War-dino outfitting.

[Tigrah2k]

Continuing the armor questions of a previous thread, I come to a question posed me by a friend in the gaming group who wants to turn a Trike into a tank. He wants to strap a war version of the Howdah platform, from Low-Tech (p. 135) on it's back, armor the beasty and platform, and attach Ballista or other similar heavy weapons to the platform. I'm thinking that the version of a trike for this campaign is going to need an outrageous degree of lifting ST at bare minimum.

Specific inquiry of this post covers.... what should be done for armoring this thing so it can be used as a defensive structure?

Undoubtedly, it'll be heavy. Probably with some restrictions.

Any other thoughts?

[Anthony]

A triceratops is similar enough in size and build to an elephant that you can probably use the same basic construction (assuming, of course, that it can actually be tamed; if it has the personality of a rhinoceros, which it might, good luck getting it to actually function as a war beast).

[Tigrah2k]

Agreed. However, we're just basing the creature on the trike, with some similarities to the Anklyosaur (in concept, anyway). More or less, writing the species as we create it.

[Tigrah2k]

While I'm on the subject... How do I size a War Saddle, Saddlebags, and "Bit & Bridle" for an SM+5 or 6 Bipedal war mount, that will be carrying a SM+1 rider?

Do I size it by the rider, or the mount?

[Varyon]

Wikipedia estimates triceratops at between 13000 and 26000 lb, for ST roughly between 47 and 59. It's roughly 10 yards long, for SM+4, putting it around the same size as an African bush elephant, while I think the armor in Low Tech is for the SM+3 elephants from Basic Set (probably Asian), so double the cost and weight (as Anthony notes, use the same general construction as for elephant armor). With an ST somewhere in the low to mid 50's (we'll split the difference and call it ST 53), the trike is going to have Basic Lift around 561.8 lb. Assuming you're fine with a howdah around the same size as is used for a war elephant, that's going to weigh in at 450 lb. For armaments, ballistae are quite heavy, with the smallest weighing in at 140 lb (for the 1-pounder). Personally, I'd be inclined to use a scorpion or arbalest, as those do impaling damage and tend to be lighter. It depends on what sort of threats you expect to go up against.

Armor similarly depends on the threat environment. What do you want your war-trikes to be proofed against (and how much natural DR do they have)? For example, DR 5/3* mail for both a caparison and a chanfron gives the trike +5/3* DR for the Skull, Face, Neck, Torso (+Groin), and Legs (4/6 protection), but weighs in at 504 lb and costs a whopping $33,600 (you could change this to +5 DR, 560 lb, but only $28,000 by using mail and plates instead). That armor, the howdah, 2 armed and armored men, and a light scorpion or two, is going to be knocking on the extreme end of medium encumbrance.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by Tigrah2k

While I'm on the subject... How do I size a War Saddle, Saddlebags, and "Bit & Bridle" for an SM+5 or 6 Bipedal war mount, that will be carrying a SM+1 rider?

Do I size it by the rider, or the mount?

Once you get much larger than a horse, what you need is some sort of chair rather than a saddle, as you aren't going to have your legs hanging off the side, at least when riding on the creature's back (the neck may be different, which is why the person controlling the elephant rides there). That said, the seat would be scaled based on the rider, the saddlebags based on how much weight they can hold, and bit & bridle, if applicable, by the mount. Roughly speaking, equipment scales by the square of the difference in size.

[AlexanderHowl]

My best advice would be to treat the triceratops as an Ally rather than a possession, as you would probably have to raise it from birth to allow it to bond to you. Otherwise, it will just run off without a care in the world as you are unlikely strong enough to do anything about it even if you are sitting on top of it (there are no good leverage points and they are stronger, tougher, and dumber than elephants). Other than that, just assume that a 10 yard critter has twenty-five times the surface area as a 2 yard creature and adjust cost and weight accordingly.