D&D 5E Wizards Banned from Armor (Your Fluff Wanted)

[Reynard]

I'm not necessarily looking for how to prevent for wearing armor from just a rules standpoint. I was more looking for things more like "Wizards in your game aren't allowed to wear armor. Explain the in-game reason for this and possible side-effects, good or bad. Bonus points for creativity."

Armor is sort of a magical Faraday Cage. It isn't just the metal, but the forging techniques (which is why certain kinds of armor like elven chain get a pass) that cause the natural magical energies of the world to course around the faster instead of through her. The reason divine casters are not affected in this way is because the link between the cleric/paladin/whatever and divine nitty is direct, soul to soul, and their magic flows out of them.

With this explanation you could add a couple mechanical effects to make the flavor concrete. Maybe a or adds half it's armor onus on saves versus certain spells (because of the Faraday Cage quality) and maybe divine casters are profited from wearing gauntlets and/or helmets because they need an outlet for their magic.

There is an interesting larger question here, as well: to what extent should a 5E DM feel free to impose restrictions to create a particular flavor? Is a DM justified in, say, enforcing AD&D racial class and level limits because he is trying o emulate hat era of play?

 

[Paraxis]

I'm not necessarily looking for how to prevent for wearing armor from just a rules standpoint. I was more looking for things more like "Wizards in your game aren't allowed to wear armor. Explain the in-game reason for this and possible side-effects, good or bad. Bonus points for creativity."

Ok, you want fluff.

The goddess of magic dislikes her brother the god of war, and so any arcane caster using warrior armor or weapons is an affront to her.

The threads of magic are blocked by metals, the more metal you have on you the less you can tap into the weave of magic.

The dragons that taught magic to the first humanoids only taught them ways of magic that would not work in armor, for they figured if these lesser creatures could both have artificial scales as strong as theirs and work magic they would become too powerful.

Arcane magic is tied to the feywild, iron being a issue for fey creatures it also impacts arcane magic.

I am sure there could be many reasons, I just hope whatever you give casters makes up for the ability to use armor.

 

[DreamChaser]

I guess the answer to this is very campaign specific, just like any other across the board concept limiters.

If clerics must be good, if warlocks must be evil, if wizards can never wear armor, then there are likely in-orld reasons for it. In Scarred Lands it was heat; in past editions it was "interferes with the gestures", in another game it might be a cultural restriction punishable by censure or gentling.

The reason for a concept limiter can't and shouldn't be removed from the game world, otherwise it isn't designed to create a game feel, it is only design to make sure the characters conform to a DM's concept of what a character must/must not be.

So I guess in summary, I'd need to ask you what in your world makes armorless wizards the only option.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Magic doesn't work in armor. Why? It's magic. But clerical magic works in armor. Why? It's magic.

 

[Gargoyle]

I'm trying to think of some small benefit to compensate for this, even though the ability to wear armor is an option the character might not ever take normally anyway. In the Scarred Lands, for example, the waste heat gave the wizard a brief period (1 round) of protection from cold effects (+2 on saves or like a d6 DR, possibly scaling... can't remember the details.) That the benefit and restriction were tied together was something I liked about the mechanic.

So, if you were going to use a similar restriction in your game, how would you do it, and would there be any possible logical benefits as a result? Please make sure your answer haz a flavor.

As you say, it's an option the character might not ever take normally anyway. So I don't think any mechanical benefit is warranted. But if I wanted one, I'd do it like this:

If you have an arcane caster gain one or more armor proficiencies for any reason, allow them to cast a free mage armor once per day as a reaction to an attack. This version of mage armor only lasts for the normal duration or as long as they have uncast spells (henna sigils on their body) whichever comes first. Their spell tattoos are their armor; they writhe and twist around them to deflect attacks.

 

[Sir Brennen]

I guess the answer to this is very campaign specific, just like any other across the board concept limiters.

If clerics must be good, if warlocks must be evil, if wizards can never wear armor, then there are likely in-orld reasons for it. In Scarred Lands it was heat; in past editions it was "interferes with the gestures", in another game it might be a cultural restriction punishable by censure or gentling.

The reason for a concept limiter can't and shouldn't be removed from the game world, otherwise it isn't designed to create a game feel, it is only design to make sure the characters conform to a DM's concept of what a character must/must not be.

So I guess in summary, I'd need to ask you what in your world makes armorless wizards the only option.

Well, I briefly described it in my original post, which I've edited a bit for clarity, but the specific reason is very similar to "because gestures" - the wizard paints intricate tattoo/symbols on his body as part of his daily spell preparation. For spells that have a somatic component (which most do), the corresponding symbol is touched as part of that component, so it needs to be accessible.

More generally, the setting has most of its cultures in tropical or desert areas, and draws a lot of elements from Arabian Nights, Hindi mythology, Barsoom and even Dune. So another outcome of the setting is heavy armor is very rare, because of the heat. The idea of wizards having magical henna-like tattoos was a visual that came to me, I liked a lot and thought was a good fit for the setting. As someone that started with 1E, I'll admit that "hey, and it's kinda old school" was a thought I had, but not the primary reason.

