10-14-2012, 02:38 AM | #41 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: Thazari Cataphracht
Quote:
I thought about modelling a light mail coat and a klivanion over it as mail-and-plate, but that I was worried that it wasn't strictly legal and, in any case, it didn't cover situations where only a part of the whole suit was worn.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 10-14-2012 at 03:12 AM. |
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10-14-2012, 02:49 AM | #42 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: USA, Planet Earth, The Milky Way Galaxy
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Re: [LT] Knight field plate harness, three-quarter plate and leg coverage
Sorry for my asides. I'd just use Front Only as a reduction to weight and cost on plate thigh armor, and maybe groin armor. A codpiece would be unlikely in the saddle. My impression is it was added when foot combat was planned. Otherwise, I think the LT gaps in armor rules cover it.
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10-14-2012, 02:52 AM | #43 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: Thazari Cataphracht
Quote:
I'm assuming that the polity fielding these soldiers, Thay, is mostly TL3. It might be more accurate to call them TL2+1, as they are at more or less late East Roman Empire technology, but with a huge slave economy and massive magic supporting them. They thereforey have access to TL2+2 and even some TL2+3 things if they really need, but that costs extra. Because of the TL2 fashions, conservativism and long-standing infrastructure, they have far more smiths that can make high-quality lamellar and scale armour than anything else. Mail is too useful not to make and the fact that making it economically is mostly a matter of throwing a lot of slave labour at it means that they're good at it too, but there's a strong cultural inclination toward scale and lamellar. A lot of priests and wizards prefer to use them as the basis for enchantment, for one thing. In game terms, scale and lamellar probably has a small effective discount and also gets a heavy discount on Armor of Quality modifications, because there are lots of independent smiths good at making it, but who lack the facilities for or interest in larger plate. TL3 armour is at base cost, but TL4 armour costs double, because the economy as a whole is not TL4. None of which means that I need to confine the helmets to Segmented Plate. Perhaps I should not, at that.
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10-14-2012, 03:03 AM | #44 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: USA, Planet Earth, The Milky Way Galaxy
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Re: [LT] Knight field plate harness, three-quarter plate and leg coverage
I don't know if I should fret or be relieved I wasn't part of Low Tech's play testing. Certainly I'm no expert of note, but it seems to me that the rules as designed by the whole are not satisfactory to any of the individuals involved. It's as mired as American politics, and likely a more sensitive subject!
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10-14-2012, 03:10 AM | #45 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: [LT] Knight field plate harness, three-quarter plate and leg coverage
Quote:
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10-14-2012, 03:26 AM | #46 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: USA, Planet Earth, The Milky Way Galaxy
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Re: [LT] Knight field plate harness, three-quarter plate and leg coverage
Honestly, I've yet to playtest Low-Tech. I've plans for a rehash of Orcslayer as a LT TL3 playtest (using Armor Gaps and Edge Protection) but I doubt if my seasoned and distant PCs will commit even one of our rare face-to-face game secessions to such back-to-basics level testing. It seems I'll have to work out this online gaming thing, and/or recruit (subvert) a local group.
Last edited by Lancewholelot; 10-14-2012 at 03:50 AM. Reason: Clarity |
10-14-2012, 05:48 AM | #47 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
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Re: Thazari Cataphracht
The klivanion is no different to lamellar that was worn a thousand years earlier. Why would it be TL3?
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10-14-2012, 06:03 AM | #48 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
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Re: Thazari Cataphracht
Low-Tech calls segmented helmets "spangenhelms", which is the standard way iron helmets were made for most of history. Single-piece helmets are +9 CF and -25% weight (p. 112). I would rule that, at TL4, single-piece helmets are standard and no longer cost more. TL4 spangenhelms can be cheap quality.
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Compact Castles gives the gamer an instant portfolio of genuine, real-world castle floorplans to use in any historical, low-tech, or fantasy game setting. Last edited by DanHoward; 10-14-2012 at 06:10 AM. |
10-14-2012, 02:33 PM | #49 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Re: Thazari Cataphracht
Quote:
AFAIK, fluting was standard for it. Using the rules as written, that still makes it obscenely heavy, but now also obscenely expensive. What possible benefit could there have been from wearing one layered over mail? Under GURPS rules, none at all. It would have been much better to wear another layer of mail.* *Realistically, this almost certainly does not yield double the DR of one layer, but some other, lower number.
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10-14-2012, 02:57 PM | #50 |
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Maitland, NSW, Australia
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Re: [LT] Knight field plate harness, three-quarter plate and leg coverage
The combination isn't mentioned in any Byzantine text and there is only one single image in over a thousand years that has a possible depiction of lamellar over mail. Any book that says the Byzantines wore lamellar over mail is basing that statement on speculation. Mail and lamellar were both worn, but not together. From what I can gather, lamellar was munitions armour. Those with the means wore mail. If you want you can make Byzantine lamellar cheap quality.
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Compact Castles gives the gamer an instant portfolio of genuine, real-world castle floorplans to use in any historical, low-tech, or fantasy game setting. Last edited by DanHoward; 10-14-2012 at 03:01 PM. |
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armor, historical armor, low-tech, low-tech armor |
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