Leather armor

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[   leather armor   Leather armor.png
Appearance leather armor
Slot body armor
AC 2
Special
Base price 5 zm
Weight 150
Material leather

Leather armor is a type of body armor that appears in NetHack. It is naturally made of leather.

Generation

There is a 41482 (or ~8.5%) chance that a randomly generated piece of armor will be leather armor.[1]

The Caveman starts each game with a set of +0 leather armor, while the Rogue starts each game with a set of +1 leather armor.[2][3]

Weaker mercenaries such as Yendorian Army soldiers and watchmen can be generated with leather armor.[4] Various quest guardians can be generated with leather armor as well: chieftains, pages, roshi, and warriors have a 13 chance to generate with leather armor;[5] hunters have a 14 chance of generating with leather armor;[6] thugs have a 14 chance of generating with leather armor;[7] and neanderthals are always generated with leather armor.[8]

Leather golems leave behind a pile of 2-8 sets of leather armor as a special death drop instead of a corpse.[9]

Description

When worn, leather armor confers 2 base AC and MC1.

Strategy

Some characters focused on early spellcasting may utilize any leather armor they find to boost AC without increasing spell failure rates, while the starting leather armor for most Cavemen and Rogues is usually replaced with the first better set of armor they find. In any case, leather armor is typically exchanged for better armor after the early game at most, with even studded leather armor being more viable for spellcasters in some cases; enchanted leather armor can occasionally be found from killing leather golems.

History

Leather armor appears in Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, variants of Jay Fenlason's Hack, and is included in the initial item list for Hack 1.0.

From Hack 1.0 to NetHack 3.4.3, including some variants based on these versions, leather armor may not grant any MC. Leather armor granting MC1 is introduced in NetHack 3.6.0.

Origin

Historical leather armor was made of cuir bouilli, thick leather that had been boiled in water (or possibly oil, wax, or ammonia) to harden it. It was generally cut into scales or plates, which were then fastened together to make body armor.

Variants

In variants with object material systems, leather armor may be referred to as light armor or simply armor.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, leather and studded leather interfere with spellcasting just as metal armor does; robes are the preferred body armor of SLASH'EM spellcasters.

References