02-02-2013, 05:36 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Bremerton, WA
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[LT] How heavy should plate armor be?
I am getting ready for a TL 3/4 fantasy game and have some questions about armor.
Low Tech provides a cap for heavy plate at DR 14 for head and torso, and frequently points out that other body parts should have less, but how much less? Looking through the forums I have found suggestions that every thing else should cap out at DR 6, or that gauntlets and solerets should cap out at DR 4. |
02-02-2013, 06:18 PM | #2 | |
Join Date: Jul 2012
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Re: [LT] How heavy should plate armor be?
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As a rough guideline, anything heavier than DR 6 or 7 is going to be specialised jousting armour. I hope that answers your question. If what you are looking for is just how thick one can make their armour (since a vampire can carry more weight and probably wear thicker armour as a result), a point of reference is that DR 9 is around 4 mm thick, which would probably make articulation of the joints difficult. Note this is based entirely on the thickness of the metal, you could get +1 DR for hardened steel without it affected whether you can wear it. |
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02-02-2013, 06:41 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: [LT] How heavy should plate armor be?
The forthcoming GURPS Low-Tech: Instant Armour will suggest limits to the DR of Plate for various body parts based on armour in historical earth. Historically, plate with more than about +200% of Heavy was only commonly available in 16th and 17th century Europe and Japan, due to the threat of muskets, but how heavy plate is available in your setting is a matter of culture and has no generic answer.
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02-02-2013, 06:49 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
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Re: [LT] How heavy should plate armor be?
Historically, DR 7-8 is going to be the max that you'd have even on chest armour for everything except firearms-proofed and tournament armour.
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02-02-2013, 10:59 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Bremerton, WA
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Re: [LT] How heavy should plate armor be?
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I am trying get an idea of what the top end of mundane gear made to deal with mundane problems would look like before I figure out what mundane and magical lengths people will go to respond to more fantastic threats. |
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02-03-2013, 05:57 AM | #6 | |
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Caxias do Sul, Brazil
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Re: [LT] How heavy should plate armor be?
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If someone was strong enough, maybe they would have DR7-8 in the head and torso. |
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02-03-2013, 07:01 AM | #7 |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: [LT] How heavy should plate armor be?
The legs would very often have less DR and the hands and feet, if they were armoured, would almost always have lower DR than the chest.
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02-03-2013, 09:07 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
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Re: [LT] How heavy should plate armor be?
Quote:
That is very heavy armour. Lots of plate armour about the year 1400 had about DR 3-4 but was layered over mail and Padded Cloth. Even that plate protected better than it does in GURPS because GURPS over-rates the ability of muscle-powered weapons to penetrate armour. In the middle of the 15th century plate got heavier and the mail and Padded Cloth were replaced by voiders and an arming doublet.
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