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thequeenofthestorm · 3 months ago

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How to Use D&D to Make Elden Bling

Part Two is out now! Read it here!

Introduction

So, I'm sure that my post title doesn't make too much sense, but let me explain myself. So, in D&D there are 12 different types of armor. Three of them are light, five of them are medium, and four of them are heavy. These armor types (plus one more for unarmored) can be used to categorize all Elden Ring clothing and armor, which is what I've used in the past to help me make better fashion. Now, this doesn't fully correlate with weight, although there is a pretty decent trend with heavier kinds of D&D armor being heavier in Elden Ring. Elden Ring has its own separations of armor categories, which I've decided to label as unarmored, robes, ultra light, very light, light, light medium, medium, heavy, very heavy, ultra heavy, and oversized. These are all fairly explanatory, and I mainly bring them up here for categorization purposes later on.

What Are the D&D Armor Types?

Alright, so now that we've talked about the categories, what are each of the D&D armor classes? What do they look like? What is used to distinguish it from other armor types? WHAT THE HELL IS SPLINT? Etc. etc. We'll go over them from lightest to heaviest below.

Padded

Padded is the lightest of the twelve armor types: just featuring layers of quilted cloth. This is primarily known as gambeson, and almost looks like a quilt version of one of those blanket hoodies when thick enough. It will keep you alive more than clothing, but not much more. Arrows will still tear through, as well as things like spears of just a sharp sword if the armor is thin enough.

Leather

The armor of rogues and other edgy folk everywhere: this is one of the more popular kinds of armor in D&D. It's just some simple boiled leather, typically fastened into a breastplate. According to roll20, aside from the breastplate the rest of the armor tends to be made of more flexible materials, which can be kind of true, but there's probably a little more than that: with maybe some greaves or forearm protection. Of course, most of your joints are likely going to have fairly breathable materials so that you can move, but you'd be able to get away with the same amount of leather that you would steel on, say, half plate (which I'll get into later)

Studded Leather

Ok so like apparently this armor never really existed, which I'm not super surprised about. Like, it's just leather with metal studs to help with sturdiness. Not gonna bother talking much about this one

Hide

Ok so we're now in the medium armors. I'll be honest, this feels like it should be under the light armors, but fur and animal hide is heavy so whatever. But yeah, it's armor made by thick animal furs and pelts. Think the kind of stuff that barbarians wear.

Chain Shirt

Made from interlocking rings, it's just chainmail in shirt form. None or only very little of the arm or leg protection, just the torso.

Scale Mail

You take a fish and make it into armor. I kid, but that's what it looks like. You take a bunch of metal scales and overlap them on each other. This set tends to mainly just be a coat with maybe greaves, according to roll20.

Breastplate

A breastplate, cuirass, or whatever you want to call it is very simple: a sheet of metal to cover your torso, with not much else. It's usually not JUST the torso covering (also known as the cuirass), and it may have some pauldrons and tassets, but not much else.

Half Plate

This is, in my opinion, the most confusing type of armor. According to roll20, it's interlocking plates that cover most of the wearers body, but with only simple greaves. That sounds simple on paper, but it always just sounded too much like plate, until I got this description from online. I unfortunately don't remember where this was, but half plate was described as a "best hits" compilation of full plate armor, which makes sense. Simple shin or thigh protection, a full breastplate with elbow and knee plates, and leather or possibly steel gauntlets.

Ring Mail

If you've ever played Skyrim: this is what the executioner in Helgen wears. It's a suit of cloth or leather that has rings put on top to help shake off sword or axe blows. It's inferior to chainmail armor (and hell probably half plate as well) but it's not bad. I feel like this should be the heaviest medium set instead of half plate, and that half plate should be the lightest heavy set, but I'm not from WotC and don't have some large following so my opinion doesn't matter much lol.

Chain Mail

Remember that chain shirt of interlocking metal rings we talked about earlier? Yeah, now make it into a full set of armor. Think the crusaders and a lighter armored paladin (as the heavier ones tend to go for plate). Some historical vikings wore chainmail as well!

Splint

Splint is probably the second weirdest armor behind half plate, but it's not super weird to visualize. Take long steel strips and bolt them on top of leather armor. Some types of splint could be brigandine or lamellar armor. I also think of roman legionnaire armor as a lighter form of splint

Plate

Alright, the heaviest suit of armor, and is by far the easiest to visualize as it's so damn customizable. It's the knight in shining armor archetype, the tin man made into armor, etc. etc. Paladins wear it. Fighters wear it. Plate armor is wonderful. You can wear robes over it or even other light armor as long as it's not gonna make you boil in the weather! Also, roll20 states that the boots are normally leather, but it kind of depends tbh. I typically think of plated sabatons, but shorter leather boots work well too!

