# Splint mail

[   splint mail   

Appearance

splint mail

Slot

body armor

AC

6

Special

MC1

Base price

80 zm

Weight

400

Material

iron

Splint mail is a form of body armor that appears in NetHack, and is the second-heaviest type of armor after the various forms of plate mail. When worn, splint provides MC1 and a base AC bonus of 6. 

Contents

1 Generation
2 Strategy
3 Origin
4 References

Generation
Samurai start with a rustproof splint mail, and splint mail generated on the Samurai quest will also be rustproof. As an odd side effect, when the player is a Samurai, any random splint mails generated on level 1 at the start of the game will also be rustproof.

Strategy
Splint mail provides a significant AC bonus, but is extremely heavy, only 50 units lighter than plate mail. Samurai will be able to wear this armor for some time with their high strength and constitution, but should look for upgrades such as the strictly better banded mail or ideally, a mithril-coat.

Origin

Wikipedia has an article about:
Plated mail

Splint mail is a standard type of body armor in Dungeons &amp; Dragons and other derived games and media; it is made of metal "splints".  
Historically, "splint armor" can mean either armor made of long parallel strips (a common design for armor for the arms and legs, but not the torso), or "plated mail" made of small rectangular plates attached to a chain mail backing. Compare banded mail, which is sometimes described as made of strips of metal arranged horizontally on the body. The splint mail worn by NetHack's samurai is likely tatami, made of plates embedded in chain mail.
A comment in the source code indicates that the rustproofing for Samurai represents the historical use of lacquer to protect Japanese armor in a wet climate.[1]

References

↑ src/mkobj.c in NetHack 3.6.0, line 961