Living Armor

[txsnowman]

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

8lbs with DR2? with armor is that?

Cloth Cuirass/Jack (p 115 in GURPS low-tech)

[gilbertocarlos]

Originally Posted by txsnowman

Cloth Cuirass/Jack (p 115 in GURPS low-tech)

Are you still playing 3th ed.? I was suggesting Low Tech from the 4th ed. with revised armor with realistic weights and prices.

According to it, DR2 cloth would cost $150 and weight 12lbs.

[txsnowman]

Originally Posted by gilbertocarlos

Are you still playing 3th ed.? I was suggesting Low Tech from the 4th ed. with revised armor with realistic weights and prices.

According to it, DR2 cloth would cost $150 and weight 12lbs.

Had to get the GM's Low Tech book to look this up since I don't own the new edition.

You're right, 12lbs is significant in weight as opposed to 8lbs. But again, I was using that as a base, since I see the armor as being like wrapped vines or something similar I thought that it could be lighter in weight anyway.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by txsnowman

You're right, 12lbs is significant in weight as opposed to 8lbs. But again, I was using that as a base, since I see the armor as being like wrapped vines or something similar I thought that it could be lighter in weight anyway.

No, generally using a bad material makes things heavier, not lighter, though I'd probably give it okay cut resistance, but terrible resistance to impaling (I've worked with tangled vines. It's a pain to cut through them, but a stab would just go right through without actually breaking any vines).

[DanHoward]

Vines have a lower tensile strength than cotton, hemp, or flax. Even if the armour was made of woven vines the DR should be lower or the weight should be greater than regular textile armour. If it just consisted of tangled vines then the impaling DR would be even worse, as Anthony suggested. Proper wooden armour is made of seasoned wood. Any armour made of live wood would be heavier and probably have a lower DR than the stats in Low-Tech.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Anthony

No, generally using a bad material makes things heavier, not lighter

To explain this point - If your material is crappy, you need more of it to get the same protection.

For an example: say steel is perhaps twice as dense as armor-quality wood (numbers pulled out of my hat). It only takes 1 mm of steel to give you good DR (3) but if it takes you about half an inch of wood (12 mm) to get the same protection, that's 6x as much weight.

[Mr Frost]

Given it's magic™ :
-use Paper (Proofed)
-reverse engineer the weight for lower minimum/base D.R. {3 is 18lbs , 2 is 15lbs and D.R. 1 is just under 13lbs} unless you're happy with D.R. 6 or nothing
-say it is paperbark that is attached to your skin and maintained by your body like you're the tree and needs some alchemical/herbal/spell maintenance when not worn .

[txsnowman]

I completely understand what you guys are saying and not arguing with that. The chief point of importance here is that I need the armor to be alive. With the spell that I can activate I effectively get DR 9 so that isn't really an issue. Just need it to be alive. Not being overly encumbered would be nice though, as would having at least a couple of points of DR.

I understand that it wouldn't be overly protective, but in a cave I can use it to provide up to 9 DR based on the rules for the spell Forest Defense (just have to spend the points).

I try to stay out of the line of fire with WallWalker and forest defense plus the various missile defense spells.

Anyone have any ideas about it being alive. Honestly not too worried about it being overly useful as actual armor, only it being alive really.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by txsnowman

Anyone have any ideas about it being alive. Honestly not too worried about it being overly useful as actual armor, only it being alive really.

Does it have to be alive and provide non-zero DR? If all you want is alive, grow a moss, fungus, or lichen on an appropriate surface (perhaps cloth).

[Mathulhu]

If you just want your character to wrap themselves in plant matter, then tell your GM that is what they are doing. Make a naturalist, or something similar, roll and move on.

The only person who can help you with the "it's living armour" thing is your GM.

The only other thing you could do is ask google;
Are any plants that don't need to be rooted to stay alive?
How long can cut/up rooted plants stay alive for?
What can my character do to allow them to count as living for a longer period?