Wizards can wear armor.

serleran · Post by **serleran** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 4:33 pm

Of course a wizard can wear armor; anyone can, if they get some and have someone help with it (well, some armor doesn't require that.) The real question is: will the armor screw up the spellcasting?

Apparently not for 4e, because they are going with an external sort of thing - that is, the magic is contained and focused through a device (and they said they were cutting down on magic items!) rather than any real knowledge of the wielder. Seems rather movie-like. Hold this and chant shaka-zulu and you too can summon a horde.

Aladar · Post by **Aladar** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 5:47 pm

I alway liked the scene where Mako's character in Conan the Barbarian is wearing armor in the final battle scene at the mound and how obviously difficult it is for him to maneuver in it. Notice he doesn't try to use any magic while he is suited up in the armor either.
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Nelzie · Post by **Nelzie** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 6:27 pm

CharlieRock wrote:
Thanks. I bookmarked it to show some of the other players and our CK.

I am beginning to work on switching the way the site works.

So, for the bookmarking, it would be best to only bookmark the main page.

The site is going to be switching over to a database driven content management system, which will provide me with much greater flexibility, it just takes time to work up the changes I want to make to the templates to theme it for my site.
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Jonathan of White Haven · Thu Dec 06, 2007 8:59 pm

CharlieRock wrote:
Still, unless the circumstances were dire why not let the bookworm use that kind of weapon. Those things only did like, what, 1d4 damage?

Don't get me wrong--I agree with you, in principle. But remember that PCs do occasionally run into critters which can only be affected by magic, or require a plus weapon to be hit. If you don't have the latter, a Wand of MM can be a dandy backup weapon.
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Fizz · Post by **Fizz** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:12 pm

Of course, if you have an annoying wizard who insists on wearing heavy armor all the time, just put them up against a few Rust Monsters...
-Fizz

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:24 pm

Summon Rust Monsters is one of the meanest conjuring spells in the game.

Summon Dis enchanters is also another mean one.
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anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 8:27 pm

The reason Wizards are not allowed armour is purely a question of archetypes. Wizards are bearded old men in robes and conical hats, or else haughty looking women in cloaks and not much else. If they put on armour, they would be stepping outside their alloted character archetypes and be hard to tell from from knights in shining armour who slay dragons with lances and shout "Have at thee, varlet!" or tough veteran soldiers from the castles on the wild borderlands who say, "We faced worse odds at the Siege of Malgriffin..."

Arakor · Post by **Arakor** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 8:50 pm

In my campaign, a wizard who walks around looking like "bearded old men in robes and conical hats" is essentially making a target of himself.

Wizards (or Mages as I prefer to called them) wear travelling clothes like anyone else and they're allowed padded armour but there is nothing to give them away until they start casting.

Having said that, if you do see a bearded old man in robes and conical hat, he'll be bad-ass enough that you don't want to cross him. Think Bargle, Elminster, Yaztromo or Nicodemus.
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:06 pm

Arakor wrote:
In my campaign, a wizard who walks around looking like "bearded old men in robes and conical hats" is essentially making a target of himself.

Wizards (or Mages as I prefer to called them) wear travelling clothes like anyone else and they're allowed padded armour but there is nothing to give them away until they start casting.

Having said that, if you do see a bearded old man in robes and conical hat, he'll be bad-ass enough that you don't want to cross him. Think Bargle, Elminster, Yaztromo or Nicodemus.

You know, now that you make me think about it, very few players started out their wizards dressed "classicly". Like the rogues they tried to disguise what their class was. Until they felt tough enough to destroy all threats. Then they wore their robes, carried their staff, etc...
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anonymous · Post by **anonymous** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:33 pm

Whether or not player character spell casters like to wear robes and conical hats, or whether robes and conical hats are the province of fighters trying to trick opponents, the archetypes the character class is based on are those I described. Look through the old AD&D PHB and DMG and see how the spell casters damn well look the part...

gideon_thorne · Post by **gideon_thorne** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 7:41 pm

Arakor wrote:
Wizards (or Mages as I prefer to called them) wear travelling clothes like anyone else and they're allowed padded armour but there is nothing to give them away until they start casting.

There's a reason why I drew the wizard in the PHB as more of a rustic scruffy type. Appearances are ofttimes deceptive.
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Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 9:34 pm

Tenser's Floating Disk wrote:
Whether or not player character spell casters like to wear robes and conical hats, or whether robes and conical hats are the province of fighters trying to trick opponents, the archetypes the character class is based on are those I described. Look through the old AD&D PHB and DMG and see how the spell casters damn well look the part...

I agree about the "archetypes", but one good thing 3E brought home to my gaming mind is you don't have to let archetypes lock you into anything. PArt of what makes this game fun for me is to go with ideas and concepts whenever you can.

Some are too extreme or really don't fit in with what the campaign is as it is currently being done. Still, these ideas can work in another campaign because the concept fo the game can support such ideas rather than be ran over by them.

So since my campaign world is "typical" D&D I can't allow ideas too far outside that of basic archetypes, but there is still a fair amount fo wiggle room.

Like my youngest son wanted to adapt the "Effigy Master" from the C. Arcane. Its a five level Prestige Class.

To adapt it to C&C I said he can begin making Effigies at 9th level, just like any other wizard type can start making items. To make the superior effigies is essentially making expert versions, so the costs of Effigies will be x10 when he wants them to be "superior". For his "connection" to his effigies he has to research a spell for it and permanentize it on any effigy he wants the connection with.

Simple, and now his character will "focus" on making Effigies, which are basically mechanical golem type creatures. Taking one week to make and enchant per 500 GP of cost.

So I don't like "locking" anyone into an archetype. I like starting with an archetype and have the players get into individualizing it. PrC's in 3E were a great idea, I just hated the execution. Much simpler to do it my way.
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Maliki · Post by **Maliki** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 4:38 am

I don't allow wizards to caste spells while wearing armor. If I did I would adapt the 3E system of spell failure for arcane casters wearing armor.
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DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Mon Dec 24, 2007 6:08 am

I don't care for it personally as it goes against the archetypes that I imagine. Saying that however, I never noticed any problems with the elves of OD&D doing it, never disrupted or unbalanced my game any.

Maliki · Post by **Maliki** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 8:53 pm

DangerDwarf wrote:
I don't care for it personally as it goes against the archetypes that I imagine. Saying that however, I never noticed any problems with the elves of OD&D doing it, never disrupted or unbalanced my game any.

True, but the elf paid the price for this in XPs.
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DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 7:20 pm

Yeah. As long as there is a cost or trade off, its cool.

Treebore · Post by **Treebore** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 8:42 pm

Maliki wrote:
True, but the elf paid the price for this in XPs.

Thats definitely one approach, one I expect to see detailed in the mythical CKG. Custom build your classes by paying XP's. So maybe add a 100 XP's to the base line XP progression of a Wiz to wear light armors (AC 3 and less), 200 XP's to be able to wear medium armors (AC 4 to 6??), and 300 to wear all armors. Still, no shield can be used in a round the wizard wants to cast spells.

Or whatever looks good.
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DangerDwarf · Post by **DangerDwarf** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 10:14 pm

serleran wrote:
Apparently not for 4e, because they are going with an external sort of thing - that is, the magic is contained and focused through a device (and they said they were cutting down on magic items!) rather than any real knowledge of the wielder.

Actually that isn't true. It isn't contained in the device, they merely use the device as a focus. Even without a wand, staff or wand a wizard can cast spells. Nor would a wand focus in the hands of a non-wizard grant the dude magical ability.

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Wizards can wear armor.

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