[LT] Silk Armor

[Nekomata]

So, armor can be made out of silk, but can clothes? Would a normal silk shirt still give the benefits of silk armor or would it be too thin? I saw something in another thread that silk armor would not be much differant then a normal shirt anyway, so would silk armor count for layering penalties? Specifically, I have a half elf knight that wants a silk tunic layered over a heavy mail hauberk. (This should sound familier to any video gamers here...)

[Jovus]

Under would be fine. Over would only work with a specially tailored piece of silk armor and a specially tailored hauberk, and probably give reduced DR because from my humble understanding part of what makes mail work is being free to flex to take up some of the energy, but I'll gladly defer to the grognards on that point.

[chandley]

Originally Posted by Nekomata

So, armor can be made out of silk, but can clothes? Would a normal silk shirt still give the benefits of silk armor or would it be too thin? I saw something in another thread that silk armor would not be much differant then a normal shirt anyway, so would silk armor count for layering penalties? Specifically, I have a half elf knight that wants a silk tunic layered over a heavy mail hauberk. (This should sound familier to any video gamers here...)

If you mean the benefit of being able to extra arrows easily, no, wearing the silk shirt on the outside of your armor isnt going to help in the same way. First, obviously, an arrow that penetrates DR is going to leave bits and pieces of your mail hauberk and gambeson in the wound, even if the silk outershirt itself isnt penetrated somehow. Second, with the stiff (er than flesh anyway) mail behind it, the silk is less likely to be ABLE to prevent the arrow head for cutting through the shirt.

Of course clothing can be made out of silk. Just figure out what Status all silk clothing would be appropriate for and use the clothing prices for that status level as a guideline.

[Mr Frost]

Nothing stopping you putting a purely cosmetic layer {no extra D.R. or effect but no penalty either} of silk over the armour and the thicker silk padding {that grants better protection} under the mail where it belongs .
That is basically what a Jazerant was historically only usually with different cloth {velvet was a stylish outer layer choice for example} .