I quickly sketched together a potions table earlier today, I think I’ll try armor this time.
I’m not going to bother with the Epic tiers because they’re outside my expected range of play. I’ll keep the Basic tiers because low-level creatures are likely to have hoards of low-value items… though I’m not absolutely certain that medium armors really count as ‘low-value’ items.
Armor Table
| Ace | light wooden shield | leather | tower shield | chain shirt | masterwork chainmail | dragonhide banded mail | adamantine heavy shield | light steel shield +3 |
| 2 | light wooden shield | light steel shield | studded leather | chain shirt | masterwork breastplate | leather +1 | full plate +1 | mithril heavy shield +3 |
| 3 | padded | hide | studded leather, buckler | chainmail | masterwork banded mail | breastplate +1 | full plate +1 | adamantine breastplate |
| 4 | padded | buckler | spiked heavy steel shield | chainmail | masterwork spiked banded mail, spiked heavy steel shield | full plate | bracers of protection +2 | full plate +3 |
| 5 | heavy wooden shield | buckler | scale mail | masterwork shield, heavy steel | masterwork splint mail, masterwork heavy steel shield | dragonhide half-plate | leather +2 | mithril breastplate +3 |
| 6 | heavy wooden shield | heavy steel shield | scale mail, heavy steel shield | darkwood buckler | half-plate | masterwork full plate | breastplate +2 | bracers of protection +4 |
| 7 | light steel shield | studded leather | scale mail, heavy steel shield | spiked breastplate | half-plate, heavy steel shield | masterwork full plate | glamered full plate +1 | full plate +4 |
| 8 | leather | studded leather | scale mail, spiked heavy steel shield | masterwork chain shirt | dragonhide banded mail | half-plate +1 | full plate +2 | banded mail of luck |
| 9 | leather | tower shield | chain shirt | masterwork chainmail | masterwork half-plate | elven boots | leather +3 | bracers of protection +5 |
| 10 | leather | spiked heavy steel shield | chain shirt | dragonhide hide | bracers of protection +1 |
caster’s shield | bracers of protection +3 | full plate +4 |
| Jack | hide | spiked heavy steel shield | chainmail | mithril heavy shield | leather +1 | dragonhide full plate | full plate +3 | mithril full plate of speed |
| Queen | hide | scale mail | masterwork heavy steel shield | masterwork spiked banded mail | banded mail +1 | elven chain |
mithril full plate +1 | bracers of protection +6 |
| King | heavy steel shield | scale mail | masterwork studded leather | half-plate | full plate | mitril breastplate | dwarven plate | dragonhide full plate +6 |
| Tier | Basic– | Basic- | Basic | Expert | Heroic | Master | Champion | Legendary |
| Echelon Level | -7..-4 | -3..0 | 1..4 | 5..8 | 9..12 | 13..16 | 17..20 | 21..24 |
| D&D 3.x CR | ? | ? | 1/6..1/2 | 1..4 | 5..8 | 9..12 | 13..16 | 17..20 |
Closing Comments
I decided I’d try an easy table.
I chose poorly. The armor values in D&D 3.x are screwy, with lots of gaps that are, for my purposes, rather inconvenient.
Note for future tables: be a little sloppier in assignments. I think having the item values span three cards (that is, Ace through Three are all the same approximate value, Four through Six, and so on — or possibly arbitrary three-card spans) might work better, or at least be easier to populate. Trying to find combinations of armor, armor properties (mostly straight up enhancement bonuses or equivalents), and materials was really, really tedious.
That said, I think I ended up with a reasonably interesting set of armors and shields to choose from. Trying to find values that fit the finely-tuned calculated values led me to combinations I normally wouldn’t include.
I think I might try weapons tomorrow. Or maybe written works