to the previous post. A beautiful Roman-made dagger.

Types & shapes of Norwegian Viking-age swords, up to the 10th c.
Various shapes & sizes of axe heads, including the Dane Axe and others.

If anyone else has links to historical footnotes or resources, have at it in the comments!
Now that we're in the Viking Age, some appropriate music:

[Guest Post] Bronze Age weapons & armour

[Steve is back with weapons from the ancient world. I have included some of his explanatory notes to me, some may find them useful to add a bit of detail. I wish I could just transcribe our conversations, but I'm not spending my time doing that! -HDA]

Part One - Prehistory

*****

Javelin, Amentum - Greeks used a twisted leather thong attached to a javelin to extend the throw similar to an atlatl, but without the finickiness of loading it onto the branch, as the thong was just affixed to the javelin.  As it untwisted, it also imparted spin.

Javelin, Pilum - You'd best know what this one is.  Heavy, hypodermic looking javelin that the legion is famed for.  Fucked with shields and over-penetrated to strike men who used them on account of their design.

Dolabra - The real weapon that built the empire, the legion's entrenching tool. Mattock/pickaxe.

Xyston - A normal Macedonian spear.

Gastraphetes - Greek crossbow that would have allowed them to span a draw weight greater than they could have by hand, by pushing down on a mechanism that then pushed back up against the string, bracing it against their belly ("belly bow").

Epsilon axe

Epsilon axe - Shaped like the Greek character epsilon.


Labrys axe - Presumably ceremonial, associated with Minoan religion, therefore all minotaurs carry greataxes in D&D.

Kontos - The first light lances.

Sarissa - Alexander's Macedonian pike.

Falx - Dacian terror weapon, the first two-handed weapon Romans encountered. They temporarily up-armoured the dacian legions to counter it with banded iron armguards (manica), greaves, and reinforced helmets. Thus we have Roman segmented iron half-plate, if only for a short window.

Rhompheia - Basically the same thing.

Sica - Thracian shortsword, associated with assassins. This is the root of the word "Sicario."

Dory - The hoplite spear. 300 Spartans, phalanx warfare, etc.

Khopesh - Weird Egyptian bronze sword that developed out of axes, like a cut out epsilon axe

Spatha - Roman cavalry sword, longer than a Gladius, ended up becoming the main armament of the late empire, influenced the development of the migration period sword/Viking sword/Carolingian sword, would eventually stiffen and taper and develop into the arming sword.

Falcata/Kopis - Leonidas' sword, different name depending on whether you're Spanish or Greek.  Like a big Kukri knife.

In case it's not obvious for the armours I tried to use plain English to describe them. Breastplate instead of Cuirass, etc. So a segmented iron breastplate here is a "Lorica Segmentata" should you want to get that in-depth.

ANTIQUITY

Simple Melee	dmg	notes
Club	D4 B	light or versatile
Dagger, bronze/pugio	D4 P	finesse, light
Handaxe, bronze	D6 S	-
Greatclub	D8 B	two-handed
Javelin	D6 P	thrown (30/90)
Javelin, amentum	D6 P	thrown (30/120)
Javelin, pilum	D6 P	thrown (20/60), near miss disables wooden shield
Mace, bronze	D6 B	-
Pick, dolabra	D6 S/P	versatile
Quarterstaff	D6 B	two-handed
Sap	D4 B	finesse, light, knockout
Sickle	D4 S	light
Spear, bronze/xyston	D6 P	thrown (20/60), versatile
Simple Ranged
Crossbow, hand-spanned	D6 P	ammunition (60/120), loading (1), two-handed
Crossbow, gastraphetes	D8 P	ammunition (80/160), loading (1), two-handed
Dart	D4 P	finesse, thrown (20/60)
Shortbow	D6 P	ammunition (80/160), str 11, two-handed
Sling (stone)	D4 B	loading (0), ammunition (30/90)
Sling (dart)	D6 P	loading (0), ammunition (30/90)
Sling (bullet)	D6 B	loading (0), ammunition (30/120)
Martial Melee
Battleaxe, epsilon/labrys	D8 S	versatile
Lance, kontos	D6 P	reach, thrown (10/30), versatile
Pike, sarissa	D8 P	heavy, reach (15 ft, cannot attack 5 ft), two-handed
Polearm, falx/rhomphaia	D12 S	heavy, two-handed
Shortsword, gladius/xiphos	D6 P	light
Shortsword, machaira/sica	D6 S	finesse, light
Spear, dory/trident	D6 P	reach, thrown (10/30), versatile
Sword, khopesh/spatha	D8 S	-
Sword, falcata/kopis	D8 S/P	-
Whip	D4 S	finesse, reach, knockout, no opportunity attacks
Martial Ranged
Net	-	special, thrown (5/15)
Shortbow, recurved	D8 P	ammunition (100/200), str 13, two-handed

