Imaro
Legend
mmadsen said:Certainly the iconic wizard is an old scholar, who wouldn't have much reason to be in armor or to be hardened by long time on campaign. That's reason enough for a typical wizard not to be wearing armor.
mmadsen said:D&D definitely went overboard with the restrictions though. One of Charlemagne's Paladins, if I recall correctly, was a wizard -- not a D&D paladin or cleric -- who wore armor. Also, Gandalf, while he didn't wear armor, clearly wielded a sword.
So he was a Warmage, Duskblade, Battle Sorcerer or a Wizard willing to chance the spell failure (which IMHO, isn't that big a risk)
Gandalf took Weapon Proficiency: Longsword.
mmadsen said:And that's before we get into more modern, less well-know fantasy.
I would love to see armor treated as fairly easy to wear for short stretches but unbearable for longer stretches, except by trained soldiers -- which would reflect real life while maintaining game balance.
Even in modern fantasy, I would say the all out spellcaster who wears full plate armor is a rarity. I think it is best handled in the manner that 3.5 did, with a seperate class or variation on the wizard/sorcerer and/or with the sacrifice of feats.