Studded leather armor
[ studded leather armor 
| |
|---|---|
| Appearance | studded leather armor |
| Slot | body armor |
| AC | 3 |
| Special | |
| Base price | 15 zm |
| Weight | 200 |
| Material | leather |
Studded leather armor is a type of body armor that appears in NetHack. It is made of leather.
Contents
Generation
Studded leather armor makes up 9⁄125 of all randomly generated armor.[1]
Lower-ranked mercenaries may be generated with studded leather armor, depending on the monster's specific target AC.[2]
Description
While worn, studded leather armor provides 3 base AC and MC1.
Strategy
Studded leather does not inhibit spellcasting, making it a common body armor choice for early Wizards and other builds focused on combat spellcasting; for other players, studded leather is usually a somewhat lighter substitute for heavier starting armor in order to reduce inventory weight.
In most cases, studded leather is eventually replaced with a mithril-coat or dragon scale mail; crystal plate mail does not inhibit spellcasting, but it has more than twice the weight of studded leather.
History
Studded leather armor first appears in Hack for PDP-11, a variant of Jay Fenlason's Hack. Before this, studded leather was one of the stock armor types in the original Rogue, where it provided two points of AC reduction as it does in Dungeons & Dragons.
Origin
The studded leather of NetHack is borrowed from the first edition of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, where it was described as leather armor "to which have been fastened metal studding as additional protection, usually including an outer coat of fairly close-set studs";[3] this description may be derived from medieval artworks and reconstructions of brigandine armor. With highly visible rivets on the outside layer of leather, these rivets held many small metal plates beneath the leather exterior to allow greater maneuverability than full plate armor, and greater protection than armor made entirely of leather.
Real-world studded leather armor uses the studs to provide structural support, rather than serving a defensive purpose; they were used to fasten small metal plates beneath the leather exterior or hold the layers of leather together. Very rarely they are included as decoration, as this typically hampers the armor's functionality.
Variants
In variants with object materials systems, the armor is referred to as simply studded armor, with the name of the material appended in front (e.g., "a leather studded armor").
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, Knights get a weight reduction for any body armor heavier than studded leather armor.
References
- ↑ NetHack 3.4.3 armor spoilers
- ↑ src/makemon.c in NetHack 3.6.7, line 628
- ↑ AD&D1 Dungeon Masters Guide, Page 27