Light: Ideal for off-hand use when dual wielding.
Versatile: May be used in one or two hands. Roll the next higher die for two-handed damage.
Finesse: May use DEX modifier in place of STR for attack/damage rolls.
Heavy: Small creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls.
Reach: Adds 5 feet to striking distance, unless more is indicated.
Ammunition/Thrown: A ranged weapon. The first number is short range (attacks incur no penalty), the second is maximum range, in feet.
Loading (x): Require the user to spend an indicated number of actions reloading the weapon. If the number indicated is 0 it can be fired once per round, but no more.

Light Armour	AC	notes
Quilted linen	11+dex	-
Breastplate, leather	11+dex	-
Breastplate, linen	12+dex	-
Heart protector, bronze	12+dex	-
Medium Armour
Hide armour, crocodile	12+dex (max 2)	-
Mail shirt	13+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Scale shirt, bronze/iron	13+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Breastplate, segmented iron	14+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Breastplate, bronze	14+dex (max 2)	-
Half-plate, bronze	15+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage, str 13
Half-plate, segmented iron	15+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage, str 13
Heavy Armour
Suit of bronze plate	17	stealth disadvantage, str 15
Shield, bronze	+2	-
Shield, wooden	+2	-

*****
Pictures are from books by Osprey Publishing. Check them out, really great stuff!
Here is a video that bears on the previous entry in this series (Prehistoric weapons). Making an atlatl spear-thrower:

[Guest Post] Revising the Weapon/Armour lists - Introduction & Prehistory

[My good pal, former protege and gaming Oprah, Steve has been haranguing me for a long time about realism & historical accuracy in the D&D equipment list. Finally I asked him to put up or shut up: give me something I can use at my table or blog about! Monday morning, the following came across my desk. Actually much, much more than the following... but we'll start with this and see how far we get. -HDA]


*****

Switching from Pathfinder 1st edition to 5th edition D&D has been a breath of fresh air. While I adore Golarion despite its faults and appreciate the attempted breadth of simulationism with the rules, the situational bonuses and penalties clutter play at all but the lowest levels. I admire the OSR community a lot, and enjoy mining it for ideas, but the days of AC lookup charts, THAC0 and other trappings of the retro editions are behind me. More accurately, 1st edition is an exercise in futility in terms of getting anyone who would sit around my table to actually relearn those old ways, even as my players drown in the modern comforts of d20.

5th edition has struck a great balance with me between playable simplicity and tactical RPG gaminess, and I’ve been able to woo my players over to it despite what was initially perceived as fewer character options and a less granular, lower fidelity system of modifiers. The fact that the math doesn’t break down into absurdity after half a dozen levels is a pretty cool feature, go bounded accuracy! A lot has been written about this in other places and I’m not here to plug editions, but essentially for my group, adopting 5e has helped us (well, some of us) move away from the optimization death spiral, re-focus on play of the game, and value character creation choices that are meaningful instead of hunts to stack bonuses.

One thing that disappointed me about 5e was the weapon and armour lists. I understand their utility, but coming from Pathfinder, which has a robust gear list (even if many of those arms and armours are not only ahistorical but suffer from power creep as well), I felt like the options were not only bare-bones but pointed once again to a very few optimal loadouts. Essentially, I understand that the weapon and armour lists seem to serve as placeholders somewhat, with broad categories that might represent any number of different weapons in fantasy or history, or different time periods, somewhat jumbled together as is normal for the fantasy milieu. Ascribing gold piece values towards these items also seemed strange. I’d rather have the GM eyeball that according to the region, using the PHB as a guide. [1]

A project to create a complete equipment list that covered all these possibilities quickly grew to become too unwieldy, and I determined that what I was actually trying to do was interpret the broad categories of arms and armour into specific historical contexts. To that end, I’ve created several re-imaginings of the equipment list below. These could represent different periods of history or different cultures, as they did on Earth. They could represent different worlds with differing technological bases entirely. They might interact in interesting ways as well, when explorers from a far-off, technologically superior empire encounter more primitive humanoids living in a remote region whose equipment is simpler but more readily adapted to their environment.

