Worldbuilding and Character Development for 5E D&D Inspired by Game of Thrones — Hide Armor

I finished rewatching Game of Thrones all the way through for a second time recently and the series engaged me in different ways this time around. For one thing it’s fun knowing the fate of characters and seeing how each step on their journey influences their outcomes and for another and I simply missed a lot of the nuance the first time around. As for so many fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons nerds the show appeals to me as a source of gaming inspiration too. One particular standout from the show is the armor worn by warriors across Westeros and Essos. A wealth of worldbuilding and character development potential for 5E D&D awaits through armor and I’m excited to explore them. Let’s get into it.

Armor offers more than protection in 5E D&D

There’s A Song of Ice and Fire from Green Ronin custom designed to reflect the realities of Westeros with play centered around noble houses and the characters from them, which I played once at PAX Unplugged. But I’m more interested in a very particular aspect of Game of Thrones I’ve always found really neat — the distinctive armor worn by people of various regions.

In 5E D&D there’s 12 kinds of armor in three different categories — light, medium and heavy — plus shields. Generally a warrior wishes to wear the best possible armor for protection in battle. I wonder if there’s not perhaps equally useful reasons for donning different armor types including worldbuilding from either side of the Dungeon Master screen.

It’s worth noting when it comes to 5E D&D mechanics I am not a believer in the necessity of squeezing every possible incremental bonus from every source. If you’re in the camp plate armor or bust you’ll have to continue reading with a grain of salt. In fact part of my curiosity in exploring this idea is wondering how armor can inform other character choices.

Light armor in 5E D&D

There’s three types of light armor in the 5E D&D Player’s Handbook plus another one found in Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount. Light armor takes one minute to both don and doff.

“Made from supple and thin materials, light armor favors agile adventurers since it offers some protection without sacrificing mobility. If you wear light armor, you add your Dexterity modifier to the base number from your armor type to determine your Armor Class.”

Light. Leather, Padded, Pride Silk Outfit, Studded Leather

Medium armor in 5E D&D

There’s six types of medium armor in the PHB. Medium armor takes five minute to don and one minute to doff.

“Medium armor offers more protection than light armor, but it also impairs movement more. If you wear medium armor, you add your Dexterity modifier, to a maximum of +2, to the base number from your armor type to determine your Armor Class.”

Medium. Breastplate, Chain Shirt, Half Plate, Hide, Scale Mail, Spiked Armor

Heavy armor in 5E D&D

There’s only four varieties of heavy armor in 5E D&D. Heavy armor takes ten minutes to don and five minutes to doff.

“Of all the armor categories, heavy armor offers the best protection. These suits of armor cover the entire body and are designed to stop a wide range of attacks. Only proficient warriors can manage their weight and bulk. Heavy armor doesn’t let you add your Dexterity modifier to your Armor Class, but it also doesn’t penalize you if your Dexterity modifier is negative.”

Heavy. Chain Mail, Plate, Ring Mail, Splint

Making the most of hide armor in 5E D&D

According to the 5E D&D PHB hide armor is crude armor consisting of thick furs and pelts. It is commonly worn by barbarian tribes, evil humanoids, and other folk who lack access to the tools and materials needed to create better armor. It costs 10 gold pieces and provides an Armor Class of 12 plus Dexterity modifier up to a maximum of 2, putting it a step behind studded leather armor in this way but costing far less. It weighs 12 pounds and does not cause disadvantage on Stealth checks.

The unsophisticated nature of hide armor means it most often shows up on monsters whose cultures and societies typically exist far removed from anything relatable to our own real world ideas of civilization. Tribal warriors, gnolls, orcs, bugbears, berserkers and ogres found in the Basic Rules illustrate this circumstance. Incidentally a popular meme for several years now suggests hide armor is a favorite of rogues too.

Finding monsters based on the standard armor they wear is somewhat challenging even with the functionality from D&D Beyond. A bit of manual searching turned up the archdruid, orc claw of Luthic and orc hand of Yurtrus from Volo’s Guide to Monsters too. Hide armor’s distinctiveness shows primarily through the disparity in cost with studded leather armor and represents a step up for their culture’s warriors in terms of protection. Leaders and other specialized forces from these groups often wear the superior studded leather armor and I imagine the value of that type of armor signifies those creatures’ greater status in their society.

A culture where hide armor is the norm reinforces the notion of living outside the boundaries of civilization. Like the Free Folk living beyond The Wall in Westeros hide armor serves as everyday garb for protection against the elements as much as against dangerous creatures. Hide armor likely isn’t even considered bonafide armor and moreso simply functional clothing. Incidentally I’m surprised hide armor is not also considered cold weather clothing. In other words whereas each of the light armors suggests a perspective on the expectation of combat for those who rely on hide armor combat is almost a foregone conclusion. Life is dangerous y’all.