But I'm not only looking for suggestions for my setting. I'm also curious to hear how other people would tie such a restriction into their setting, both mechanically and fluff-wise.

As you say, it's an option the character might not ever take normally anyway. So I don't think any mechanical benefit is warranted. But if I wanted one, I'd do it like this:

If you have an arcane caster gain one or more armor proficiencies for any reason, allow them to cast a free mage armor once per day as a reaction to an attack. This version of mage armor only lasts for the normal duration or as long as they have uncast spells (henna sigils on their body) whichever comes first. Their spell tattoos are their armor; they writhe and twist around them to deflect attacks.

Benefit might even be too strong of a word. More like side effects or logical outcomes of whatever the in-game reason is for the armor restriction. It might provide a minor advantage, like Scarred Lands heat generation offering a brief, small bit of cold protection, or something that might be a slight hinderance, or just quirky. For instance, as a result of spell tattoos, I'll let someone proficient in Arcana make a check to determine what the highest level spells a wizard can cast are, getting a general idea of how powerful he is.

However, your suggestion of providing an equivalant to armor proficieny other than wearing actual armor is very interesting. I'll have to ponder that some more.

 

[variant]

Arcane magic is tied to the feywild, iron being a issue for fey creatures it also impacts arcane magic.

I think bronze armor would be quite popular among arcane casters wanting to wear armor.

 

[dream66_]

In the year 872 at the end of the Wizarding War the empire of Vargath outlawed the wearing of armor by the magical castes. Armor was forbidden for anyone not of the empires military were fined, any found to be bearing any magical talent, arcane or divine was put to death.

The only clerics, mages or druid who wore armor were thus the rebels.

During the God wars of 1012 the Clerics were recurited into the military and thus granted right to wear armor, 70 years later when the empire fell it had thus become tradition that clerics wore armor and no respectable wizard would ever waste his time on the stuff.

This tradition continues to today with few ever questioning why.

 

[steeldragons]

Some repetition, but just running with what's in my head...ya know, like how we did when it was "brain-storming"!

1) Casting in Armor is tied to the "nature" of magic in the game world.
Divine Magic is the granted/borrowed/bestowed/syphoned energies given off by the deities. Maybe they know/notice/care, maybe they don't. Maybe it is beneath their interest/involvement or simply a "[super]natural" way the cosmos works that doesn't require their interest/involvement..until, say 4th level spells. Then they start/take interest/get miffed[?] to notice when someone's using that much energy at once? ANYwho, no matter how you fluff your deities and their relationship to clerics, the "nature" of the energy/source that fuels divine magic is not inhibited by armor. That "flowing through" the person, someone mentioned upthread. Divine casting in armor of any kind is fine. Period.

Arcane Magic is the grabbing/weaving/harnessing/"playing like a piano" and then directing preternatural/supernatural/para-natural/occult/unknown energies of the multiverse that may or may not ebb/flow, replenish itself, be drawn from other planes of existence...or is it a "finite" -on a cosmic scale, but still ultimately finite- resource? No matter HOW you fluff the "nature" of the energy/source that fuels arcane magic, it IS inhibited by armor. It is NOT divine in nature...but rather "natural" in its origin...a normal existing part of the game world/universe/cosmos. Gaining access to it, either because of elaborate gestures and gesticulations, "iron/steel/metal interferes with the flow", or a hundred other...well, arcane reasons no one really has ever figured out, you an not access arcane magic while wearing armor.

2) Casting [Arcane] in Armor is tied to the race of the caster.
Depending on how you fluff your races and their innate relation to magic/magical energies/other planes/or a hundred other variables, you allow casting in armor for certain archetypes and not for others. Off the type of my head, the way I likes my own classes, I'd go with something like this:
Elves: casting in any armor. No problem. They are the top of the "magic being" food chain.
Gnomes & Half-elves: casting in up to medium armor/chain mail. Gnomes for their innate magickyness. Half-elves as a boon from their parent/bloodline.
or possible Half-elves [and Tieflings if you use such things] in light only.
Humans, Halflings & Others: just can't quite get the magic to "work right" if they are in armor. The best casters of these races simply can not become as adept in working with sorcery as innately magical beings.

Or to take it a different step/direction/level of detail: Elves can cast any spells in up to Chain...but can only use Enchantments in heavy/plate armor. Gnomes can use illusion spells in any armor, illusion or enchantment in medium, and any spell in light or no armor only. That kind of thing. Just depends on how/what you want to the fluff to be for your world's races.

3) Casting in Armor is tied to some "effect" of using [arcane] magic in the game world.
a la the OP's thing about whatever world/game that was that had a magical "heat after-effect" resulting from spellcasting. Like one would sweat after physical exertion...one gives off some kind of magic sweat-radiation after working out with magic. Casting in armor could be anywhere from uncomfortable to debilitating to deadly for the caster to constrain themselves in those finicky buckled leather and metal suits.

