Chain Shirt
A chain shirt is a flexible defence made from thousands of interlocking metal rings. It protects the chest and shoulders without the same coverage or bulk as a long coat of mail. In D&D 2014 and 2024 it is medium armour that lets a capable wearer keep quiet; in Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e it is light armour. The distinction matters before anyone calculates AC, speed or spellcasting.
Chain Shirt at a Glance
- Protection: a garment of linked metal rings worn over padding or other clothes, normally concentrating protection on the torso.
- Best use: flexible protection without a rigid cuirass; a useful choice for travel, scouting or fighting where freer movement matters.
- Upkeep: individual broken links, rivets and torn seams need repair; wet metal must be dried and cared for.
- Historical caution: mail shirts varied in length and sleeve coverage; the museum piece is not a literal visual representation of every edition’s item.
- Rules distinction: medium armour in the two fifth editions; light armour with a +4 additive bonus in Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e.
Compare the four editions · Use in play · Original Pathfinder table
Chain Shirt Rules by Edition
These rows follow the source’s own equipment field order. Fifth edition gives an Armor Class formula; Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e give an armour bonus added to Armor Class.
Chain Shirt — D&D 2024
Category: Medium Armor.
| Armor | Armor Class (AC) | Strength | Stealth | Weight | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chain Shirt | 13 + Dex modifier (max 2) | — | — (no built-in Disadvantage) | 20 lb. | 50 GP |
Edition rules: Medium Armour Training. Without training, the 2024 Strength/Dexterity D20 Test restrictions and no-spellcasting restriction apply. Don in 5 minutes, doff in 1 minute. A separate Shield adds +2 AC only with Shield Training. The printed AC is a calculation, not a +13 bonus.
Official/source reference: D&D 2024 equipment rules.
Chain Shirt — D&D 2014
Category: Medium armor.
| Armor Name | Cost | Armor Class (AC) | Strength | Stealth | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chain shirt | 50 gp | 13 + Dex modifier (max 2) | — | — (no automatic disadvantage) | 20 lb. |
Edition rules: Medium armour proficiency; nonproficiency imposes the 2014 Strength/Dexterity disadvantage and prevents spellcasting. Don in 5 minutes, doff in 1 minute. No default Stealth disadvantage: this is a practical choice for a ranger or scout. Do not substitute the 2024 training text.
Official/source reference: D&D 2014 equipment rules.
Chain Shirt — Pathfinder 1e
Category: Light armor.
| Armor | Cost | Armor/Shield Bonus | Maximum Dex Bonus | Armor Check Penalty | Arcane Spell Failure Chance | Speed (30 ft.) | Speed (20 ft.) | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chain shirt | 100 gp | +4 armor bonus | +4 | −2 | 20% | 30 ft. | 20 ft. | 25 lb. |
Edition rules: Light-armour proficiency and Pathfinder’s armour-check penalty rules apply. A chain shirt does not reduce normal walking speed as medium/heavy armour does. It takes 1 minute to don or remove, or 5 rounds to don hastily, according to the Pathfinder dressing table. The +4 is an additive armour bonus to AC.
Official/source reference: Pathfinder 1e equipment rules.
Chain Shirt — D&D 3.5e
Category: Light armor.
| Armor | Cost | Armor/Shield Bonus | Maximum Dex Bonus | Armor Check Penalty | Arcane Spell Failure Chance | Speed (30 ft.) | Speed (20 ft.) | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chain shirt | 100 gp | +4 armor bonus | +4 | −2 | 20% | 30 ft. | 20 ft. | 25 lb. |
Edition rules: Light-armour proficiency and the 3.5e armour-check and arcane spell-failure rules apply. Normal dressing takes 1 minute, hasty donning 5 rounds, and removing normally 1 minute (help can reduce the time). A standard 3.5e chain shirt comes with a steel cap. Do not treat +4 as a fixed AC score.
Official/source reference: D&D 3.5e equipment rules.
The Chain Shirt in Play
At the ruined gate. A scout sees torchlight moving behind a portcullis. If she slips through the reeds in a chain shirt, fifth-edition rules do not impose an automatic Stealth penalty. If she is playing Pathfinder 1e or D&D 3.5e, the applicable armour-check penalty is −2 instead. The GM still decides whether the ground and visibility allow the attempt; neither result means a chain shirt is literally silent.
Between expeditions: mail has to be inspected at the armpits, shoulders and hems where repeated movement strains the joins. A handful of broken rings may be replaceable in an armourer’s workshop; a broad tear makes the shirt unreliable until repaired. The links distribute weight over the shoulders rather than supporting themselves rigidly like a breastplate.
Making and Wearing Mail
European mail garments often used rings connected in a repeating pattern, with some rings riveted closed and others made solid. Shirt length, sleeve coverage and collar construction changed by time and place. The Nuremberg museum example has extended sleeves and hem, making it an especially useful comparison for the craft of mail—not proof that every fantasy chain shirt has the same cut.
A chain shirt provides less continuous coverage than Chainmail. Compare its flexible protection with the rigid torso defence of Breastplate and the more extensive protection of Half Plate.
Original Pathfinder 1e Reference
The original Pathfinder catalogue entry was a light-armour table. Its numbers and source credit are preserved here with readable headers. In particular the +4 is an armour bonus, while fifth edition calculates AC from 13 plus a limited Dexterity modifier.
Show the original Pathfinder 1e chain-shirt table
| Armor | Cost | Armor/Shield Bonus | Maximum Dex Bonus | Armor Check Penalty | Arcane Spell Failure Chance | Speed (30 ft.) | Speed (20 ft.) | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chain shirt (Light) | 100 gp | +4 | +4 | −2 | 20% | 30 ft. | 20 ft. | 25 lb. |
Original Pathfinder description: a flexible linked-metal shirt that protects the upper body. See the Pathfinder 1e Core Rulebook equipment reference for the unabridged equipment context.
Related Equipment and Sources
Armour & Shields directory · Chainmail · Breastplate · Scale Mail. Edition sources: D&D 2024, D&D 2014, Pathfinder 1e, D&D 3.5e.
Rules Credits and Licensing
Pathfinder historical rules data originally credited to Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; author Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook and Skip Williams. D&D 3.5e legacy SRD source: System Reference Document, Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Open Game License v1.0a, Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. See the OGL v1.0a. D&D fifth-edition SRD material is credited to Wizards of the Coast LLC under CC BY 4.0. The original museum image has its own separately documented public-domain status; full licence-chain review remains a separate final check.
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