Rapier with full plate mail

[BiggusGeekus]

Is there a reason in the game mechanics that someone would not use a rapier while in full plate mail?

I realize there might be "better" in-game combinations, I'm just wondering.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Is there a reason in the game mechanics that someone would not use a rapier while in full plate mail?

I realize there might be "better" in-game combinations, I'm just wondering.

Well, there are plenty of out-of-game "realism"-based reasons, but in-game? Hmm...

I suppose you could argue that the rapier is best used by people with a high Dex score, and people with high Dex don't normally wear full plate because it's not the optimal armor for them. And of course, a rapier is almost never the best weapon for a high-Strength character, because it's not a two-hander.

Beyond that? Nothing that I can think of, in terms of in-game mechanics, prevents or discourages it.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Nothing that I can think of, in terms of in-game mechanics, prevents or discourages it.

That's what I'm walking away with myself.

I mean, I know that in reality it would be kind of a dumb thing to try to pull off because the armor would interfere with speed of the weapon and you'd lose the advantage of the rapier being light and fast, but going by the RAW, I don't see a problem with it.

 

[Psimancer]

Well, there are plenty of out-of-game "realism"-based reasons, but in-game? Hmm...

Actually, from memory, there was a Knight's weapon that was very similar to the Rapier; the Estoc... It had a 'V' shaped cross-section and was employed to pierce between the plates of heavy armour... a rose by another name?

EDIT: I did a Wiki-search on the Estoc; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estoc

Several weapons emerged to defeat heavy armour and eventually evolved into the Rapier… I would say it’s not such a stretch to allow it based on this…

 

[shilsen]

Going by the RAW, no reason whatsoever. As Mouseferatu noted, the sort of character that will usually end up using a rapier (high Dex) is less likely to want to use heavy armor, but that's not true across the board.

 

[Shadowdweller]

Well, there are plenty of out-of-game "realism"-based reasons, but in-game? Hmm...

I'm not so sure about this. If historically the rapier wasn't used so much while in plate armor, I suspect it's more to do with the use of the rapier as a duelling, non-military sword. As well as the decline of plate armor in battle by the time the rapier came into fashion.

 

[Taloras]

In the game im running, i have a warmage wearing a breastplate, wielding a rapier(warmage/fighter). working towards full plate(battlecaster feats). So nothing RAW prevents it.

 

[frankthedm]

If a DM want to run a game where the max dex bonus of the armor applies to everything, i don't see that as a bad idea.

I would recommend adding a large increase cost to the mithral material cost for armor for that game.