Topic: A few thoughts about Armour and Encumbrance

If you play with the new firearms rules, chainmail is no more available, while you still may buy AC in pieces. Buffcoat +1, breastplate +2, tassets +1, and helmet +1. This totals to five EC points -> 1 Encumbrance, as well as +5 AC, if I remember correctly. However, if you find chainmail from a dungeon or import it from a more backward land, I don't see any reason why you could not wear a chainmail, as well as a buffcoat, tassets, and a helmet. This would total +7 to your AC, and the price would be less than 200 sp.

Now, a plate armour costs 1,500 (or 1,000, if you buy it from a society which uses no firearms) and gives +6 to AC. So it is way more expensive (though much more cooler). Perhaps you combine it with a helmet and a buffcoat (depending on the nature of the plate armour), which would give nice +8 to your AC. Anyway, chainmail / extra armour combination is much more cost-effective, especially if you take the ENC to consideration. I don't really think this is a problem, especially as firearms ignore armour, but I still wanted to ask if anyone else has encountered this issue.

Another question: plate armour gives +2 ENC, while chainmail gives just +1. While I understand this from the viewpoint of the game balance, this is not really historical. Chainmail is both heavier and more clumsy than a suit of plates. The main reason not to use a plate armour is the fact that it is extremely expensive. It is also more difficult to maintain in a good condition, but I think that is out of the scope of the game. Again, this is not a problem, but I'd like to hear what you think about it. Personally, I would probably revert the ENC of chainmail and plate armour, as I'm a history fanatic. wink On the other hand, we have been playing LOTFP for more than two years, and no player character has yet saved enough money to buy a plate armour! big_smile

Last edited by Miihkali (2014-12-10 19:11:51)

Re: A few thoughts about Armour and Encumbrance

If you want proper historical accuracy, there is no incarnation of the game that's going to do it justice. tongue

Personally, if a player was trying to stack every kind of armor, I'd start adding bonus encumbrance points. The reason you can wear every armor on the list at the same time is the same reason why you can't wear 5 layers of pads in a football game: you would be slow and clumsy, which in combat terms means dead.