Which Elden Ring Armor is Which?

So now that we have a basic understanding of each type of armor, we can now sort the Elden Ring armors into each of these thirteen types of clothing (the twelve types + unarmored). This isn't going to be going over non-set armor, as I'll be honest there is enough armor to go through already. Next to each armor set, I will also show the Elden Ring weight class. This can help if you, say, want to put together a heavy set of leather armor, or if you want to take pieces of plate armor that may be lighter in order to cut down on weight (because the plate armor can get quite light in some cases). I'll stop rambling and just show each armor class now lol. I was going to add images, but I've run out of images I can put on here lol.

Unarmored

Clothing, Most Mage Robes, Lightly Armored Sets with No Fitting Category, ETC.

Alberich's - Robes

Aristocrat - Unarmored

Astrologer - Robes

Azur's Glintstone - Robes

Battlemage - Robes

Bloodsoaked - Unarmored

Blue Festive - Unarmored

Champion (Kind of - It just doesn't have enough armor to go anywhere) - Light

Commoner's - Unarmored

Consort's - Ultra Light

Duelist - Light

Errant Sorcerer - Robe

Festive - Unarmored

Fia's - Robes

Finger Maiden - Robes

House Marais - Very Light

Godskin Apostle - Ultra Light

Goldmask's - Robes

Guardian Garb - Unarmored

Guilty - Unarmored

High Page - Unarmored

Juvenile Scholar - Robes

Lazuli Sorcerer - Robes

Lusat's - Robes

Malenia's - Medium

Mushroom - Unarmored

Noble's - Very Light

Old Aristocrat - Set

Page - Unarmored

Perfumer - Ultra Light

Preceptor's - Robes

Prisoner - Unarmored

Prophet - Robes

Queen of the Full Moon - Robes

Raya Lucarian Sorcerer - Robes

Ronin's - Medium

Rotten Duelist - Light

Ruler's - Ultra Light

Sage - Robes

Sanguine Noble - Ultra Light

Snow Witch - Robes

Spellblade - Robes

Traveler's - Unarmored

Traveling Maiden - Robes

War Surgeon - Very Light

Ansbach's - Ultra Light

Ascetics - Light

Dancer's - Very Light

Dane's - Robes

High Priest - Robes

Hornsent - Unarmored

Thiollier's - Very Light

Padded

Gambeson and Particularly Thick Cloth

Depraved Perfumer - Ultra Light

Godrick Foot Soldier - Light

Haligtree Foot Soldier - Light

Highwayman - Light

Godskin Noble - Ultra Light

Leyndell Foot Soldier - Light

Mausoleum Foot Soldier - Light

Omenkiller - Very Light

Perfumer Traveler's - Ultra Light

Radahn Foot Soldier - Light

Raya Lucarian Foot Soldier - Light

Common Soldier - Light

Shadow Militiaman - Light

Leather

Armor Made Of... Leather...

Bandit - Very Light

Blue Cloth - Very Light

Confessor - Very Light

Leather - Very Light

Raptor's - Very Light

Highland Warrior - Light

Studded Leather

Leather Armor With Those Tiny LEGO Bricks

Vulgar Militia - Light

Yes, that is it. The Nox sets MAY fit here, but they look more like a brass-tinted metal than leather to me. You can get away with them, though

Hide

Armor Made of Thick Animal Furs and Pelts

Fur - Ultra Light

Shaman - Ultra Light

Iron Rivet (Look I just wanted a third set here, ok?) - Light

Chain Shirt

Shirt Made of Interlocking Rings

Albinauric - Light Medium (Not confirmed as I have the game closed while writing this and isn't considered a set in my full item checklist apparently)

Drake Knight - Very Heavy (Could also go under chainmail or half plate)

Godrick Soldier - Light Medium

Haligtree Soldier - Light Medium

Leyndell Soldier - Light Medium

Mausoleum Soldier - Light Medium

Nomadic Merchant's - Very Light

Radahn Soldier - Light Medium

Raya Lucarian Soldier - Light Medium

Messmer Soldier - Light Medium

Scale Mail

Armor of Metal "Fish Scales"

