Sleeping in armor?

[jedrious]

meh, I just add the speed and armor check penalties together and add that to number of extra hours for an extended rest if they want to sleep in armor, a tradeoff because there's always deadlines in my game

 

[LittleFuzzy]

The notion that it was necessary to lift a fully armed knight onto his horse with the help of pulleys is a myth originating in Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, so we do not need to perpetuate that myth.

While it looks heavy, a full plate armour set could be as light as only 20 kg (45 pounds) if well made of tempered steel. This is less than the weight of modern combat gear of an infantry soldier, and the weight is better distributed. The weight was so well spread over the body that a fit man in plate could run, or jump into his saddle.

Nice unmarked quote, lifted verbatim from Wikipedia. Most historical plate armors were not that light. That's a floor from the lightest and most modern of historical plate armor styles. 15th century "White" and "Gothic" plate was heavier. And I'm well aware that it did not take pulleys to get a knight onto his horse *he did usually require assistance from someone if he was wearing the much heavier jousting armors though, which weren't designed to permit much mobility, and which was the grain of truth behind Clemens' inaccuracy* I'm talking solely about someone in plate armor who is flat on his back, which is going to be a much more comfortable position to sleep in while wearing the armor then on one's side.

 

[Doctor Proctor]

meh, I just add the speed and armor check penalties together and add that to number of extra hours for an extended rest if they want to sleep in armor, a tradeoff because there's always deadlines in my game

Actually, that's actually a really good mechanic, and the best I've seen so far. Except for Plate, most armors would only cost an hour or two extra, which isn't bad at all. It also doesn't unduly punish a certain segment of the group, it just adds some more time onto the extended rests.

(You could even mitigate this in a group by allowing the heavy armor guys to sleep through the night and have the guys in light armor split the watches. They're usually more the "scouts" anyway, so it's only natural.)

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

Another thing to keep in mind is that the typical D&D party is to medieval armies what the A-team is to modern police.

Sigged!!

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

Nice unmarked quote, lifted verbatim from Wikipedia.

This is a gaming forum, so there's no need to cite your sources

...and besides, I didn't feel like paraphrasing something that has been in Wikipedia for a few years (since we had the "plate armor weigh" discussion in my group 2 years ago, and that info was already there)

 

[Artoomis]

It's really fairly simple to figure this out.

When actively involved in an adventure (where combat is possible/likely at any time) only an insane person would take off his/her armor to rest.

In town, and similar places, no one should be sleeping in armor - that just makes no sense at all, in most cases.

So, if, as a DM, you want to stage an encounter where the fighters, et. al, are not wearing armor, it really should be something that starts off at night, in an inn, or some such similar situation when wearing armor would clearly not happen - as agreed to by both DM and players.

 

[ArmoredSaint]

Most historical plate armors were not that light. That's a floor from the lightest and most modern of historical plate armor styles. 15th century White and Gothic plate was heavier.... I'm talking solely about someone in plate armor who is flat on his back...

How much do you think those armours weighed?

No offense, but I'm not sure you're qualified to speak with authority on the subject. After all, how many suits of armour, custom-tailored to your own physique, have you worn? I own such a harness, and I am prepared to completely assure you that, not only can I rise from a prone/supine position with ease, I can indeed perform cartwheels and even some light tumbling in it. And at 71 pounds, my suit is much heavier than those 15th century Milanese and Gothic harnesses, which weigh from 45-65 pounds. I can provide sources from several museum catalogues (starting with the Mantova and Churburg collections) to support this claim of average weight, if necessary. Here is a YouTube video of me performing some athletic feats in my suit.

Again, my armour is demonstrably heavier than the real thing. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xm11yAXeegg"]YouTube - Armour Aerobics[/ame] See? Cartwheels, pushups--no problem. Rising from a prone/supine position? Absolutely. Poorly articulated? Hardly. Rich men spent outrageous sums to outfit themselves in harnesses from the best armourers of Europe. Making plate armour was a highly developed science, and any given suit would be custom-made for the man who intended to trust his life to it.

I call on you to kindly provide some firm evidence to support this statement:

Historically, if a knight got knocked onto his back in combat he was dead, because he wouldn't be able to get back up again. It would be a herculean task just to roll over. The suit weighed too damn much and was too poorly articulated. You wouldn't sleep in it because you'd need a bloody winch to get back off the ground.

If you cannot support this claim with evidence, then I politely call on you to retract the statement and revise your opinion on the matter.

 

[Eldorian]

How much do you think those armours weighed?

No offense, but I'm not sure you're qualified to speak with authority on the subject.

Hey, take a nap in yours to find out if sleeping in plate is hard. FOR SCIENCE!

 

[The Grackle]

Bernal Diaz, in his Conquest of New Spain, talks about sleeping in armor almost continually during the campaign in Mexico. He got so accustomed to it that later in life he had trouble sleeping in real beds, and would often have to sleep on the floor!

In Simplicius Simplicissimus (Which is fiction, but contains a lot RL experiences from the 30 Years War) the main character talks about the horrors of always wearing armor- not because it was uncomfortable to sleep in but because of the fleas: you couldn't take off your cuirass to scratch the fleabites.

 

[kerbarian]

In other words, you force heavy armor users to fight night ambushes at a severe disadvantage (compared to what's intended).

If your players are aware that this probably makes these classes so much weaker that there's no point in playing them, all the power to you.

But if they don't, you really ought to inform them of this circumstance.

Either that, or give them some substantial bonus to compensate.

Actually, he can just tell them that they're expected to either wear Summoned Armor or Imposter's Armor, or to own an extra set for (not) sleeping in at night.