What follows are some armors in a medieval setting. Consider varying these qualities by how well the armor was made, as some of the same type may differ in effectiveness. The final number on the right is the value of the armor.
Makeshift Light Armor(T0) [L | Armor: 1] - 0
Primitive Light Armor(T1) [L | Armor: 1] - 1
Crude Padded Armor(T2) [L | Armor: 2] - 4
Leather Armor(T3) [L | Armor: 3 | FIN:10] - 9
Fine Leather Armor(T4) [L | Armor: 4 | FIN:10] - 20
Masterwork Leather Armor(T5) [L | Armor: 5 | FIN:10] - 30
Legendary Leather Armor(T6) [L | Armor: 6 | FIN:11] - 42
Makeshift Medium Armor(T0) [Armor: 2 | BOD:10] - 0
Primitive Bone Armor(T1) [Armor: 3 | BOD:10] - 30
Crude Breastplate(T2) [Armor: 3] - 50
Chainmail(T3) [Armor: 4 | BOD:10] - 60
Fine Breastplate(T4) [Armor: 5 | BOD:11] - 120
Masterwork Chainmail(T5) [Armor: 6 | BOD:11] - 175
Legendary Chainmail(T6) [Armor: 7 | BOD:12] - 210
Makeshift Heavy Armor(T0) [H | Armor: 3 | FIN:-2 | BOD/STR:12] - 0
Primitive Plate Armor(T1) [H | Armor: 4 | FIN:-1 | BOD/STR:11] - 50
Crude Plate(T2) [H | Armor: 5 | FIN:-2 | FIN/BOD:12] - 140
Plate(T3) [H | Armor: 6 | FIN:-1 | STR/BOD:12] - 180
Fine Plate(T4) [H | Armor: 7 | FIN:-1 | STR/BOD:12] - 280
Masterwork Plate(T5) [H | Armor: 8 |FIN:-1 | STR/BOD:12] - 400
Legendary Plate(T6) [H | Armor: 9 | FIN:-1 | STR/BOD:12] - 540
Crafting armor requires the requisite skill, any tools that may be necessary, as well as the materials needed to create the armor. Crafting armor must follow the following restrictions:
Craft skill capable of creating such an item (so common craft to make T1, trained craft to make T3, specialty craft to make T5).
Tools/workshop no less than one tier as the desired item (this means makeshift items may be created without tools).
Materials of equal or higher tier as the desired item (with the exception of a critical success raising the object by +1 tier).
Crafting Armor
All armor is considered to sufficiently cover vital areas such that it offers some reduction in damage (so, no bikini mail in this system, unless in magically extends beyond the physical area it covers (you perverts!)).
Size: the size of the armor determines the range of armor values and how many crafting materials are needed to make the armor. Armor size also gives you a general sense of how extensively the body is being covered/protected by the armor. Normally, a minimum armor size would be -1S, maximum +1S, so a normal-sized creature (S4) could wear light (S3), medium (S4), or heavy (S5) armor. In combat, armor size accounts for whether the armor fully absorbs its armor value in damage (versus weapons whose damage size is equal or smaller) or converts the damage from W to S (versus larger damage sizes). Size also plays a part in determining stat restrictions. A normal-sized armor (S4) would need a base of eight units of crafting materials, half for each size category down, double for each size category up. So small armor (S3) would need four units, little armor (S2) two units, tiny (S1) one unit (or less), while large (S5) would need 16 units, huge (S6) 32 units, etc..
Tier: there are seven basic tiers of quality, from makeshift (T0), regular (T3), to Legendary (T6). Armor tier comes into play when the wearer is injured by a weapon of a higher tier. The tier of armor also determines its max armor value.
Makeshift (T0): armor made from junk, such as a thick animal pelt or other tough parts draped across the body.
Primitive (T1): armor made from animal parts (bone, hide, sinew, teeth, etc.), wood or other primitive materials, i.e. stone-age armor.
Crude (T2): armor made from processed materials and weaker metals (copper, bronze, etc.), such as leather, wood, etc..
Regular (T3): armor made by a smith, using metal or other materials such as wood or leather reinforced with metal (such as iron).
Fine (T4): armor made by a talented smith, using high quality wood, leather, or metal (such as iron or steel).
Masterwork (T5): armor made by a master smith, using fine materials, metal (such as steel), or more advanced materials.
Legendary (T6): armor made by a legendary smith using the finest, most advanced materials.
Armor Value (AV): the amount of damage that the armor absorbs (if equal/greater in size to damage size) or converts W to S or S to none (if smaller than damage size). Base AV for a normal-sized creature: light armor (S3) has a base armor value of 2, medium (S4) has a base value of 4, heavy (S5) has a base value of 6. Successes/failures on the craft check and the armor tier can impact the overall armor value.