This can be taken in a hundred directions depending on one's fluff for Arcane Magic in the world.
For example...
a) Arcane Magic is thousands upon thousands of energy-threads that connects/maintains/holds together [?] reality, unseen by normal mortals/beings. During spellcasting the mage grabs/tugs on/strums like a harp/weaves into ponchos/whatEVer...The grabbing/pulling/coalescing of too many threads into a single effect/area (say, perhaps, like once one gets over 3rd level spells...maybe with increasing chances of issues for each spell level) produces a sort of magical [seen or unseen] focal point - called "wizard's lightning" by some for the low rumble of thunder that follows any big effect spell- which erupts around the caster after their spell is cast [with or without observable effect in the game world. Wearing armor while doing so would result in a "mystic feedback" that would fry the mage's brain.

b) All Arcane magic [known or unknown to most people?] is actually exacting calculations that open rifts and/or "invoke" beings from other planes: enchantments occur by opening a "screen" [of sorts] to the Land of Faerie, illusions could be the same (though some use the Plane of Shadows instead ; a Fireball is a very specifically shaped, and utterly momentary, "bubble" in the Veil between the material and Elemental Plane of Fire; Wall of Stone is a "slab of open space" created between the material and Elemental Earth, so the stone -just sitting where it is on its home plane- seems to appear where the mage specifies; Featherfall/Levitate/Fly is just varying degrees and control over Elemental Air allowed to enter the material plane or Nature/Fey Spirits/minor Air elementals themselves summoned to "carry" the caster....things like Magic Missile or Shield are controlled "rips" with Radiant/Positive Energy, necromancy spells play between the negative and positive energy planes (with some shadow plane thrown in for good luck), conjurations are self-explanatory, etc. etc. etc.

Wearing armor while working this world's arcane magic could offer a [high or ever increasing with spell level] percentage chance that the "beacon of lifeforce" of the caster/the tear itself/maybe the "shiny" [the caster in armor]/[whatEVer fluff reason] when these rifts are created will draw the attention of something more powerful than the mage can deal with...letting something "in[to the game world]" along with the spell effect or pulling the caster into the other plane (almost invariably certain and immediate death). So casters are taught before they can even DETECT magic that you DO NOT, under ANY circumstance, EVER want to try to cast arcane spells wearing any kind of armor!..and dark/dull or muted colors for robes and cloaks are the best and most unassuming.

c) Arcane Magic is, for lack of a better term, a "radiation" that exists throughout the cosmos (perhaps it is the wakes/waves of this radiation flowing over/past deities as they move through the multiverse that actually constitutes divine magic?!?). It is, for normal beings, harmless. Knights and soldiers wear armor to no detriment. Thieves and rangers traipse about in their leathers unaware. Barbarian warlords brandish their battle axes and great two-handed swords into battle. But for the man or woman who wants to work with and wield this radiation, armor is simply intolerable. The focusing and harnessing and directing of the radiation into specific effects, their "spells", either simply will not work or begins/gives the caste an ever-building "radiation poisoning" [made worse by being contained within their armor?]. Now, their tolerance for this radiation increases, with exposure and time (i.e. gaining levels). But the serious practitioner of the Arcane Arts is not going to risk or limit themselves by donning armor (making a case for multi-classed characters if a player so chooses, understanding that their magic might be more limited or risky).

By the time the mage is casting 4th or 5th level spells, they can only cast a few per day without risking this "magic-overdose" and ending up in a coma or killing themselves. "Magicians" in courts and carnivals across the kingdom use their "simple and safe" spells (cantrips, 1st and 2nd level spells) for entertainment and minor utility (levitate, floating disc and the like). Only "true" Mages, like the grand wizards of old, dare to harness the real power!

4) Casting in Armor is tied to The Star Trek Defense:
Donning armor depolarizes the occult defaults of the caster. Due to the juxtaposition of the quantum surge, the wearing of any kind of armor produces a breach in the cosmystum, which as every mage knows, contains the whole of their personal supply of arcane energy. The cosmystum would then seep anti-magic! Infecting the space-time continuum and causing a magical feedback loop that would not only consume the caster, but produce a supernatural ripple in the fabric of the multiverse, destroying reality as we know it!!!

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That's about it for the moment. Big day ahead. I might have time for more later.

 

[RangerWickett]

Clerical magic draws energy in from the gods, who transcend physical reality, pouring their essence into the mortal vessels who serve them. Armor is no problem.

Druidic magic reaches out and draws in energy from the living world, and so any armor that was never alive blocks the flow.

Arcane magic, however, is complex, welling up from within while simultaneously snagging energy from the outside world and weaving it through you. Your physical flesh might be small, but your arcane presence extends outward. A blow needs to merely strike your form, be that your body or your clothes, to wound you. Why wear armor, then, as it would merely weigh you down without providing any benefit?