The lists may also be juxtaposed, as they were in history for example when the Romans still employed bronze in some contexts or when stone age and bronze age weapons co-existed. Some of these changes re-balance the gear list a bit, and this is done according to my preferences for retaining combat utility while favouring realism. It results in weird situations like a stone axe being as effective on paper as a horseman’s axe. My suggestion would be to apply disadvantage against a weapon user attempting to attack someone armoured from a later period, or one-handed slashing weapons against heavy armour. Some late period weapons may ignore early period armour entirely (eg, firearms).

PREHISTORY

Simple Melee	damage	notes
Club	D4 B	light or versatile
Club, mere	D4 B	finesse, fragile, light
Club, sharktooth	D6 B/S	fragile
Club, stone	D6 B	fragile
Dagger, stone	D4 P	finesse, fragile, light
Greatclub	D8 B	two-handed
Handaxe, stone	D6 S	fragile
Javelin, stone	D6 P	fragile, thrown (30/90)
Spear, stone	D6 P	fragile, thrown (20/60), versatile
Yklwa, stone	D6 P	fragile, light, thrown (10/30) [2]
Simple Ranged
Blowgun	1 P	ammunition (25/50), loading (0)
Shortbow	D6 P	ammunition (80/160), str 11, two-handed
Sling (stone)	D4 B	ammunition (30/90), loading (0)
Spear-thrower, atlatl	D6 P	ammunition (30/120), loading (0)
Martial Melee
Early sword, bronze/copper	D6 S	versatile
Macuahuitl	D8 S	fragile
Macuahuitl, great	D8 S	fragile, versatile
Tepoztopilli	D10 S/P	fragile, heavy, reach, two-handed
Martial Ranged
Net	-	special, thrown (5/15)

For those of you without a copy of 5th edition, a brief explanation of the weapon properties should you care to use them.
Fragile: Weapons crafted from flint, stone, bone, horn, antler, shark-teeth and obsidian. On a to-hit roll of 1 the weapon chips or breaks, treated as an improvised weapon thereafter.
Light: Ideal for off-hand use when dual wielding.
Versatile: May be used in one or two hands. Roll the next higher die for two-handed damage.
Finesse: May use DEX modifier in place of STR for attack/damage rolls.
Loading (x): Require the user to spend an indicated number of actions reloading the weapon. If the number indicated is 0 it can be fired once per round, but no more.
Reach: Adds 5 feet to striking distance.
Ammunition/Thrown: A ranged weapon. The first number is short range (attacks incur no penalty), the second is maximum range, in feet.
Heavy: Small creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls.

Light Armour	AC	notes
Breastplate, wicker	11+dex	stealth disadvantage
Scale shirt, hide	11+dex	-
Scale shirt, horn	12+dex	stealth disadvantage
Medium Armour
Breastplate, rattan	12+dex (max 2)	stealth disadvantage
Hide armour	12+dex (max 2)	-
Heavy Armour
Suit of splinted woven fibre	14	stealth disadvantage
Shield, hide/wooden/wicker	+2	-

*****

[1] - I have done this too, my old primitive equipment list (now rendered somewhat outdated by this article) had custom prices for everything. However, I do think Steve not including prices with these lists was a bit of an oversight. We may revisit this topic later in the series.

[2] - Yklwa: From the Tomb of Annihilation adventure, it's a very short-hafted spear.

[More great reading on armour, both primitive and otherwise HERE and HERE.
Sorry about the formatting. I have never used HTML before, so the tables were hard to figure out. Use these weapon/armour lists for a wild frontier game, maybe some neanderthals, lizardmen, ogres or something.

EDIT: Added in a few extra changes Steve sent me. Next up: the bronze age!! - HDA]