[GURPS Low Tech] Armor

[Anthony]

Huh. I was just looking at the rules for 'heavy plate' and found some errata plus something that should be noted.

Errata: the text box refers to a 'TL 3 iron cuirass'; DR 3, 8 lb, $1,000. No such armor exists in the tables.

Note: the 'heavy plate' rules appear intended to only be applied to Light Segmented Plate, Light Brigandine, and Light Plate (conceivably also jack of plates and mail and plate); in fact, Medium and Heavy statistics appear to be derived by using the 'heavy plate' rules. This is important because someone designing super-heavy plate (DR 12) might intuitively want to start with Heavy Plate (32 lb, DR 9, $4,000) and then add heavy x3 for final statistics of 80 lb, DR 12, $10,000, when they should actually start with Light Plate (8 lb, DR 3, $1,000) and add heavy x9 for final statistics of 44 lb, DR 12, $5,500.

I must say segmented plate and scale seem horrible weight-wise. Looking at DR 5:
Plate: 16 lb. Mail: 18 lb. Mail+Plate: 20 lb. Brigandine: 20 lb. Segmented Plate: 32 lb. Scale: 40 lb.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Errata: the text box refers to a 'TL 3 iron cuirass'; DR 3, 8 lb, $1,000. No such armor exists in the tables.

Where's the error? On p. 111:

TL/Torso Armor/DR/Cost/Weight
4/Plate, Light/3/$1,000/8

But nowhere in the text box on p. 109 (the only box with "iron cuirass" in it) does it claim that this is TL3. Thus, all the stats agree.

[Knight_Marshal]

I don't know if someone touched on it yet, but I do have a query about the hardened medium leather armor from low tech. According to the section for it, the medium version is the same as the leather armor from the basic book.

Why does it weigh over twice the amount?

The basic book leather armor weighs in at 19.5 lbs.

and in this corner weighing in at 45.75 lbs is the armor from low tech.

Somebody needs to put that armor on Jenny Craig!

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Knight_Marshal

I don't know if someone touched on it yet, but I do have a query about the hardened medium leather armor from low tech. According to the section for it, the medium version is the same as the leather armor from the basic book.

Why does it weigh over twice the amount?

Because the Basic Set armor stats have more to do with fictional armor stylings than reality, I suspect.

EDIT: Wait, where are you getting that comparison, anyway? The leather torso armor weighs 15, and includes the (former) groin. The sleeves and legs probably weigh more than the Basic Set equivalent, but I assume that means the Basic Set limb armors didn't make sense... With the arms and legs, you get up to 37.5 lb. Where's the rest of the weight coming from? Are you adding in a helmet?

Originally Posted by Anthony

I must say segmented plate and scale seem horrible weight-wise. Looking at DR 5:
Plate: 16 lb. Mail: 18 lb. Mail+Plate: 20 lb. Brigandine: 20 lb. Segmented Plate: 32 lb. Scale: 40 lb.

And considering that Segmented Plate and Scale earlier, obsolescent technologies compared to most of those, that hardly seems surprising. Armor technology advances quite a bit over these TL.

Mail, of course, arrives in the same TL as segmented plate. But mail is flexible, so good as it is it's not exactly playing in the same class with the rest of those armors.

[Sabaron]

The Dueling Long Shield has a note [6] which I don't see any explanation for below. The notes section for shields only explains 1-5.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Sabaron

The Dueling Long Shield has a note [6] which I don't see any explanation for below. The notes section for shields only explains 1-5.

Already noted in the errata thread.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Yes, it does. It always has . . . something to do with where the publisher is based. As a Canadian, I find this jarring.

You and me both. While Colorado isn't exactly the Great Frozen North, its winters are probably a bit closer to your expectations (especially once you hit the high country). A Texas winter here is probably our early fall at worst.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Where's the error?

Whoops, misread DR 3 as TL 3. However, it's still an error to refer to an armor type that doesn't exist.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Knight_Marshal

I don't know if someone touched on it yet, but I do have a query about the hardened medium leather armor from low tech. According to the section for it, the medium version is the same as the leather armor from the basic book.

Why does it weigh over twice the amount?

Because the version in Basic is superior to metal armor, which is historically not true?

[Ulzgoroth]

Does Mail and Plates have chinks and armor gaps?

Taken face value, it does, because it's non-flexible armor. But the text seems to class it as a mail variant, which suggests that it would cover those areas.

Also, is there any rules significance of the Coat of Plates mentioned on p105? It doesn't seem to have any mechanical distinction from TL2 segmented plate.