Type I armor

The lightest armor class covers heavy cloth, padded or quilted garments, and soft leather. It soaks up 1 point of damage from every attack and places no penalty on Dexterity saves. Padded armor (2 G.P.) falls in this class, and so does soft leather; the price list has a single entry, Leather Armor at 5 G.P., without saying whether it is soft or hard.

Spell casters cannot use armor at all, except paladins, whose deities let them cast while armored. Most armor counts as basic equipment and adds nothing to encumbrance. Under the optional wear rules, padded armor caught by 20 or more points of fire in one round has a 75% chance of needing replacement.