Rethinking armor for Ruins & Ronin Deluxe Edition

Ruins & Ronin Deluxe Edition Armor Types

I have found that even though I love the “thought” of using piecemeal armor for Ruins & Ronin, in practice it becomes very cumbersome at the table in actual play. So currently I am struggling with how I want to offer up armor in the new edition of the game. I may offer up two choices so those that prefer a “gritty” approach of knowing each piece of armor can still enjoy their game, but for those like me, who just want to know a basic AC score and keep the game moving I offer the below rules.

General Armor Classes

In this system, there are 4 categories of armor (much like original D&D with leather, chain, and plate) for players to choose from: Light, Medium, Heavy, and Full. Each category is based on pieces of the detailed armor system so  both could be used by different players in the same game, if desired.

Light Armor (AC 7) consists of:

Jingasa (helmet)

Haramaki-do  (chest/belly armor)

Cost: 65 gp

Weight: 22 lbs

Medium Armor (AC 5) consist of:

Jingasa (helmet)

Haramaki-do (chest/belly armor)

Haidate (groin/upper leg armor)

Cost: 105 gp

Weight: 32 lbs

Heavy Armor (AC 3) consists of:

Jingasa (helmet)

Haramaki-do (chest/belly armor)

Sode (arm armor)

Haidate (groin/upper leg armor)

Cost: 155 gp

Weight: 42 lbs

Full Armor (the O-yori) (AC 0) consists of a full crafted suit of armor:

Kabuto (full helmet with face mask)

Haramaki-do (chest/belly armor)

Sode (arm armor)

Kote (shoulder armor)

Haidate (groin/upper leg armor)

Suneate (lower leg armor)

Cost: 500* gp

Weight: 64 lbs

*cost reflects this suit is hand-crafted by master armorers.

Armor Piece	AC	Cost	Wt
haidate	-2	50 gp	10
haramaki-do	-2	60 gp	20
Jingasa	-1	5 gp	2
kabuto	-2	100 gp	4
kote	-1	50 gp	10
sode	-1	5o gp	10
suneate	-1	20 gp	10