Action Economy and Why Magic-Users Don't Wear Armor

[GMMichael]

I was writing up some rules on carrying and readying gear, and finishing the portion that explained how magic-users prepare their spell implements for combat (spoiler: they're almost always ready), when I faced a conundrum:

Since there are no armor proficiency rules, there's nothing to prevent Magic-Users (MUs) from walking around in plate suits like they're medieval tanks.

I didn't want to write up an ad-hoc patch, and I didn't want to tell players that they couldn't play their favorite armored-caster concepts (the Witcher and Elder Scrolls come to mind). So why don't classic RPG MUs wear armor, in an action-based combat economy?

I had just written about the bandolier: a strap of pockets that lets you carry five additional things, since armor doesn't have pockets. Grabbing something from a bandolier costs one action, which is faster than removing a backpack (one action), and then pulling something out (another action, plus your stuff is on the ground). Maybe MUs wear robes because they want MORE than five pockets. Wasn't that a thing: mage robes having lots of pockets for spell components? What if it's not a class-restriction that MUs can't wear armor; they just prefer not to?

Thinking a bit, there could be a good number of (non-weapon) things that MUs want to have within reach: a spell book, magic scrolls, magic potions, smoke powder, wand(s), a familiar, and spell components, to name a few. Why keep digging through a backpack, when these could all be accessible and in their assigned pockets?

This justification goes away when retrieving items in combat doesn't require time, and PCs can carry about as much as they want, wherever they want. In that case, it's useful to say, "magic-users, you can't wear armor because it messes with your magical energy (or because the fighters get offended when you do)." I happen to like the idea of a practical reason for MUs to choose clothes over armor. (In a similar vein, armor reduces one's Dex score, and MUs seem to prefer the saving throw bonuses that they get from unencumbered dexterity...)

Are there other reasons why magic-users don't wear armor?

Do you use a backpack, bandolier, robe, or other method for carrying mage paraphernalia?

 

[DemoMonkey]

Tabards. With pockets. Over the armour.

 

[niklinna]

Just weld a bunch of metal rings on the breastplate and tie your spell components to them. They'll all be in easy reach—just grab and cast!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Some games let you play armored mages easily, some don’t.*

if you’re designing one from scratch- as it seems you are- you could simply say that certain materials over a certain amout have a negative effect on casting spells. What those effects ARE depend on your goals as a game designer.

Depending on the details, I could see that approach making for some unusual caster designs. For example, if the refined metals used in traditional armor are problematic, spellcasters from a race like dwarves might use plates of stone for armor.

If metal makes things unpredictable, a caster who values chaos might actually ENJOY having it warp his mageries. It might even be something of a signature.



* I played a Sorcerer in 3.5Ed who wore scale mail and used a maul from Lvl1. He channeled his spell energies through a breath weapon, and many of his spells had no somatic components. The armor & weapon? He just lived with the negatives.

 

[dbm]

Another option (seen in GURPS core magic rules): casting magic is physically tiring (it costs fatigue points) and wearing armour or carrying a heavy load is also tiring. So, you can choose to wear armour as a caster, but that means you will have less energy available to power your magic.

You can invest to overcome this (by building up your fatigue points in different ways, or investing in a power source external to yourself) but these things all cost character points or cash. And you would still typically be able to cast more spelled unarmed if you did those things.

So being an armoured caster or not is a choice with associated consequences. In my experience most GURPS players choose to remain unarmoured.

 

[aramis erak]

Are there other reasons why magic-users don't wear armor?

Do you use a backpack, bandolier, robe, or other method for carrying mage paraphernalia?

You've already nerfed the components.

Armor (real world) imposes a restriction on movement... but if you're building off D&D assumptions, spells don't have a dex requirement.

I've always been fond of "Armor messes with the energy" and forces a save to cast. Penalty based upon armor worn; this is least disruptive if it's only metal armors. It makes it so powerful casters may take the choice for armor plus spells.

And of course, the "Armor absorbs some of the spell energy" approach... this increases the cost by x per type of armor.

Couple increased cost with adding a failure chance, only a few will do both.

 

[John R Davis]

In 1980 dragonquest RPG iron interferes with the flow of magic, so even holding a longsword stops its creation. So leather and hide is fine, as is bronze armour

 

[CubicsRube]

Magic Users not being able to wear armor is a D&D thing, not an RPG thing, or even a fantasy RPG thing.

However you could simply impose a minimum strength-equivalent to wear heavier armours or otherwise have it exhausting for all but the best physically conditioned people. Hard to know more without knowing the system, but if you had some kind of stamina base, you could have magic deplete it, but also physically taxing things like wearing heavy armour deplete it. Once they are competing for resources you create an interesting choice for players.

 

[MarkB]

How much prominence do magic items have in your world?

I quite like the option used in Skyrim, where spellcasters can wear whatever they like, but the best bonuses to spellcasting are the enchantments woven into robes.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I always note that the chance of spell failure increases dramatically with every pound of iron, steel, or bronze the MU is carrying, due to the conductive resonance of the metal.