Arrakis wrote:Patchiz of Clew wrote:Christo the Bull started fighting in 1986 and only now has joined the board....okay who are ya for real.lol
My approach to wearing armor not made of dead animals or metal was to ask about Jack armor, as we speak I'm collecting silk for a jack armor piece. Collaberating with your veteran players is a wealth of mistake avoidance.
What is this?
The only armors guaranteed to pass at iner-Realm events are made of 3/16" or more of leather in less than three layers and/or metal of the correct gauges and/or thicknesses. Cloth armor does not, as a rule, pass.
True.
However, there has been talk on the boards in the various linothorax threads that if it were done well, to historical specs, provided some encumbrance, and looked like armor then some heavies in the game would give it a go on a regional field.
Patchiz is working on collecting high thread count silks to make a padded jack (15-30 layers, quilted) in the style of some Mongolian and Japanese armors. It would function the same as a Western European padded jack; of which both styles are often more historically valid than many Dag/Bel armors out there.
This is a very informative report of an exercise to determine how various cuts, stabs, and arrows fare against both chain and padded jacks. The conclusion is that the jacks would have been worn on the outside of chain to stop the piercing arrows (which breaks links), while the chain would have been worn underneath to protect against slashes. Strong stabs from big guys and big, specifically designed weapons negate both.
Now, all that said, to be completely historically valid, I think cloth armor should be worn in conjunction with chain, but our game has time and time again quite vehemently put realism on the back burner. So, as long as the armor was of quality and had a consensus to allow it on the field, it shouldn't need to be coupled with anything else. Armor is armor is armor for playability's sake.