Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

I rummaged through the rule book and supplements but was unable to find any rules on Elven Chain Mail. Anybody have rules w.r.t. thieves that work? Thinking back to AD&D (2e, not sure about 1e), thieves could wear it and suffer some light penalties.

IIRC there is no elven chain on BF, no need for it, elven magic user wizards can cast magic on any armor, same for the other possible magic users combo.

Thieves don't suffer penalties while wearing any of their permitted armors unlike the advanced editions.

if you don't find something in the core rules, you will probably find it in the supplemental material. If you don't find it in the supplemental material, then write it up, post it for review and then make it available as supplemental material so the next person looking for that can find it.

Historically (that is, in the history of RPGs), Elven Chainmail was a type of armor allowed to Elf battlefield units. It had the Armor Class of chainmail with the weight and encumbrance factors of leather armor. Gary said in an "official" statement in Dragon that it could not be enchanted.

I omitted it from BFRPG even though I used to allow it in my Glain campaign; it's a poor fit to rules as simple as ours, and serves no specific purpose in a true RPG.

Solomoriah wrote: I omitted it from BFRPG even though I used to allow it in my Glain campaign; it's a poor fit to rules as simple as ours, and serves no specific purpose in a true RPG.

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I forgot to remove the elven chain mail from a module I had converted and a elven PC thief had found it against improbable odds. Without thinking I revealed it to be elven (assuming the PC recognized it as such) and so now I'm stuck with it...

Eh, no problem. It's inferior to any enchanted metal armor, or even leather +2, so it shouldn't be a problem. I say let him have his 2 points of AC, and consider it a one-off item.

If it helps, I've always played elven chain as either chainmail or chainmail+1, but with the weight halved and the move penalty removed. It's not a huge find but good for players who prefer mobility or have weight issues.

Or consider it a Chain Mail made by elves, normal to other chain mails (if you don't wan to to make it something magical) and if any character or npc uses it without class permission he can't use any special ability and suffer a penalty to attack and other rolls.

That's the approach I've taken: it's essentially chain mail +1, allowed by thieves, and weighs half as much as regular chain mail. Also, it's priceless so no practical way to sell it.

Perhaps some elven prince will come looking for his family heirloom...

I would probably rule it as a chain mail that weight half as much and doesn't affect movement. It would be roughly equivalent to a leather armor +2, but with a cool background.