Half Plate
Half plate covers much of a combatant’s body with shaped metal plates, without the fully articulated coverage of an expensive full harness. It is protective but not quiet. Importantly, the name hides a major rules change: D&D 2014/2024 categorise it as medium armour, while Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e call it heavy armour and give different armour bonuses.
Half Plate at a Glance
- What it covers: shaped metal plates protect much of the torso; coverage of arms, legs and mail at gaps varies by the edition’s assumed design.
- Mobility: less extensive plate can leave limbs freer, but the game category and stealth restrictions depend on edition.
- Who wears it: a well-equipped man-at-arms or soldier who values metal protection but cannot obtain, maintain or afford a complete fitted harness.
- Trade-off: strong protection with noise, weight, maintenance and hard choices when an encounter demands stealth.
- Edition warning: medium armour in 2014/2024 D&D; heavy armour in Pathfinder 1e and 3.5e.
Compare four editions · Half plate in an encounter · Original Pathfinder reference
Half Plate Rules by Edition
Select your rules system. Fifth edition treats half plate as medium armour, while Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e treat it as heavy armour with different bonuses.
Half Plate — D&D 2024
Category: Medium Armor.
| Armor | Armor Class (AC) | Strength | Stealth | Weight | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half Plate Armor | 15 + Dex modifier (max 2) | — | Disadvantage | 40 lb. | 750 GP |
Edition-specific rules:
- Training: Medium Armour Training. Without it: Disadvantage on Strength- and Dexterity-related D20 Tests, and no spellcasting.
- Don / Doff: 5 minutes to don, 1 minute to doff.
- Shield: A trained Shield user can also gain the separate ordinary +2 AC shield benefit.
In play: A Dexterity modifier of +2 gives AC 17 in half plate before a separate trained shield or other applicable effects. Its stealth disadvantage remains.
Source: D&D 2024 equipment rules.
Half Plate — D&D 2014
Category: Medium armor.
| Armor Name | Cost | Armor Class (AC) | Strength | Stealth | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half plate | 750 gp | 15 + Dex modifier (max 2) | — | Disadvantage | 40 lb. |
Edition-specific rules:
- Proficiency: Medium Armour proficiency. Without it, Disadvantage on Strength- and Dexterity-based ability checks, saving throws and attack rolls, and no spellcasting.
- Don / Doff: 5 minutes to don, 1 minute to doff.
- Shield: An ordinary wielded Shield adds +2 AC, with the edition’s proficiency consequences if untrained.
In play: AC 17 with Dexterity +2, before any eligible shield bonus. It is not simply a smaller suit of heavy plate mechanically.
Source: D&D 2014 equipment rules.
Half Plate — Pathfinder 1e
Category: Heavy armor.
| Armor | Cost | Armor/Shield Bonus | Maximum Dex Bonus | Armor Check Penalty | Arcane Spell Failure Chance | Speed (30 ft.) | Speed (20 ft.) | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half-plate | 600 gp | +8 | +0 | −7 | 40% | 20 ft. | 15 ft. | 50 lb. |
Edition-specific rules:
- Donning: Proper donning of half-plate takes 4 minutes with help; hasty donning alters protection and penalties under Pathfinder rules.
In play: This is a heavy-armour suit in Pathfinder, not fifth edition’s medium category. The +8 bonus is not a fixed AC of 15.
Source: Pathfinder 1e equipment rules.
Half Plate — D&D 3.5e
Category: Heavy armor.
| Armor | Cost | Armor/Shield Bonus | Maximum Dex Bonus | Armor Check Penalty | Arcane Spell Failure Chance | Speed (30 ft.) | Speed (20 ft.) | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half-plate | 600 gp | +7 | +0 | −7 | 40% | 20 ft. | 15 ft. | 50 lb. |
Edition-specific rules:
- Donning: Proper donning 4 minutes with help, with separate 3.5e hasty-donning and removal provisions.
In play: The 3.5e armour bonus is +7. Do not substitute Pathfinder’s +8 even though cost, weight and penalties match.
Source: D&D 3.5e equipment rules.
Wearing Half Plate in Play
At a ruined toll-house. A fighter in half plate must cross a courtyard quietly while defenders search by lantern. In both fifth editions, the armour imposes Disadvantage on Stealth checks; the GM need not invent a new “noisy armour” rule. Pathfinder and D&D 3.5e instead apply their own armour-check penalties and movement restrictions. The player can stay armoured for a fight or risk removing it for a different approach.
Loot that fits? A captured suit is useful only if its sections can be worn and secured. A soldier’s mismatched plate pieces may need new straps, rivets and fitting by an armourer. Fifth-edition equipment-size changes are optional adjudications; Pathfinder’s and 3.5e’s sizing and craft rules are not automatically interchangeable with them.
Construction and Historical Context
A half harness is not a single uniform medieval product. Torso plates might be worn over an arming garment and supported by pieces of mail where the body bends; different sets protected different limbs. The fantasy equipment term deliberately simplifies that variety. A surviving breastplate alone is not the same thing as a complete suit of half plate, and a sixteenth-century parade harness should not be passed off as typical field equipment.
The next useful comparison is between Breastplate, which leaves more of the limbs unprotected, and Full Plate, a much more comprehensive fitted harness.
Original Pathfinder 1e Reference
The original entry was based on Pathfinder’s heavy armour table; its published values are retained and reformatted here. In this edition half plate grants a +8 armour bonus, not D&D 3.5e’s +7. The original archive entry included a textual reference to an accompanying helm and gauntlets.
Show the original Pathfinder 1e half-plate statistics
| Armour | Cost | Armour bonus | Max. Dex bonus | Check penalty | Arcane failure | Speed (30 ft. base) | Speed (20 ft. base) | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Half plate (heavy) | 600 gp | +8 | +0 | –7 | 40% | 20 ft. | 15 ft. | 50 lb. |
Original description: combining elements of full plate and chainmail, Pathfinder half plate includes gauntlets and a helm.
Source: Pathfinder 1e Core Rulebook — Equipment. This is the source of the preserved +8 figure, not a cross-edition table.
Related Equipment and Rules
Armour & Shields directory · Breastplate · Full Plate · Chainmail. Sources: D&D 2024, D&D 2014, Pathfinder 1e and D&D 3.5e.
Rules Credits
Legacy Pathfinder source: Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook, Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; author Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook and Skip Williams. Related 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 OGL 1.0a. D&D fifth-edition SRD comparisons cite Wizards of the Coast LLC under CC BY 4.0. Original explanatory examples are SpiralWorlds editorial text.
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