Armor Craft Check vs. 10 + 2x Tier (armor) - Tier (tools) - Tier (materials)
results:
Per Success of Three = +1 pip
Per Failure of Two = -1 pip
Blunder = -1 Tier, reroll
Critical = can reroll with +1 Tier (max 1)
If a critical is rolled on the craft check, the character may accept the results or choose to raise the tier by one and roll again. Tier may only be raised by one with a given set of materials, so a subsequent critical will not raise it a second time (and a blunder would drop the tier back to its original with another check needed). Note that the materials restriction doesn't apply in this case (some items are just superior versions made with inferior materials, equal to the quality of higher tiers).
Experienced crafters are less likely to make mistakes: for each skill rank, they have one re-roll for this check, however when they take that option, they lose any previous rolls on that check.
For each +1 pip, the AV may be raised by one (up to the maximum value, determined by armor size and tier). For each -1 pip, reduce AV by one (this will drop it below the listed minimums). An AV of zero is considered useless/broken armor. In addition to using pips to increase the armor value, they can also be used to mitigate penalties, and additional pips may be purchased with stat restrictions (see Penalties and Stat Restrictions below).
The base AV is modified by how well the armor was crafted, limited by the tier and size of the armor. Below is the min\max armor value (for light | medium | heavy armors) by tier for normal-sized creatures.
AV (Min\Max): Light (1\2) | Medium (1\3) | Heavy (2\5) - Makeshift (T0)
AV (Min\Max): Light (1\2) | Medium (2\4) | Heavy (4\6) - Primitive (T1)
AV (Min\Max): Light (1\3) | Medium (3\5) | Heavy (5\7) - Crude (T2)
AV (Min\Max): Light (2\4) | Medium (4\6) | Heavy (6\9) - Regular (T3)
AV (Min\Max): Light (2\5) | Medium (4\6) | Heavy (7\10) - Fine (T4)
AV (Min\Max): Light (3\6) | Medium (4\7) | Heavy (7\11) - Masterwork (T5)
AV (Min\Max): Light (4\7) | Medium (6\9) | Heavy (8\12) - Legendary (T6)
Penalties: some armors include penalties, in the form of negative bonuses to one or more stats (typically FIN). These penalties are applied to the user when the armor is worn. Below are the generic armor penalties.
Light Armor = FIN-0
Medium Armor = FIN-1
Heavy Armor = FIN-2
Stat Restrictions: some armors may have stat restrictions, depending on size (Light is FIN, Medium is BOD, Heavy is BOD/STR). For each restriction not met, the penalty of the armor is doubled (first penalty is FIN-1 if no penalties). So, for example, if an armor has two restrictions and both are unmet, the penalty is x4. A FIN restriction means the armor may impede movement, a BOD restriction represents fatigue when wearing heavier armor over time, and a STR restriction means the weight of the armor must be overcome. For more exotic armors (such as magical or high tech), consider replacing the standard restrictions (for example, an armor that uses the spirit of its wearer may have a NER requirement rather than STR). The crafter may impose stat restriction on the armor being created in order to purchase additional pips or counteract a negative pip.
Restriction 10 = +1 pip
Restriction 12 = +2 pips
Restriction 15 = +3 pips
Example: Let's suppose a character working at a forge (T3 Workshop, +2 craft) has three ranks in Craft(T), with a craft bonus of +4 (+6 while working in the forge) and is trying to make regular (T3) medium armor (chainmail), with some fine 12 crafting materials(T4). Their target number is 10 + 6 (2 x T3(armor)) - 3 (T3 tools) - 4 (T4 materials) = 9. With a Craft Check of 3d6+6, let's say the first check is a success of 6 (rolled a 10). Checking the table in Armor, they see that T3 medium armor at 6 points would give an Armor Value of 5, with a BOD:11 restriction. She's hoping for a critical, one way she can make T4 items even with only Craft(T), and with three ranks in craft she has three rerolls. Each roll has less than a 5% chance of rolling a critical (and the same chance of rolling a blunder), but in this example lets suppose she did get a critical.
Now she can make a craft(T) check to make fine armor (T4). Her target is now 10 + 8 (2 x T4(armor)) - 3 (T3 tools) - 4 (T4 materials) = 11. Say she rolls a success of 5 (rolled a 10, with +6 vs. target 11). Checking the table for fine medium armor (T4), she sees that she can get an Armor Value of 4 for 4 points (she'd need 6 points for the next higher one), and that would required BOD:10. Though the armor would be one less value than her first check, T4 armor is less likely to be sundered. She also uses 4 points of crafting materials, meaning she now has 8 crafting materials(T4). She records her crafted armor as:
Fine Chainmail(T4) [Armor: 4 | BOD:10]
Value: to calculate the value of armor, take the points and multiply by tier, then for the size of the armor, multiply further (light armor is x1): x5 for medium armor, x10 if heavy. Note that, depending on the campaign and availability of materials/technologies, value multipliers may differ. For example, in a primitive campaign, crude may be x2 value, regular x10, fine x100, and beyond that, items may be so rare and fantastical that their value may be that of entire tribes or collections of tribes (i.e. beyond measure).
so,
Value = points spent x size (L = 1; M = 5; H = 10) x tier