Black Knife - Medium

Exile - Medium

Iron - Medium

Kaiden - Medium

Night Maiden - Light

Nox Monk - Light

Nox Swordstress - Light

Messmer's - Medium

Breastplate

A Fitted Metal Chestplate, Without Much Extra Protection

Eccentric - Medium

Elden Lord - Medium

Marionette Soldier - Medium

Zamor - Medium

Divine Beast - Heavy

Divine Bird - Heavy

Freyja's - Medium

Gravebird - Very Light

Igon's - Light

Half Plate

The "Greatest Hits" of the Superior Plate Armor. High Torso Protection with Moderate Limb Protection

Blackflame Monk - Medium

Blaidd's - Very Heavy

Bloodhound Knight - Heavy

Carian Knight - Heavy

Fire Monk - Medium

General Radahn - Ultra Heavy

Raging Wolf - Very Heavy

Scaled - Ultra Heavy

Death Knight (Can work with chainmail as well) - Heavy

Horned Warrior - Heavy

Oathseeker Knight - Very Heavy

Young Lion's - Ultra Heavy

Ring Mail

There's no ring mail sets, so I'm just gonna move on without the quick one-two sentence subtitle

Chain Mail

A Suit of Interlocking Metal Rings

Blue Silver - Medium

Briar - Very Heavy

Chain - Light Medium

Splint

Metal Strips Riveted Onto a Leather Backing

Land of Reeds - Medium

White Reed - Medium

Gaius's - Ultra Heavy

Plate

Full-Body Coverings Made with Shaped, Interlocking Metal Plates

All-Knowing - Very Heavy

Banished Knight - Ultra Heavy

Beast Champion - Ultra Heavy

Bull-Goat - Oversized

Cleanrot - Heavy

Crucible Axe - Ultra Heavy

Crucible Tree - Ultra Heavy

Cuckoo Knight - Heavy

Fingerprint - Very Heavy

Fire Prelate - Oversized

Gelmir Knight - Heavy

Godrick Knight - Heavy

Haligtree knight - Heavy

Hoslow's - Very Heavy

Knight - Heavy

Leyndell Knight - Heavy

Lionel's - Oversized

Malformed Dragon - Ultra Heavy

Maliketh's (Can fit scaled as well) - Very Heavy

Mausoleum Knight - Heavy

Night's Cavalry - Ultra Heavy

Omen - Oversized

Redmane Knight - Heavy

Royal Knight - Very Heavy

Royal Remains - Very Heavy

Tree Sentinel - Ultra Heavy

Twinned Set - Very Heavy

Vagabond Knight - Heavy

Veteran's - Ultra Heavy

Black Knight - Heavy

Fire Knight - Heavy

Night - Medium

Rakshasa - Very Heavy

Rellana's - Very Heavy

Solitude - Ultra Heavy

Verdigris - Oversized

Conclusion

Aaaaaaand that should be it! I may've forgotten a set or two since I'm writing this at 0230, but I got the majority of them done. If this post gets enough eyes on it, I want to do a follow-up post or two with what I couldn't include in this post. I want to show fashion that pertains to each of the thirteen categories, explain ways to use items in different categories to make items in different categories (for example, using a robe over plate armor pieces to make plate armor with a much lighter weight), and show every one of my current characters while explaining what armor category I think they fall into. Hopefully this was entertaining enough to read, but to be fair if you're all the way down here you (may've) read it all, so thanks! :D

Ok yeah I'm gonna go to sleep now. This has been Rachel; y'all have a night lol

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thequeenofthestorm · 3 months ago

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D&D Armor in Elden Ring

A Fashion Showcase & Advice

Read Part One here

Introduction

Hello! It's me again... already. Yeah I should just make these videos instead of rambling on Tumblr about them. Would you guys watch these as videos? I'm not making much content on my YouTube channel anyway. I can decide that later. Anyways, if you read my post from last night, you would know that I use the twelve different D&D armor types to make my character designs in Elden Ring. Well, I want to go over some different designs I've put together for each of the armor types. I want to use this to show some inspiration to those of you who may not know where to start, and to help show some techniques you can use to make characters with even the lowest endurance wear what looks like plate armor without going overloaded! :D

Before we get into it, I want to introduce our model. This is Tempest:

She's a copy of my original 100% playthrough that I used for my first DLC playthrough. As such, she has the most DLC armor of all of my characters, so she'll be our model for today! As one last little thing: if you haven't you should totally try other races rather than just standard humans for your tarnished! I've got a half wolf for example. I also have one who lives in death, multiple nightfolk, and Tempest here is a Draconian! It can be a fun way to tie your build to your character's design. Without further ado, let's get into it: starting with padded and ending at plate. We, of course, don't need to do unarmored because I'm sure you know how to do clothing. The image descriptions will have the pieces in each armor set, as well as their Elden Ring weight class (unarmored, robes, ultra light, very light, light, light medium, medium, heavy, very heavy, ultra heavy, and oversized)

Padded

Gambeson and Particularly Thick Cloth

Leather

Armor Made Of... Leather...

