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I've been looking at my 2e dmg and I noticed an interesting chart.      

EQUIPMENT BY TIME PERIOD

Item	Ancient	Dark Ages	Middle Ages	Re-issance
Arquebus	-	-	-	AV
Awl Pike	-	-	AV	AV
Bastard Sword	-	AV	AV	AV
Block and Tackle	-	-	AV	AV
Bolt Case	-	-	AV	AV
Brigandine	-	-	AV	AV
Bronze Plate Mail	AV	-	-	-
Carriage, any	-	-	-	AV
Chain Mail	-	AV	AV	AV
Composite Long Bow	-	-	AV	AV
Crossbow, any	-	-	AV	AV
Field Plate	-	-	AV	AV
Flail, any	-	AV	AV	AV
Full Plate	-	-	-	AV
Full Plate Barding	-	-	-	AV
Glaive	-	-	-	AV
Glass	-	AV	AV	AV
Glass Bottle	-	-	AV	AV
Great Helm	-	-	AV	AV
Greek Fire	-	AV	AV	AV
Heavy Horse Lance	-	AV	AV	AV
Heavy War Horse	-	AV	AV	AV
Horse Yoke	-	-	AV	AV
Hose	-	-	AV	AV
Jousting Lance	-	-	AV	AV
Kopesh Sword	AV	-	-	-
Lantern, any	-	-	AV	AV
Lock, any	-	Poor	Average	Good
Long Bow	-	AV	AV	AV
Magnifying Glass	-	-	-	AV
Mancatcher	-	-	AV	AV
Morning Star	-	AV	AV	AV
Paper	-	AV	AV	AV
Papyrus	AV	-	-	-
Plate Mail	-	-	AV	AV
Pole arms, not pike	-	AV	AV	AV
Pony Cart	-	-	AV	AV
Ring Mail	-	AV	AV	-
Sailing ship	-	-	AV	AV
Scimitar	-	AV	AV	AV
Silk Clothes	-	Very Rare	Rare	Rare
Silk Rope	-	Very Rare	Rare	Rare
Spyglass	-	-	-	AV
Two-Handed Sword	-	AV	AV	AV
Voulge	-	AV	AV	AV

--Not Available, AV-Available

 

Does anyone think that with 5e such a chart will be possible?    I guess if the armor bonuses are not baked into the system math then martial classes won't require access to specific armor types.  
I'm hoping 5e doesn't make assumptions on what type of campaign you'll be playing.  

From that perspective, that's one thing I really liked about how the 2e DMG was written.    It was something that was completely lost in 3e and 4e.    2e didn't assume or force any particular play style on the DM, in fact it gave the DM more ideas. 

 

The equipment lists given in the Player's Handbook assume your campaign is set in a generic medieval fantasy world. In practical terms, this means you haven't tied your campaign to any particular date in history. All this is perfectly fine and is commonly done in fantasy stories and fantasy campaigns--you are dealing with fantasy, after all.

However, it is also possible to create exciting and interesting campaigns that are tied to specific time periods, but this will work only if you know something about the time period. This is important! A lot of people assume things about the past without knowing the facts. The truth of the matter may be far different. Go to the library and do your homework before you begin designing a time-specific campaign. Even if you don't do such a campaign, it's useful to learn a little more about medieval history. It will only improve your own fantasy world.

It is not necessary to pick a precise date to model, such as 1237 A.D., although again there is nothing wrong with this. History and historians tend to divide the past into different ages, and you can do the same. Four different ages are covered here--the Ancient World, the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, and the Re-issance. Each has its peculiarities and differences, some of which are described below.

... 

The Ancient World
This covers a period of great empires spreading from the Mediterranean. Some weapons and armor were made of bronze, others of iron, and a few were made of steel. Most household items were pottery, wood, stone, and wicker. Bronze weapons were easily dulled and, in game terms, break or bend when a "1" is rolled on the attack roll. Stirrups hadn't been invented, so characters can't use heavy lances, and charge attacks can't be made with normal lances.

The Dark Ages
This was the period after the collapse of the Roman Empire, from 450 A.D. to about 1100 A.D. While much of the learning and culture of the ancient world was lost, it was not as bleak and ignorant a period as some believe. Still, in many ways, it was a step backward from the previous age. During this time the stirrup was introduced, allowing riders to gain full use of the lance.
Table of Contents

The Middle Ages
The Middle Ages (roughly from 1100 to 1450) is the period in which most fantasy campaigns are set. It was the period most people associate with knighthood and chivalry. The knights went off on the Crusades. Great stone castles were built. The role of traders and merchants began to grow. Virtually all the items on the equipment list were available in this time period.

The Re-issance
The latest time period that should be considered as a setting for a normal AD&D campaign, the Renaissance was a time of great change. The collapse of the feudal system had begun throughout much of Europe. There was great growth in literature, art, and science. The power of the old nobility began to decline while the influence and wealth of merchants and businessmen continued to grow. Gunpowder and simple guns revolutionized the face

Jul 3, 2012 -- 8:50PM, Kubernes wrote:

There really are not 'time periods' in D&D. I can really see drastically different equipment lists for the different campaigns (Neverwinter, Darksun, etc) though.

But why aren't there? D&D has a history. Any setting in D&D has it's own separate history. Why make it so much more difficult to utilize those historical settings, or even more earthlike settings, that you see in fiction quite frequently.

Putting stuff like that on the table is great because if they have the tools built into the game to do it, I (and anybody else out there) can use THIS system to play whatever fantasy setting they want. If they tie the system to the setting or settings that are "common" to D&D (Neverwinter, Eberon, Dragonlance, etc), then if I want to play a game in the setting of some other fiction (Richard Morgan, George R. R. Martin, Patrick Rothfuss, Jacqueline Carey, or whoever), then it makes it a lot easier to do so.

If the "modularity" of the game turns out as good as they're propping it up to be, then that will be an option. It seemed to me that 4e in particular didn't cater well to that, and led myself and others I know to use other game systems for any kind of non-baked-in settings.