[GURPS Low Tech] Armor

[Sabaron]

Here's a Low Tech question: what does the arming doublet actually do? It claims it comes with voiders and gussets which protect the chinks in your armor but it doesn't say how they do that. Do they simply raise the 0 DR chinks to half DR? Something else?

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Sabaron

Here's a Low Tech question: what does the arming doublet actually do? It claims it comes with voiders and gussets which protect the chinks in your armor but it doesn't say how they do that. Do they simply raise the 0 DR chinks to half DR? Something else?

My impression is that it acts as a mounting point for small armor pieces covering the armpits and inner elbows.

But if that's the case, I don't know how much the armpit protection costs and weighs. (Or the elbow, but I'd guess half the stardard elbow cost/weight, since it covers one side of the elbow.)

[umbros]

Another question. When defining armor from p100, Are the DRs for different locations the same as the torso DR listed on p110-11?
For example: does Heavy Plate covering the hands give DR 9?

[umbros]

How is the Fauld (abdomen armor) constructed? is it segmented plate or something else?

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by umbros

Another question. When defining armor from p100, Are the DRs for different locations the same as the torso DR listed on p110-11?
For example: does Heavy Plate covering the hands give DR 9?

Using the mechanics in Low-Tech, yes you can have DR 9 gauntlets. Realistically they wouldn't be this heavy. A plate harness did not consist of uniform plate thicknesses. The head and chest is heaviest and the extremities are the lightest.

How is the Fauld (abdomen armor) constructed? is it segmented plate or something else?

Historical faulds were segmented. But you can use the rules to make abdomen armour from anything you want.

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by Sabaron

Here's a Low Tech question: what does the arming doublet actually do? It claims it comes with voiders and gussets which protect the chinks in your armor but it doesn't say how they do that. Do they simply raise the 0 DR chinks to half DR? Something else?

The stats for arming doublets are supposed to include mail voiders protecting the inside elbow and armpit. But I forgot to mention what sort of mail. I think I used the stats for Light Mail. Any attacks to these locations only have to penetrate the mail, not the plate. If an arming doublet is not worn you suffer penalties because the armour doesn't fit properly (see p. 102) and you get NO DR at the inside elbow and armpit (see Harsh Realism - Armor Gaps, p. 101).

[DanHoward]

Originally Posted by Trachmyr

However, the weight is clunky to work with... but perhaps that's due to Winter Clothing being vastly underweight! 5lbs. is pretty much jeans, a t-shirt and a pair of shoes. Yeah, I ain't going out in freezing weather in that (ofcourse I am a Florida boy, so YMMV).

I agree that weights are a litte low but not as much as you think. Winter clothing is meant for cold weather but not freezing - HT rolls are made with no bonus to avoid FP or HP loss. In freezing weather you layer a parka over the top. This gives HT+5 modifiers, and a full DR 1 protection, but you suffer -1 DX penalties just like layering armour (see p. 99).

[panton41]

Going back to an earlier thread I made, it looks like Low Tech allows one to make those totally worthless cheesecake armors that fantasy artists and video games love so much.

[Trachmyr]

Originally Posted by DanHoward

I agree that weights are a litte low but not as much as you think. Winter clothing is meant for cold weather but not freezing - HT rolls are made with no bonus to avoid FP or HP loss. In freezing weather you layer a parka over the top. This gives HT+5 modifiers, and a full DR 1 protection, but you suffer -1 DX penalties just like layering armour (see p. 99).

Ok, I see the point about it not being freezing weather. But Ordinary clothes should be about 4-5 pounds (as it includes shoes). Winter clothes should be about twice that: Heavy Shoes/Ankle Boots (2.5lbs), Thick Knee-socks & underclothes (incl. undershirt) (0.5lbs), a pair of jeans (2lbs), a long-sleeve flannel (2lbs), scarf (0.5lbs), gloves (0.25lbs) and tobbagan (0.25lbs).

Anyways... Does Light Leather based on 1DR vs. Cutting, $60, 2lbs & Don Time of 15 turns seem about right to you? Furs at about twice the weight but same cost?

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

5 lbs. for a complete outfit

Correct. Light leather isn't real armor. It's just thick clothing, and uses the rules for such. At the game system's resolution, it's Yet Another Textile Used For Clothing, and not special . . . it's mentioned with armor not because it's special but to dispel the common gamer myth that light leather was used as armor in organized warfare.

Originally Posted by Trachmyr

But what if I don't want Winter Clothing? What if I want to make a poncho & leggins out of bucksin... or a buckskin dress. I need to know how much that weighs, and when you carry everything you own, every ounce matters.

That's clothing, not armor, so we don't break it down by location. As has been pointed out, with the percentages listed, one can find costs and weights for all sorts of garments by hit location. We only started with the torso and worked up from there for actual armor used in warfare. For clothing, even clothing with incidental DR, we started with entire outfits, from which one would have to work backward.

—

I can't speak to whether 5 lbs. is "realistic" for winter clothing. Whose winter? The game assumes that, as on Earth, ~40% of people live between the tropics and ~70-80% between the midpoints of the two temperate zones. It takes winter to mean "winter as experienced in the U.S. South, Mexico, North Africa, Italy, Greece, and northern India." People who get what Alaskans, Canadians, Norwegians, Swedes, Finns, Russians, and so on would call "real winter" would need to add what Low-Tech calls mukluks, parka, etc.