Studded Leather

Leather Armor With Those Tiny LEGO Bricks

Due to there only being one studded leather set, this is the only example I made.

Hide

Armor Made of Thick Animal Furs and Pelts

Chain Shirt

Shirt Made of Interlocking Rings

Alright, so if you read my last post you're likely looking at the right set a little weirdly. I've been deliberately using chestpieces from the lists of armor in each type until now, so why did I use a suit of armor from full chainmail (briar) for the chain shirt. Well, if it wasn't already obvious, it's because it still LOOKS like a chain shirt when used in this context. The lists are great for full sets, but it gets a lot more nuanced when you start making your own sets. As you'll see throughout a few more types of armor, I'll be trying to use chest armor that's not in the same category I'm building for. Thinking outside of the box a little really helps, as the armor on the right fits for a Raya Lucarian Battlemage with the coloring and the mask, while also being heavier than the armor on the left.

Scale Mail

Armor of Metal "Fish Scales"

Breastplate

A Fitted Metal Chestplate, Without Much Extra Protection

As with the chain shirt, this set's right outfit is using a chestpiece from outside the breastplate category. As with the chain shirt as well, this is to show that you can use sets from other categories to make armor of a desired type. For example, here we used the bloodhound knight chestpiece, which is half plate, but basically any suit of half plate or even full plate can be combined with some light greaves and gloves to make a breastplate with higher defenses! :D

Half Plate

The "Greatest Hits" of the Superior Plate Armor. High Torso Protection with Moderate Limb Protection.

Just like with the breastplate, I used a heavier chestpiece to make the armor on the right. This time, it's a full plate set of armor to make half plate. Just change out the legs for something with only about half of the legs protected, and you can make the gauntlets lighter too without compromising the type of armor.

Ring Mail

Armor made of large rings on a leather backing

You need to get very creative to make ring mail, and use armor that can be mistaken for ring mail. There's no ring mail in the game, so I used the shadow militiaman chestpiece for this, as even I'd mistaken it for ring mail originally when writing my first post on this topic.

Chain Mail

A Suit of Interlocking Metal Rings

So you'll notice that neither of these sets use one of the three chain armor sets in their chestpieces. For the left armor set, it's because the surcoats are individual pieces of armor, which I didn't sort in my last post. For the right, I used the common soldier cloth armor as a tabard, in a similar way the surcoats are used. With the way the armor is laid out, it's implied that chainmail is under the cloth.

Splint

Metal Strips Riveted Onto a Leather Backing

I'll be honest, the Gaius one was a challenge on my part. Gaius's chestpiece kinda sucks to work with lol

Plate

Full-Body Coverings Made with Shaped, Interlocking Metal Plates

Those two armor sets above use chestpieces (and just primarily armor) from the plate armor category. I want to show below two examples where I use robes to make the illusion of plate armor

Both of these use armor in the first two sections to make armor that gives the illusion of plate armor while being significantly lighter. Sure, you lose out on the poise and defense that a plate cuirass offers, but you still get more defense than if you built an unarmored setup using these. This same technique can be used for basically any armor type, but it tends to have the most effect with plate and chainmail. As a quick tip from me before I wrap this up as well, use Blaidd's or the Young Lion's gauntlets to make plated armor even when the sleeves roll up on the robes you're using, as they have enough reach to hide the majority of your skin. This works even better when playing as a draconian, nightfolk, etc. due to their dark skin tones. I betcha didn't even notice the back part of Tempest's forearm sticking out of the armor on the left.

Conclusion

Welp, I hope that read wasn't nearly as long for you as the last one. If you want to see the first post, click here to see it! I hope to make one last part to show the fashion of all of my characters, which totals to roughly 16. I want to show their armor and explain what type of armor I think they're wearing and why. Just like this post, it'll also contain the armor pieces used for each one in the image descriptions! If you made it here, thank you so much for reading. This time, I WON'T be getting sleep because it's only 1525 and I have the rest of the day ahead of me, but I'll probably relax and play Elden Ring while I wait to see what the feedback is here! Goodbye :D

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