Adjusted SRD Armors (3.5e Variant Rule)

Adjusted SRD Armors
When a character dons a suit of armor with the intent of survival, he'll want a suit that gets his maximum Dexterity value paired with the highest armor value he could get. Originally, armors had a range of +6 to +11 (allowing for the inclusion of mithral which increases the optimal armor value by 2 as it increases maximum Dexterity bonus by as much.

This rule adjusts the armors just a bit, reducing the range to +8 to +11. There's now an armor to take care of every Dexterity bonus from +1 to +8, as well as an armor to provide a straight unmodified armor bonus from +1 to +8. Each armor category now has a set of armor to provide an optimal +11 (when made from mithral), being the chain shirt for light, breastplate for medium and still full plate for heavy.

There's also a clearer distinction now between each category of armor. Some armors are still less likely to see play at higher levels, simply by virtue of them being cheaper with slightly less-optimal statistics. However, at lower levels, their cheaper price makes them excellent starter armors without sacrificing protection.

What do these changes mean in the long run then? Well, characters aren't going to have higher possible ACs than they did before, they'll just have more options on what to wear to take care of their optimal Dexterity bonus.

The modification to the SRD armors are noted below on the table with bold.