Creating weapons and armor from giant crab remains?

Question

I'm playing a Gnome Berserker in a pirate themed Pathfinder campaign, and we recently killed a giant coconut crab. Being a gnome of somewhat less than average height, the crab was described to me as being as large as, if not larger, than me. So, after we killed the creature, I had the idea to strip the (skin?) off of the crab to use as plating for a fist weapon and maybe some sort of armor. I thought it would be awesome to be this little Gnome Berserker running around on deck in crab armor with his right arm encased in the hollowed out pincer of a giant crab.

Now that I have described my intentions, what sort of options would I have? I don't really have any experience with getting custom armor crafted like this and I would appreciate some ideas, guidance, or even just some references to read up on.

Thanks!

Answer 1

The crafting rules can help you with the mechanics. You may need the help of a person with Craft (Armorer). Use of unusual materials is something you would have to consult your DM about. The AC value and cost of crab armor will need to be determined for the craft skill to be used.

Answer 2

As indicated the crafting rules are a good place to start.

To give you some context on how this materials would function, take a look at the page on Special Materials. There are official rules for a few types of related materials along with some 3rd-party materials for exactly your question.

Taking a quick look at the various crabs, the big ones deal either 1d4 or 1d6 + Str with the claws. Based on your description (as tall as your gnome), it seems like you faced a Giant Crab, which has the d4 variety.

Obviously, your DM is going to have to make something up (isn't that the fun part of roleplaying?), but that provides some guidelines / context.