Chainmail

Mail armour is a flexible garment of interlinked metal rings, worn over cloth and carried by its wearer through every mile of a campaign. It can turn a cutting blow, but its weight, the work of repairing rings and the noise of movement matter. Across four rules systems, “chainmail” looks familiar but changes from heavy armour in fifth edition to medium armour in Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e.

Chainmail at a Glance

Form: interlocking iron or steel rings in a long mail garment, often with a padded underlayer.
Coverage: protects torso and, for the fuller game suits, arms and legs; the legacy game item includes gauntlets.
Use: a guard, retainer or professional soldier who needs reliable flexible coverage rather than plate.
Benefits: flexible around the joints, repairable, more enclosing than a chain shirt.
Drawbacks: weight, noise, expense and regular cleaning and rivet repairs.

Four-edition rules · A game encounter · Original Pathfinder reference

Bayeux Tapestry scene depicting fighting around Harold Godwinson at Hastings, with mail-clad warriors — The *Bayeux Tapestry*, late 11th century, shows mail-clad warriors in its account of Hastings; this is narrative embroidery, not a tailoring diagram.

Chainmail Rules by Edition

Check the edition; an armour bonus in Pathfinder or 3.5e is not the fixed AC calculation in fifth edition.

5.5e / 20245e / 2014Pathfinder 1eD&D 3.5e

Chainmail — D&D 2024

Published Chain Mail, heavy armour; its AC is fixed at 16, not an added +16 bonus.

Category: Heavy Armor.

Official D&D 2024 equipment field order — horizontal equipment table
Armor	Armor Class (AC)	Strength	Stealth	Weight	Cost
Chain Mail	16	Str 13	Disadvantage	55 lb.	75 GP

Edition-specific rules:

Training: Heavy Armour Training; lacking training imposes Disadvantage on Strength/Dexterity D20 Tests and prevents spellcasting.
Don / Doff: 10 minutes / 5 minutes
Shield: A separate ordinary Shield grants +2 AC only with Shield Training.

At the table: A trained wearer has AC 16; a separate trained ordinary Shield can raise it to 18 before other effects.

Rules source: D&D 2024 equipment rules.

Chainmail — D&D 2014

Published Chain Mail, heavy armour. The old Pathfinder +6 table on this page does not apply.

Category: Heavy armor.

Official D&D 2014 equipment field order — horizontal equipment table
Armor Name	Cost	Armor Class (AC)	Strength	Stealth	Weight
Chain mail	75 gp	16	Str 13	Disadvantage	55 lb.

Edition-specific rules:

Proficiency: Heavy armour proficiency; without it, Disadvantage on affected Strength/Dexterity ability checks, saves and attacks, and no spellcasting.
Don / Doff: 10 minutes / 5 minutes
Shield: The ordinary Shield is +2 AC, with proficiency limits on untrained wielders.

At the table: Chain Mail protects better than most medium armour but gives no Dexterity bonus to AC.

Rules source: D&D 2014 equipment rules.

Chainmail — Pathfinder 1e

Published medium armour, not heavy. Pathfinder armour bonuses add to AC under that edition’s stacking rules.

Category: Medium armor.

Official Pathfinder 1e equipment field order — horizontal equipment table
Armor	Cost	Armor/Shield Bonus	Maximum Dex Bonus	Armor Check Penalty	Arcane Spell Failure Chance	Speed (30 ft.)	Speed (20 ft.)	Weight
Chainmail	150 gp	+6	+2	−5	30%	20 ft.	15 ft.	40 lb.

Edition-specific rules:

Don / Remove: 4 minutes to don (2 with assistance), 1 minute to remove (less with assistance)

At the table: This is the original catalogue version with +6; its higher number than 3.5e is deliberate.

Rules source: Pathfinder 1e equipment rules.

Chainmail — D&D 3.5e

Published medium armour; it is different from Pathfinder despite sharing cost, skill penalties and weight.

Category: Medium armor.

Official D&D 3.5e equipment field order — horizontal equipment table
Armor	Cost	Armor/Shield Bonus	Maximum Dex Bonus	Armor Check Penalty	Arcane Spell Failure Chance	Speed (30 ft.)	Speed (20 ft.)	Weight
Chainmail	150 gp	+5	+2	−5	30%	20 ft.	15 ft.	40 lb.

Edition-specific rules:

Don / Remove: 4 minutes to don (2 with assistance), 1 minute to remove (less with assistance)

At the table: Use +5 rather than Pathfinder’s +6. The suit includes gauntlets under the 3.5e description.

Rules source: D&D 3.5e equipment rules.

Using Chainmail in Play

At the ruined ford. The mail-clad escort must decide whether to creep through reeds to bypass an enemy watch or to hold the road and protect a packhorse. In D&D 2014/2024 the heavy suit imposes Stealth Disadvantage; in PF1e and 3.5e, use the published armour-check and movement penalties instead. The clink of rings gives the GM useful description, not permission to add arbitrary extra modifiers.

The practical cost. Mail can be patched link by link after a fight. A riveted ring requires tools and matching material, and the whole garment needs a close inspection after a penetrating wound. Wet rings need care against corrosion. Different periods and regions made many kinds of mail; the game simplifies them into a named item.

Mail, a Chain Shirt and Plate Are Different

A chain shirt generally stops at the torso and is a lighter category. Full mail reaches farther, while full plate uses fitted rigid pieces over the limbs and body. Half plate sits between these fantasy equipment concepts but has edition-dependent categorisation. These are game classifications rather than precise names for every real historical harness.

Original Pathfinder 1e Chainmail Reference

The original SpiralWorlds Chainmail page used Pathfinder 1e values and identified its fuller coverage and gauntlets. They are preserved below in a readable table rather than left at the start of the article with ambiguous headings.

Show original Pathfinder 1e chainmail statistics

Item	Cost	Armour bonus	Max Dex	Check penalty	Arcane failure	Speed 30-ft base	Speed 20-ft base	Weight
Chainmail (medium)	150 gp	+6	+2	−5	30%	20 ft.	15 ft.	40 lb.

This is a Pathfinder medium-armour table only. It is not 2014/2024 AC16 or D&D 3.5e’s +5. Pathfinder says a suit covers the limbs and includes gauntlets. Source: Pathfinder Core Rulebook.

Further Viewing

Historical videos are optional supporting material, not the rules reference. One existing documentary remains embedded and the other three original URLs remain linked for later playback/editorial review.

Mail and Shields in Motion

Featured demonstration: Mail Armour Historical Evaluation. Film is a visual reference for historical equipment; the edition-specific rules above remain authoritative.

Three original armour videos — retained for review

These were embedded on the old page. Their links are preserved rather than silently deleted. Titles come from the existing video players; no claim is made that every clip has been independently watched.

The TRUTH about chainmail (mail) — archived original video; playback/relevance review still required
The Armor That Never Died: A Chainmail History — archived original video; playback/relevance review still required
Arrows vs Maille – part 1 — archived original video; playback/relevance review still required

Rules, Attribution and Related Equipment

Armour & Shields · Chain Shirt · Half Plate · Full Plate. Editions: D&D 2024, D&D 2014, Pathfinder 1e, 3.5e SRD.

Rules Credits

Legacy Pathfinder data derives from Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; author Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook and Skip Williams. Additional source notices: System Reference Document, Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Open Game License v1.0a, Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc. See the full OGL v1.0a text. D&D fifth-edition SRD material is credited to Wizards of the Coast LLC under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Full licensing-chain certification requires a separate final review.