Why does armor block 1-handed stabs?

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Why does armor block 1-handed stabs?

Postby Shell » Thu Apr 19, 2018 12:46 pm

Hello.

It seems that the shield+short spear weapon combo is practically non-existent. I would guess that it is because this combo is completely ineffective against someone wearing armor.

Two questions:
1: Why is armor so complicated? Why not simply "ablate 1 hit"?
2: Why is stabbing so strange with how it interacts with armor?

Third unrelated question:
3: Why do 2-handed red swings damage shields? Why not simply encourage flanking/overrunning against shields?
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Re: Why does armor block 1-handed stabs?

Postby Sir Thurat » Sun Jun 03, 2018 6:53 am

Hey Shell, sorry for the super late reply. The boards are mostly used for War Council discussions anymore. Most everyone else can be found over on the Belegarth Official Discussion Page or on the Belegarth Rules Discussion Page.
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Re: Why does armor block 1-handed stabs?

Postby Derian » Sun Jun 03, 2018 10:10 pm

Ultimately the answer is game balance.

Spears, while historically significantly more common than they are in our game, and realistically, more likely to pierce through armor (especially leather armor), do not suffer from many of the drawbacks of swung weapons. For example, there is no minimum weight requirement.

Additionally, armor wearers suffer a significant penalty to in game performance whether by additional weight, heat retention, limited mobility or all of the above. Modifying armor to simply absorb one strike (without changing any other rules) would decrease the effectiveness of armor as a whole and reduce its prevalence. And let's be clear; armor is cool and looks great.
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