CP penalties for armors that aren't in the book.

[Draigh]

The setting I'm running my game in is not quite as technologically advanced as weyrth, and I'm running into some stumbling blocks as far as armors and what not... Since I don't have alot of experience with wearing armor, I was wondering if anybody else could help out.

The emphasis right now is on the Doric penensula, a somewhat Greco-Roman society.  The Dorians happen to have the best steel in the world, and have the skill and knowledge to use it.  They have developed Lorica Segmenta as their heavy armor, and added greaves, bracers (I don't know the 'real' name for those things that cover the forearms), and a mail skirt to protect their thighs.    The appearant beauty of this type of armor is that it doesn't seem to be all that restrictive of movement or flexibility.  If the armor is fitted specifically for the person wearing it, the armor penalty would be negligible... let me know how this sounds to you guys.

Lorica segmenta: AV: 5 for stomach, chest, back and the top of the shoulders,  AV: 4 for the upper arms.

Bracers: Cover the forearm, from wrist to elbow, at AV: 3

Chain skirt: Covers the ass, hips, and upper thigh for AV: 4

Greaves: Cover the front of the knee, and the front half of the shin/calf at AV: 4.

CP penalties: For lorica segmenta alone: 1 ( if fitted for specific person, 0); with greaves, bracers and chain skirt: 2 ( if lorica segmenta is fitted, 1)

So, for fitted lorica segmenta, greaves, bracers, chain skirt, and helmet your  total CP penalty would be -2, -1 PER.


Scale armor:

The Hamarii worship a bird-god known as Pharacos and their armor reflects this... Iron scales painted to look like the feathers of the totem bird of Pharacos.  The armor tends to come to just above the knee and cover the upper part of the arm and bicep.  I was thinking that it would be relatively heavy, and that like chain armor, the weight would ride mostly on the shoulders.  They wear closed face helmets made to resemble bird heads.

Hamarii scale:  AV: 4,  protects zones II, III, IV (not the neck), VII (to just above the elbow), X, XI, XII.  CP penalty -2, Mv -1

Helm: AV: 5, closed face, CP -1, -2 Per.

So a suit with helm would incur -3 CP , -1 Mv, and -2 Per.

Do these sound about right?

[Jake Norwood]

They wound pretty good. I'm no expert on Roman metallurgy (actually, I know absolutely nothing about it), but I'd image that their chain and plate was inferior to the high-tech later medieval and renn. stuff. I'd drop the values for the chain to 3, and maybe the plate to 4 (though the current 5 might be okay).

Jake

[Draigh]

Thanks Jake.

I don't know about Roman metallurgy either... but the Dorian steel is as good as medieval steel.  Other places in the world can make steel, but it tends to be much milder... I'm working on a write-up and some maps for this setting, hopefully I'll get done before I get too old to care :)

[Mike Holmes]

Yeah, the Noricum mined iron (in what is today Austria), was forged into the same steel that they used to make Maximillian's famed plate armor over 1000 years later. It's just random chance that the ore that comes out just tends to make very good metal because of other naturally occuring trace substances. So it's not really about good metalurgy, but just happenstance.  

OTOH, if it's actually more Greek, some of the breastplates were not iron or steel, but bronze. That would definitely give you that lesser defense (and it tends to break, too, when hit). Iron, if available at all in the setting, would be at a premium.

Mike