Is The trope that wizards can't use armor just an arbitrary limitation?

[Disliker of the mary sue]

Hm I been thinking about this as I consider the day my halfling warrior dies of poorly thought out planning on his sheet, is the fact that Wizards can not use armor without it effecting their ability to use magic just an arbitrary rule for those rpgs with those rules so they don't completely dominate the game? Or does it have precedent in fantasy fiction as a standard trope of sorts?

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Disliker of the mary sue

Hm I been thinking about this as I consider the day my halfling warrior dies of poorly thought out planning on his sheet, is the fact that Wizards can not use armor without it effecting their ability to use magic just an arbitrary rule for those rpgs with those rules so they don't completely dominate the game? Or does it have precedent in fantasy fiction as a standard trope of sorts?

The source seems to be the original edition of D&D, which says that magic users cannot use the magic armor and shields of fighters. It doesn't actually seem to say that they can't use mundane armor and shields, but all the GMs I encountered back in the seventies took it so.

Wizards in fantasy fiction often didn't wear armor, but that was because they mostly weren't soldiers. In fact in traditional sword and sorcery wizards were usually adversaries for the mighty-thewed barbarian heroes, who might not wear armor either.

Bill Stoddard

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Disliker of the mary sue

Hm I been thinking about this as I consider the day my halfling warrior dies of poorly thought out planning on his sheet, is the fact that Wizards can not use armor without it effecting their ability to use magic just an arbitrary rule for those rpgs with those rules so they don't completely dominate the game? Or does it have precedent in fantasy fiction as a standard trope of sorts?

Neither Merlin nor Gandalf are typically depicted as heavily armored.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Neither Merlin nor Gandalf are typically depicted as heavily armored.

Heavy armor was largely absent in LoTR, and Merlin was, well, a royal adviser, not a soldier.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Heavy armor was largely absent in LoTR, and Merlin was, well, a royal adviser, not a soldier.

Sure, but there's hardly any examples of spell-casting fantasy wizards prior to D&D at all. Prospero and the Weird Ladies also don't wear any armor.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Sure, but there's hardly any examples of spell-casting fantasy wizards prior to D&D at all. Prospero and the Weird Ladies also don't wear any armor.

Elric of Melniboné. Sheelba of the Seven Eyes and Ningauble of the Eyeless Face.

Bill Stoddard

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Elric of Melniboné.

Which is clearly one of the inspirations for Pathfinder's Magus class. I'm just saying there's obviously a source for the robes and pointy hat wizard that predates D&D.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Elric of Melniboné. Sheelba of the Seven Eyes and Ningauble of the Eyeless Face.

Bill Stoddard

And quite a few Robert E. Howard enemies and third parties. Dr. Karadur of Mulvan was too old and frail for armour, and Harold Shea didn't wear armour either ... but early L. Sprague de Camp seems to have got his fencing from the likes of Egerton Castle rather than Alfred Hutton.

[xerxes]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Elric of Melniboné. Sheelba of the Seven Eyes and Ningauble of the Eyeless Face.

Bill Stoddard

Ning has the seven eyes and Sheelba is eyeless...though I've made that same error myself when talking about Leiber's works.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by Disliker of the mary sue

Hm I been thinking about this as I consider the day my halfling warrior dies of poorly thought out planning on his sheet, is the fact that Wizards can not use armor without it effecting their ability to use magic just an arbitrary rule for those rpgs with those rules so they don't completely dominate the game? Or does it have precedent in fantasy fiction as a standard trope of sorts?

It doesn't seem to have a basis in either fiction or myth. Wizards were treated as intellectuals unlikely to be warriors in alot of pulp fantasy, but sorcerors with swords were uncommon. No armor for wizards is merely a game balance thing. RuneQuest and Stormbringer both ditched the idea with no trouble. And both before 1980.