COMMON LEATHER ARMORS
Leather clothing is found in all regions of the known world, and it is the most common form of protective clothing during the Hyborian Age. It is used in barbaric cultures, among the people of border regions, and even by those who live inside major Hyborian cities.
Curing is a process by which excess water is removed from hide, typically by use of salt. The leather is heavily salted then pressed into packs for a month. This process preserves the life of the skin, protecting it from spoiling.
Tanning: Since skins could often become coarse, odorous, and stiff with age, people have experimented with various oily substances, rubbing them into the hides to soften them. Eventually, it was discovered that certain kinds of tree bark contained "tannin", which is a substance we know today as tannic acid. This substance, when spread on hides, made the leather both pilable and durable. This process of manufacturing is called "tanning". Clothing fashioned from tanned leather is more comfortable and effective than that made of cured skins or layers of hides and furs. Tanned leather, during the Hyborian Age, is the basis for most types of durable heavy clothing and armor.
If you need basic hide armor in your game--just animal skins that are not cured or tanned--look to page 23 of Barbaric Treasures, where the Hide Jerkin is listed. Most of your leather armor needs, though, will be fulfilled by the Leather Jerkin entry in the Equipment chapter of the core rulebook. That represents typical tanned leather armor--usually a leather tunic and/or breeches. A leather jerkin is usually worn with wool or cotton pants, cloth kilt, or other types of leg covering--all qualifying as this type of armor.
With the Leather Jerkin commonplace, most Hyborian Age cultures turn to mail and layered armors for higher protection. But, a few cultures continue with the advancement of leather as a base material in the production of Heavy Hide. This armor consists of prepared, treated and tanned hides that could layer up to three inches thick. Sometimes lined with fawn, calf, or kid skin inside for comfort, this armor is bulky and stiff. In cold climes, fur is left on these hides allowing the armor to be as protective as winter clothing.
HEAVY HIDE
Medium Armor
Cost: 55 sp
Damage Reduction: 5
Maximum DEX Bonus: +4
Armor Check Penalty: -3
Sorcery Failure: 50%
Speed: 25 ft.
Weight: 25 lbs.
Material: Leather
Hardness: 5
Hit Points: 50
HYPERBOREAN HIDE - The people of northern Hyperborea are known to produce the most protective Hide Armor in the known world. This is a process of layering bear and mountain goat hides before soaking them in pine sap. The resulting stiff rigid leather sheets are then bent and hammered into wearable shapes that are often decorated with fur, teeth, polished wood, ivory, and the like. The game stats for this armor mirror that shown above fairly closely, but the damage reduction rating is increased to DR 6. The cost, too, is nearly three times as much as normal Heavy Hide armor. For more information, see page 47 of The Warrior's Companion.
If you need other versions of leather armor in your game (maybe you want to customize by culture), From Stone To Steel is a fantastic resource. That book will give you stats in standard d20 format. You'll have to convert to "Conanize" that equipment. For the Cost, I suggest that you make an educated guess, comparing whatever type of armor you are creating with the closest like armor in the game.
Sorcery Failure in the Conan RPG is much higher than the standard d20 Spell Failure percentage. I suggest that you compare the Max DEX Bonus and Armor Check Penalty to other armors in the game, then make a guestimation from there. Note that metal armors always have much higher Sorcery Failure stats.
The Speed rating for the armor will either be 30 ft. or 25 ft. All Light Armors are rated at 30 ft., while Medium and Heavy Armors are rated at 25 ft.
You will ignore the Armor Bonus column, of course, since armor in the Conan RPG does not make characters harder to hit. Figuring the Damage Reduction for the armor is easy, though, since all armors in From Stone To Steel are provided with a Hardness figure and item Hit Points. The DR for the armor will be exactly or close the armor's Hardenss. Even here, though, you must compare your armor with like armors in the game because I've noticed that some armors in the book have Hardness numbers that are probably too high for DR ratings.
Max DEX Bonus and Armor Check Penalty remains the same as listed in the book.
This is the process I used to create the Heavy Hide armor that you see above.