Splint Mail — Heavy Armour
Heavy armour · Equipment reference
Splint mail protects its wearer with narrow metal plates attached to a flexible foundation. Its cost is 200 gp across these four editions, but its Armour Class, weight and rules for movement differ. Use the edition-specific statistics below when equipping an adventurer.
At a Glance
Armour: Splint mail (heavy). Typical wearer: a trained front-line combatant. Trade-off: strong protection in exchange for mobility and stealth restrictions.
Splint Mail Rules by Edition
D&D 2024 — Splint Armor
| AC | Strength | Stealth | Weight | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 15 | Disadvantage | 60 lb. | 200 GP |
Requires Heavy Armor Training for normal use. The armour sets AC to 17 without adding Dexterity. The Strength requirement affects movement under the armour rules; Stealth checks have Disadvantage. Lack of training also imposes the rulebook’s restrictions, including an inability to cast spells while wearing the suit.
D&D 2014 — Splint
| Cost | AC | Strength | Stealth | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 gp | 17 | Str 15 | Disadvantage | 60 lb. |
The wearer must be proficient with Heavy Armor to avoid the ordinary nonproficiency penalties. A wearer whose Strength is below 15 normally loses 10 feet of speed, subject to other applicable rules. Dexterity does not alter the AC, and Dexterity (Stealth) checks have Disadvantage.
Pathfinder 1e — Splint Mail
| Cost | Armour Bonus | Max Dex | Check Penalty | Spell Failure | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 gp | +7 | +0 | −7 | 40% | 45 lb. |
Speed is 20 feet for a normally 30-foot creature and 15 feet for a normally 20-foot creature, subject to class and ancestry exceptions. The table below preserves the original Pathfinder equipment format.
D&D 3.5e — Splint Mail
| Cost | Armour Bonus | Max Dex | Check Penalty | Spell Failure | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 gp | +6 | +0 | −7 | 40% | 45 lb. |
Base speed falls from 30 to 20 feet, or from 20 to 15 feet, under ordinary heavy-armour movement rules. The +6 armour bonus is deliberately different from Pathfinder 1e’s +7. Do not copy either figure into a fifth-edition AC calculation.
Related equipment: Armour and Shields · Starting Equipment.
| Armour | Cost | Armour bonus | Max Dex | Armour check penalty | Arcane spell failure | Speed, base 30 ft. | Speed, base 20 ft. | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Splint mail | 200 gp | +7 | +0 | −7 | 40% | 20 ft. | 15 ft. | 45 lb. |
[This content was created for the Pathfinder rules by Paizo Publishing LLC and is part of the Pathfinder RPG product line.]
Splint mail is made up of metal strips, like Banded mail. The suit includes gauntlets.
Section 15: Copyright Notice – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook
Pathfinder RPG Core Rulebook. Copyright 2009, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Author: Jason Bulmahn, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, and Skip Williams.
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