Banded mail
[ banded mail 
| |
|---|---|
| Appearance | banded mail |
| Slot | body armor |
| AC | 6 |
| Special | |
| Base price | 90 zm |
| Weight | 350 |
| Material | iron |
Banded mail is a type of body armor that appears in NetHack. It is made of iron.
Contents
Generation
In addition to random generation, general stores and armor shops can stock banded mail.
Description
While worn, banded mail confers 6 base AC and MC1.
Strategy
Banded mail is a slight upgrade from splint mail, providing the same protection while being lighter by 50 aum and having a slightly higher base cost. In general, it is still quite heavy, and either the dwarvish mithril-coat or elven mithril-coat is typically preferable at minimum.
History
Banded mail first appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which is based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial list of armor for Hack 1.0. From this version to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on those versions, banded mail does not grant any magic cancellation.
Origin
Banded mail is a standard type of armor in Dungeons & Dragons and games and media inspired by it, but it is unclear if it ever existed as portrayed in D&D. There is no record of the term being used before the 19th century, and descriptions are inconsistent: it may be a type of plate mail made of horizontal bands of metal, or a chain mail reinforced with bands of leather woven into the links.
The first description of banded mail resembles laminar armor, which was historically used in ancient Rome (as lorica segmentata) and Central Asia. The second description is based mainly on speculation and medieval manuscripts and artwork. There are no known examples of mail with interwoven leather strips, but it is possible that some chain mail once contained leather components that were later lost.