An outlander makes a perfect example of a character who gravitates towards hide armor — it’s basically their everyday clothes to some extent! Aside from wearing thick furs and pelts as protection from physical harm this also speaks to cultures who make use of everything their surroundings offer. Practicality equates to survival for these folk.

As the first of the medium armor types in 5E D&D hide armor adds a new wrinkle to the armor game because any of the give types puts a limit on the Armor Class bonus provided by Dexterity. Here again this reinforces the idea of folk living in the wilds and requiring an extra measure of toughness to survive. These warriors understand the benefit of agility, reflexes and balance but also the value in not getting hit in the first place. Narratively speaking this could suggest placing a premium on hitting hard and ending conflicts quickly through sheer power. Tactics these warriors employ might be quite similar to their studded leather wearing counterparts but only insofar as the initial approach. Stealth gets them close to where they need to be but this is only so the blitz strikes harder and faster.

• Weapons. Club, dagger, greatclub, handaxe, javelin, light hammer, mace, quarterstaff, sickle, spear.
  • Curating the weapon selections for each armor type hit a snag at this point, which I explained in previous posts about light armor. I haven’t come up with a consistent approach from here on out and I’m keeping it simple for the simplest of medium armors by limiting these to simple weapons only.
• Battle Master Builds. Brawler, Outrider, Pugilist
• Actions in Combat. Climb onto a bigger creature, Overrun, Hitting cover
• Feats. Alert, Athlete, Dual Wielder, Charger, Crusher, Durable, Fighting Initiate (Defense, Two-Weapon Fighting, Unarmed Fighting), Grappler, Mage Slayer, Martial Adept (Brace, Distracting Strike, Goading Attack, Grappling Strike, Lunging Attack, Menacing Attack, Pushing Attack, Sweeping Attack), Medium Armor Master, Mounted Combatant, Piercer, Savage Attacker, Slasher, Tavern Brawler, Tough

Now for the fun worldbuilding part — who are these hide armor clad warriors? It’s pretty clear the priority in this culture is wilderness survival and making use of what’s available without the need for complicated artifice. Both armor and weapons serve additional purposes beyond preventing and dealing damage in combat. Tracking, hunting, foraging and migrating as needed occupies most of their time.

All the danger posed by inhospitable environments and the examples of creatures for whom hide armor is standard make the goliath race an ideal place to start. By default in 5E D&D goliaths hit on pretty much every note from dwelling in harsh environments to placing high value on survival skills. Even the perspective on fierce competition lends itself to the adventurer spirit for characters who heed the call.

I like incorporating a monstrosity from the Basic Rules into these worldbuilding exercises and this time around a couple of candidates jump out at me. For starters the owlbear is a perennial favorite of D&D nerds. Predatory and ferocious these monstrosities fit the bill terrifically as the premier dangerous creature in the region and a wonderful source of raw materials for all the hide armor. Winter wolves fulfill a similar position but their lesser to hit bonus test the limits of hide armor quite as much.

A bulette makes an intriguing choice too for a couple of reasons.  They’re very dangerous and a culture incorporating bulettes as a resource puts a little different of a spin on the visuals for this hide armor-centric culture. Plus unlike the other possibilities a bulette’s listed environment includes mountains so they fit right in with goliaths thematically. This creature also makes sense because of the weapon selection since it’s burrowing movement and other behavior make ranged weapons less useful against them. It’s worth noting the bulette is a higher challenge rating than those other creatures and any of the creatures associated with the other armor types but this is medium armor and harsh situations so deal with it like the goliaths.

And that’s hide armor. This series about 5E D&D armor continues to be a lot of fun (for me anyway but judging by the view count others not so much). Playing a goliath outlander from a mountainous region like this sounds terrific to me. An Extreme Adventurer comes to mind. Roleplaying opportunities with other warriors, the character’s perspective on their homeland and how they’ll develop as a character both mechanically and narratively seem very rewarding to me as a player.

Next up for medium armor comes the chain shirt, for which I’m already formulating ideas. Concepts like this armor series fly in the face of achieving numerical superiority in 5E D&D but in my experience this is the most forgiving edition of the game. There’s so much more to be gained through engaged roleplaying than the quest to have the highest numbers on a character sheet. Before bristling let me be clear I’m not suggesting optimized characters lack engagement opportunities. What I am explicitly putting forth is there’s value in considering less than optimal choices. This is not because of a perceived superiority in more mechanically challenged characters but rather simply a different set of pros and cons to help define who they are through their adventures.

*Featured image — A goliath warrior of the mountain lands reels back to strike with her greatclub. This warrior’s culture exists in an inhospitable region far removed from civilization where survival the first and only order of business. I used the amazing resources at Hero Forge to put this image together in just a few minutes with full color. The lighter color scheme represents the furs and pelts of monstrosities these goliaths contend with and are especially reminiscent of a bulette, which would make for some fine hide armor indeed. There’s so much you can do with Hero Forge! Check it out for yourself here.

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