Elvish chain is beautiful.

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

That's a sig-quote if ever I saw one.

Already *yoinked*

 

[Aaron L]

So does that mean that mithril, when stabbed, will not break but will still allow the point of a spear to skewer the wearer of mithril armor? Metal is metal, if it is going to protect against a stab or slice then it will have to be hard enough to stop a melee weapon. The rings will not bend. If they do then you bought a bad piece of armor that will need the rings straightened constantly.

My point was that it's a fantasy material, stronger than steel. The links could be thinner while retaining the same strength as a thicker steel link. It could be like modern "memory" metals that can flex and return to true on thier own. It's a magical metal, it could do a lot of things. And how can you tell she isn't wearing padding under that? Elves are known for being quite thin, she could be wearing a lot under that mail.

False histrorical beliefs in fantasy settings is also a pet peeve of mine, but magic is magic, and allowances must be made for it.

Oh, and I've only been talking about DMG elven chain, I don't know anything about Kalamar.

 

[Umbran]

The rings will not bend. If they do then you bought a bad piece of armor that will need the rings straightened constantly.

[...snip...]

Sorry for the rant. False beliefs surrounding fantasy settings (dnd, movies, novelty shops) are a pet peeve of mine.

Real historical chainmail needed it's rings constantly replaced and striaghtened if used in combat. The rings do bend if struck with a weapon, even if they are rivetted shut, and replacing them would be standard maintenance. One of the things that makes chainmail so attractive as an armor is that this maintenance can be almost be done by a trained monkey.

 

[Umbran]

So I have to ask, how flexible is the weave depicted in the Player's Handbook? I'm thinking it has to be very flexible, because just looking at it causes my brain to flex quite a bit trying to make sense of it.

The stuff pictured on pg 125 of the 3.5e PHB "Close-Up of Chainmail" looks like it is supposed to be rivetted 4-in-1. But it is poorly drawn, such that some of the rings are bent in ways you'd never bend a real physical ring.

If we take that to be 4-in-1, it'd be pretty flexible stuff, at least in one direction. I can randomly crumple up a four to five foot long belt of it to fit in the palm of my hand.

 

[Sejs]

The rings will not bend. If they do then you bought a bad piece of armor that will need the rings straightened constantly.

Incorrect. The rings bend and break when hit hard enough - smack around a coat of mail long enough and it'll start to fall to pieces on you. That's okay though, that's normal - the rings are getting torn to buggery and back so you, the wearer, don't. Any suit if armor that sees combat will have to be maintained during downtime; for chain and ring type armor, that means straightening and patching rings. Lots of 'em. But hey - at least you're not having to patch a rend in a plate. At least with chain you can fix it up well just sitting around the campfire one evening.

The biggest problem I see with the woman in elven chain is that with such a form fitting suit one hit from a mace and whe would be dead. There is no bludgeoning protection, no padding.

All flexible armor has this problem. A half-inch of stuffed padding isn't going to stop your collarbone from breaking when someone hits it with a mace full-force. It will make the armor much more tolerable to wear, however, and does a pretty good job at giving torn rings something other than your flesh to dig into.

It is a common myth that maille will protect the wearer from a bullet or even from a sword. So some candidate for "Jackass" puts on a maille bracer and has a friend hit him with a hatchet. Tadaa! Broken arm.

The only thing greater than mankind's potential, is mankind's potential for stupidity.

 

[yoippari]

The rings will not bend. If they do then you bought a bad piece of armor that will need the rings straightened constantly.

I should clairify myself here. If mithril is soft enough to bend when you are walking around (even if it will harden upon impact) then the rings will bend under the shirts own weight while you are sitting there. Yes I know rings bend and break when in a fight. I am talking about simply moving around.

I doubt that many people would carry around a couple of pounds of rings, pliers, rivits, and clamps. Mailling was a specialized trade that most soldiers couldn't do, they didn't have the supplies or time.

An inch and a half of padding will help against a sword though. The maille keeps it from cutting you, the padding keeps it from bludgeoning you.

 

[hong]

I should clairify myself here. If mithril is soft enough to bend when you are walking around (even if it will harden upon impact) then the rings will bend under the shirts own weight while you are sitting there. Yes I know rings bend and break when in a fight. I am talking about simply moving around.

I doubt that many people would carry around a couple of pounds of rings, pliers, rivits, and clamps. Mailling was a specialized trade that most soldiers couldn't do, they didn't have the supplies or time.

An inch and a half of padding will help against a sword though. The maille keeps it from cutting you, the padding keeps it from bludgeoning you.

You are thinking too hard about D&D. Stop thinking.

 

[s/LaSH]

Pish. This particular form-fitting elven mail is clearly engineered via interlocks and polarisation (magical or intrinsic in the mithril), such that the wearer can manipulate it without concern, but a force applied from the outside causes it to harden and deflect the blow. Imagine a system whereby there's a wedge-shaped armour component in a constant-diameter hole component; you can't push it in (and doing so causes the armour to assume rigid form around the area of pressure, and in fact distribute that rigidity as far as possible), but you can push it out (thus making it loose when the wearer moves).

I'm no armourer, but then, I doubt anyone on this thread has worked with mithril or microengineered multilayered chain. Or elven magic.

Also, that's a cool pic. I saw it online when it was new and thought 'that's a cool pic', so I saved it.