PC's with no fashion sense!

[dave_o]

I've never been a fan of having magic items be exactly like they are in the books. It's way fun to shift things around, completely change what stuff is (while keeping its cost/function/crunch the same). Keeps the PCs one their toes, keeps my creative muscles flexing, and makes my game a unique experience -- tooting my own horn aside, though, let's take Slippers of Spider Climbing for example.

As long as you keep the same rules for how long they take to put on, etc., there's no real reason it can't be a tin of gunk you spread on your shoes/hands/feet to scuttle around on walls. Or a set of thaumaturgic thingers you can hammer into your shoes. Or boots lined with arcane webbing that feeds magic in through the soles of your feet. Or, hell, a symbiotic spider attached to your body.

I say feel free to change whatever it is for coolness' sake. As long as the crunch stays the same.

 

[jeffh]

You've got that ALMOST right.

Judging by what I've seen in the great armories of Europe, what armour you wear isn't PRIMARILY a fashion decision, it is something your life may depend on.

Once the vitals are covered, though, there are all kinds of embellishments that show up on armor...some of which most assuredly impair the ability of the armor to protect its occupant.

Okay, correction accepted. But I think my main point stands - I have some inkling, I think, of the sorts of embelishment you have in mind and they're nowhere near as silly as, say, metallic stay-up stockings.

And yes, if it's magical then (almost) anything goes, I suppose. Rikus' belt from the early Dark Sun novels and (more directly relevant to my previous post) the armour the woman from Azure Bonds was usually pictured in were described specifically as magic items that offered protection well out of proportion to what their impractical appearance would suggest. (And the latter did have a breastplate that she would add on for serious combat, according to what I've heard second-hand about the novelization). But surely not all of the suits I'm complaining about are magical. Even D&D isn't that magic-heavy.

 

[Wik]

You know, I always loved Conan-style fighters. I've been trying for years to get the group out of their armour so they can show off their muscles. Y'know, get all savage and stuff.

Then stupid mearls came along and solved my problem with one simple book. I hate him so much.

Seriously, Iron Heroes' characters tend to have so much better fashion sense, and it's all because there's no magical items to muddy things up.My two cents, at least.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

You've got that ALMOST right.

Judging by what I've seen in the great armories of Europe, what armour you wear isn't PRIMARILY a fashion decision, it is something your life may depend on.

Once the vitals are covered, though, there are all kinds of embellishments that show up on armor...some of which most assuredly impair the ability of the armor to protect its occupant.

Well, most of the fancy stuff (and it can get pretty darn fancy) is actually tornament armor, not field armor. Made more for show than for combat. Although those with a somewhat cheaper budget had add-ons for their field armor to fancy it up for the tornaments.

 

[BullMarkOne]

You know, I always loved Conan-style fighters.

Actually IIRC in the novels Conan wore some pretty substantial armor on occasion.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Oh, I know some of it is tourney armor- but not all were.

I remember one set I saw in Germany whose fashion feature was very subtle. It looked like fairly normal armor, but in reality it was made to satisfy the wearer's vanity as much as protect his vitality.

You see, it was the armor equivalent of a corset- the wearer was actually not as svelte as his armor made him appear... You know- 200 lbs of man in a suit more realistically suited for someone 175 lbs.

 

[Numion]

Once a PC in our group had a picture stitched on the back of his cloak. It was a mans face with broad-rimmed hat and a scarf over lower part of the face. Like a caricature of the quintessential highway robber.

Yes, he was a rogue.

We found that clothing choice, for a rogue, very funny

Not that even the best of them didn't make mistakes. The nazgul in LotR - supposedly "disguised as riders in black". What a disguise! Wouldn't fool anyone.

 

[Pbartender]

Actually IIRC in the novels Conan wore some pretty substantial armor on occasion.

...And usually on occasions when it was the only thing that allowed him to survive a battle.

In the stories, Conan wore every type of armor from nothing but leather breeks, to furs and hides, to scale shirts, to chain hauberks, to full plate armor... It all depended on what he was doing at the time and what resources were available.

 

[VirgilCaine]

I wonder why the name slippers of spider climb automatically brings to mind a mental image of something resembling ballet shoes? I have that same image, but I don't know where I got it from. Couldn't they be boots of spider climb, or sandals of spider climb? Oh well, at least I don't have a mental image of fuzzy pink bunny slippers of spider climb.

Personally, I think of a pair of slippers with pointed toes and slightly flared ankle-openings.

 

[jmucchiello]

Far from too little fashion sense, I'm really tired of seeing illustrations of female warrior-types with entirely too much. I'm talking about otherwise well-armoured characters who leave vital areas like the upper thighs (which contain vital arteries - one cut and you could bleed to death in minutes), midriff or even mid-chest exposed. What armour you wear isn't a fashion decision, it is something your life may depend on. Most women I know agree that there are times when you want to look hot (and I thank my lucky stars for it), but going into battle is not one of them.

I always assume that these sorts of armor are magical and though there is no metal around her thighs or across her midriff, the "armor" still protects those areas via magic.