How to justify bikini armour in your game.

[Garthanos]

Yeah it keyed off the idea that gladiators are performers and their manoeuvres are designed to get response from the crowd (and opponent). So yes there is an element of intimidation too (especially the reckless blows) plus it allows for brutal pit fighters and flamboyant showmen to both be gladiators.

also I didn’t want to do another dex based fighter

I am a big fan of attribute flexibility it means we do not have to follow stereotypes to have effective characters. I designed Techniques that were fundamentally armor types which enabled light defenses based on alternative attributes and yes Woad being an example of charisma based so is Divine Blessing or you might call yours Clever Panache.

There is an adage about "Winners playing to their strengths" and that is a primary element of what I see attribute flexibility being about and the other being the attribute used is a way to broadly define the combatants style.

 

[Ulfgeir]

In an Exalted 2e campaign, my character had the equivalent of chainmail bikini. The backstory was that she had been an archaeologist, and had been captured by a Rakshasa, who had kept her prisoner for many years (she had not aged during this time due to his magic, and he had changed her in other ways). Anyways, she had escaped, and taken certain magical items with her. One was a bottle, with an oil in it. If she used that she gained total immunity to all non-magical weapons, and environments, as long as she did not cover up. The magic would stop working if someone for example threw a a sheet over her.

So she walked around in the middle of a snowstorm and extreme cold in skimpy see-through clothing that would have been suited in a harem, without any ill effects.

 

[MGibster]

Why not go gruesome? The bikini armor acts like Arthur's scabbard. So long as a person wears it she will never bleed from her wounds.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Crafted by feys. It is like normal armours but invisible by illusory magic. Like in Diablo II ethereal armor and vanishing dye. She still wears the armor but you can't see it.

Who would wear anything like this? Fans of bodybuilding to show their muscles.

 

[Enrico Poli1]

I don't see the problem.

Bikini chain mail offers protection AND lets female warriors to expess their femininity. It's an optimal choice.

 

[GMMichael]

Setting-dependent: In a Mad Max (Dark Sun?) world, you're lucky to scrounge up whatever armor bits you can find. Oddly, most remaining pieces are either mail or cup-shaped plate.

Fetish: a Jabba the Hut-type of lord enforces bikini armor by fiat.

Vicious Mockery: wearing bikini armor is straight-up taunting. "I'm so much better than you that I only wear armor as a distraction."

 

[gyor]

My idea is that magical chain mail bikini Armour (and related plate mail bikini armour and studded leather bikini armour) grant there wearer's flesh the durability of the material the bikini armour is made of.

Or you can just say chain mail bikini armour functions like wizard robes.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Does this ever even come up in games that it needs justification? I mean, it’s odd and silly, but if that’s what a player wants for their PC, does anyone else mind?

 

[Quartz]

Does this ever even come up in games that it needs justification?

I don't know; I just found the article to which I linked interesting and amusing and thought others here might find it interesting.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I don't know; I just found the article to which I linked interesting and amusing and thought others here might find it interesting.

Okay, gotcha. Wasn’t sure if it was just a conversation starter or if this actually mattered to some games.