Swimming in plate armor??

[Surgoshan]

Modern reenactments have shown that it's possible to run, swim, or jump onto a horse in full plate. Unlike chain, plate mail is strapped on piece by piece to individual body parts, making it more evenly distributed and easier to bear. People have done cartwheels in full plate. I'd just go with the check penalties given on the table.

 

[Ahglock]

So in that case, how realistic are you going to be with how long it takes him to take off his plate armor? That stuff doesn't exactly come with a quick-release feature.

Not very realistic at all. The goal IMO is to put people at a disadvantage not take them out of the adventure. 3 rounds top, with each round reducing the penalties as parts of the armor is ditched.

 

[hong]

Beowulf swam in plate armor while fighting sea monsters and making love to Angelina Jolie.

What's the problem?

The problem is, it would have been much MORE AWESOME if he had been swimming in Angelina Jolie, fighting plate armour and making love to sea monsters.

It's all about wasted opportunities.

 

[hong]

The problem is, it would have been much MORE AWESOME if he had been swimming in Angelina Jolie, fighting plate armour and making love to sea monsters.

It's all about wasted opportunities.

And of course, if he had been swimming in sea monsters, fighting Angelina Jolie and making love to plate armour, that would have been _Excalibur_.

 

[The Hitcher]

Ah, I remember the hours of argument back in the 2E days. Our DM insisted it couldn't be done, a couple of players said the opposite. I think its more an issue of mobility than weight, and I think its perfectly appropriate for the heroic individuals in D&D to swim with just a minor penalty.

 

[AkaKageWarrior]

I have no problem what so ever with a paragon level fighter swimming in plate mail, heck I would not mind a epic level fighter running on water, in fact I'd like it.

dude! you're the man! (or woman, anyway...)

at paragon level the PCs should be at olympic level, so there goes a lot that we could not imagine happening in real life.

 

[Ahglock]

Well for swimming I'd think the buoyancy of the armor is what is important. 50lbs of metal would sink fairly fast, though you may have some air trapped between you and the armor for a short time providing a small degree of buoyancy. Impossible to swim in it, nope but it would be really hard. Not due to its maneuverability but due to the basic rules of buoyancy.

To give a small point of reference I believe 10lb lead weights are used to simulate the weight of a human in water for lifeguards. Metal is not buoyant, humans are.

 

[Jack Colby]

Do those who demand realistic armor also have PC shields destroyed as they absorb hits, make them unstring their bows when they carry them around, etc? Just curious where you draw the line on this stuff.