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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GMMichael" data-source="post: 8395479" data-attributes="member: 6685730">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? </blockquote>

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