[IC] New Crobuzon & the World Beyond

[GM Marvel]

He nods slightly.  "Don't get much interest in chitin but I can fashion some but it's not cheap.  Since you have the chitin that will take the price down some."

[OoC: I found this information.  It's from "Races of Dragon" and it's made from Beetle chitin but I don't see any reason why we can't use the same information for for Spider chitin.]

Though less durable than dragonhide, chitin armor (also known as beetleback armor) has other advantages. Chitin is less restricting than metal, even though it weighs the same amount. The maximum Dexterity bonus of an armor or shield made of chitin is 1 greater than that of the same type of armor made from metal. Breastplates, half-plate armor, full plate armor, and shields can be made from chitin. (Typically, the only kind of shield crafted from chitin is a tower shield, since most shields don’t have a maximum Dexterity bonus.)

A single giant beetle provides enough material to create a single breastplate or tower shield sized for a character of the same size category as the beetle (or two such items for a character two or more sizes smaller than the beetle). For example, a Large giant stag beetle has enough chitin to make either a breastplate or a tower shield sized for a Large character, or two such items for Medium or smaller characters. A suit of half-plate or full plate armor takes twice as much chitin, while a light shield or heavy shield takes half as much. (A chitin buckler can be made from the cast-off bits of any giant beetle.) The chitin from multiple giant beetles can be combined; a Small beetle counts as half of a Medium beetle, a Medium beetle as half of a Large beetle, and so forth.

Because chitin armor isn’t made from metal, druids can wear it without penalty. Armor and shields fashioned from chitin are always masterwork items; the masterwork cost is included in the prices given below. Chitin armor or shields cost double what masterwork armor of that type ordinarily costs, but take no longer to make than ordinary armor of that type.

Chitin armor has 10 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 5.