Types of Metal

[Tearlach]

Let me tell you how it really works with armor (I done research since I\'m working on the Planeshift Paper and Pen roleplaying game, haven\'t really come far since I\'m waiting for the Planeshift crew to finalize a lot of things.)

I am going to tell you about ring armor and platemail since those are mostly misunderstood.

Ring armors: Armors that are made out of interlocked rings either sewn(sp?) to a piece of leather (often, not always) or just linked to eachother, very time consuming and one of the hardest armors that can be made (those rings are hard to do, and if one ring is bad, half the armor is bad), but it\'s also the best, it gives good coverage against all forms of damage except crushing and piercing, it is better against piercing than crushing since crushing damage often presses the rings into your soft flesh, to counter this the warrior often have a leather armor under (if it\'s not the sewn onto other material ring mail). It is also the most cumbersome to wear, the platemail weights more but if constructed right (which it must be, it\'s not a one size fits all) the weight will be spread over your whole body instead of over your shoulders (ringmail).

The Platemail is made to protect you against arrows and slashing weapons, it is actually not that cumbersome and you can use it on foot, if you fall it is not that hard to get to your feet again, it does restrict you arm movements and it won\'t do shit against someone armed with a large club (I am not sure about this last piece of information). If you should use an armor that is not made for you, you can expect serious pain when it tears into your soft flesh.

I don\'t think I missed anything.

[Jessyn]

well, plate mail will actually stand up to a bit of clubbing, but not around the joints.  Tearlach, as you say, a full suit of ringmail can seem heavier than plate.  I have a chain mail(no leather backing) coif(shoulder/neck guard) that weighs about 10 pounds, so you can work it out to having a full suit be about 80-100 pounds.  Chain mail is interesting in terms of damage(and actually, it takes far more than one bad ring to ruin it, but if you\'ve got a couple beside each other....bad)  beleive it or not, tightly made chain mail WILL stop a sword from stabbing you(I\'m still alive) but will not stop an arrow(I\'m not THAT crazy)  One thing I would like to point out however, that most people don\'t understand, is armour is LOUD.  Leather armour creaks and bends, which is fairly loud.  Chain mail is louder, wrap 100 feet of chain around you and see how well you can sneak around.  Plate is, wow.  you sound like a MechWarrior, or a tank.  It squeaks, it clanks, and it\'s so heavy, it\'s impossible to move gracefully.  My proposal would be to make sneaking IMPOSSIBLE in chain or plate, with a heavy penalty in leather.  well, that\'s my armour rant for now...

Jessyn

[Ravenmaster]

Originally posted by Tearlach
Ring armors: Armors that are made out of interlocked rings either sewn(sp?) to a piece of leather (often, not always) or just linked to eachother, very time consuming and one of the hardest armors that can be made (those rings are hard to do, and if one ring is bad, half the armor is bad), but it\'s also the best, it gives good coverage against all forms of damage except crushing and piercing, it is better against piercing than crushing since crushing damage often presses the rings into your soft flesh  

Actually, ring mail does help more against clubbing than piercing.  A small point can pass right through a ring, making it useless and if a point with force behind it hits the front of a ring, it will automatically slide over and go through the ring, not just hit the ring and drive it in.  With a club, however, the  area of impact is spread out with chain mail, making it hurt less.  

By the way, what is splint mail?

[Galadon]

My opinion on splint mail would be a combination of Plate, chain and leather  in various forms and  combinations of 2 or more componants  ECT..

  Mostly used when Demand was higher then Supply of one Componant or another..   here is a basic pic and short description..

http://retromud.org/armor/splintmail.html

[Ravenmaster]

huh. Okay, thanks Galadon.

[Tearlach]

The arrows in medieval times were actually very broad if I remember correctly, it wasn\'t before the bodkin arrow came along that bows could be dangerous towards plate mails and ring mails. The bodkin arrow was often used with the longbow, the longbow was the only bow with enough stopping power to punch through plate mail. The crossbow were designed as an armor piercer, was much easier to use than the longbow but had a terrible reloading time.

[Galadon]

The Only thing about the LongBow During that time was the amount of skill it took to actually use correctly and even with the skill the punch of a LongBow Does not compare to a Crossbow

 The one advantage of the Longbow at long range it was allot more accurate and a shorter reload time as long as your arms didnt turn to jello

Take a peasant and show him how to use a crossbow and in a few days he could take down a knight at close range. The same is not true for a longbow.

[Jalix Amundus]

ok...do you people understand the concept of chain mail? obviously not...it was specifically made to stop arrows....that was the entire reason that it was created. It was worn under the chest plate to protect under the arms and in other places that needed both protection and mobility. Chain mail would give excellent protection versus piercing weapons. I do, however, agree that ring mail would not prevent piercing weapons.