Stone-Weapon Armor-Divisors and Blunt Trauma

[Trachmyr]

While creating a new campaign setting (now armed with the lovely new Low-Tech), I’ve run into a bit of an issue.

The primary society are a group of adapted River and Coastal People. They are roughly TL1, and while they lack metallurgy, they are advanced (TL2) in using other natural resources (e.g., Lye, Distilling, Ceramics). Their society is small as they are primarily carnivorous (fish eating) and organized through clan/caste lines. Wars are unknown, but skirmishes between themselves and non- “water folk” are fairly common.

For armor, they have access to Light & Medium “Leather of Quality” (Shagreen), plus other leathers (eel, crocodile, etc.), Layered (& Hardened) Leather making technology, as well as a supply of wild silk. A rare few use baleen, bamboo or rattan sewn between layers of leather for reinforcement. Yet they (and their neighbors) lack weapon materials beyond stone (albeit Obsidian, Flint/Chert, Chalcedony, Basalt and Jade). This presents a problem justifying the typical image of a warrior with a spear, or a raider with an axe.

Consider that even “cheap” armor is layered eelskin providing DR2... “good” armor is light layered shagreen with silk padding for DR4 (-1 vs. crushing), and the best armor is heavy layered shagreen with silk padding for DR6 (-1 vs. crushing, and +1 vs. cutting if also reinforced). This is supposed to be penetrated by weapons with a (0.5) armor divisor! Clubs are the only way to go with these numbers… and that’s not even taking into account the “Blunt Trauma and Edged Weapons” rule (LT.102) that I would like to use.

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[edited:] I had questions regarding "Blunt Trauma and Edged Weapons" when dealing with split DR, and concerning if Obsidian has a (0.5) armor divisor, but these have been answered by DAN and ASTA KASK... so thank you guys

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Here is a Houserule I would like you to critique:

Instead of giving Stone Weapons a 0.5 Armor Divisor, the rules for "Blunt Trauma and Edged Weapons" (Low-Tech, page 102) would be extended to include Impaling Stone Weapons. For Cutting Stone Weapons, the rules for "Blunt Trauma and Edged Weapons" apply as normal but damage must exceed three times cutting DR before the weapon gets it's normal cutting wound modifier.


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This Houserule is intended to make Spears and Axes still superior to clubs, while preserving the reality of using stone weapons. Furthermore, it gives me another variable to modify to represent superior materials (or inferior ones) and well honed edges (or those that have been neglected or have seen much wear).

Please Tell me what you think! I would greatly appreciate a response.

Thank You,
Trachmyr