Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General RPG rules: Armor Bikini vs Walking Tank

Even going into combat with unprotected hands or feet can be a very bad idea. Because obviously if your hands get smashed you wont be able to hold a weapon to fight and defend with, and if your feet break you wont be able to walk or run.

One could rely on a sword's guard for example to protect the hands and aside from feet usually being protected by some sort of footwear, it's actually not that easy to hit them in the first place. Arms and legs on the other hand...

gladiator did it for show, but it proves battles can be fought without armor and people can actually survive... and sometimes lead a rebelion against fully armored armies and actually win those battles...

yeah, I know you didn't talk about scavenging a whole armor... maybe I expressed myself rather confusing... let me put it in another way:

what I tried to say is even if you find a not damaged piece of armor, maybe it can't fit one's current pieces or the body at all... making scavenging rather difficult

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossbow

Its development began at a time period when the need for a lighter and faster sword became mandatory thanks to the introduction of firearm use in warfare .[4] Throughout the 16th century, a variety of new, single-handed civilian weapons were being developed, including the German Rapier.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapier

London 2012 Olympic female final, individual foil, to get a flavor of why armor isn't so important (aim is - scary fast):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwGoYcLqkJ0


As gunpowder weapons improved, it became cheaper and more effective to have groups of unarmored men with early guns than to have expensive knights, which caused armor to be largely discarded. Cavalry units continued to use armor for longer. Example include the German Reiter, Polish heavy hussars and the back and breast worn by heavy cavalry units during the Napoleonic wars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_armor#Gunpowder_era

(Hint: the flare spell is your crude musket approximation)


And lastly, please:

Gladiators rarely fought to the death (they were expensive to train) and each pair had armor / weapon sets that "complemented" each other in opposition. i.e. heavier armor + gladius vrs net + trident (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retiarius).


Elizabeth I in full plate (accurate historical replication of the type, however in reality she never wore armor):

http://www.tor.com/images/stories/blogs/13_05/boob-armor2.jpg

Issyk Warrior-Priestess (Siberia, 3rd or 4th C BC):

http://www.csen.org/WomenWarriors/ww.issyk.pr.html

http://archive.archaeology.org/9709/abstracts/gold.html

Female gladiators (they are comparitively heavily armored compared to most gladiators, and use large shields, aka a scutum):

http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/images/gladiatrices.jpg

http://www.tribunesandtriumphs.org/gladiators/female-gladiators.htm

And, for some fun:

In 1467, Hans Talhoffer wrote his Fechtbuch giving illustrated instructions on how duels with a great variety of weapons should be fought. One section deals with combats between a man a woman. R. Coltman Clephan, following R.L Pearsall, reports that, while these were rare in Germany after about 1200, a number of illustrations refer to them. The set-up pictured by Talhoffer is common, but not universal. Apparently, they were most common between husband and wife (because otherwise she would have less trouble finding a champion?) Talhoffer presents his isntructions without special comment, and his advice applies to both combatants. He gives two different versions of a fight, one with the man victorious, one with the woman winning...

Here she has grabbed by the neck and by his member and wishes to drag him out of the hole.

http://www.aemma.org/onlineResources/trial_by_combat/combat_man_and_woman_files/fecht9.jpg << Member grab, looks fatal.

http://www.aemma.org/onlineResources/trial_by_combat/combat_man_and_woman.htm


TL;DR

History: IT ISN'T ALIENS! and gender disparity in armors are pretty much ahistorical across the board. Oh, and if we're being accurate, our brave source hunters would have terrible teeth, be covered in mud and probably had lice / fleas not to mention smelling badly. Realism, forward! (Even up to the end of the 19th C, outdoor garments in cities were constantly covered in mud in Europe / America)

I am personally for an option as a general rule.

For a role playing game, it really depends if you want realism vs. fantasy, but for me when I role play in games I like to be able to choose if I want gear called "Full Plate" to leave all my (virtual) vital organs unprotected or not.

Usually if I am a melee warrior wearing full plate, I prefer to at least have armor that would appear to serve some functional use, however that isn't to say it can't look nice.

However as a role playing game there are many that would prefer to have a character that looks nice and could care less about the "realism" of it.

Are we still talking about this? Let it *go* and focus on the problems the game has with its mechanics or storytelling. This is a non-issue compared tot he other ones (fro a game quality point of view, not a societal one).

Are we still talking about this?

Ah... no, actually. You bumped a topic that hadn't been active in a month.

That's what Larian were doing until "offended" brought this topic up.

Shocking, I know.

I vote that nothing is more protective than magical g-strings. Let there be parties.