#roleplay combat

[the-pokedestined]

This is what RP fights on Wyrmrest Accord are like.

[valthalore-sunvein]

So you think you can fight? (Compiled CH 1-3)

The following is a -lot- of information, all regarding to roleplay combat. These are the guidelines and expectations of Sunvein Dynasty members. There will be additional chapters in the near future, if you have any suggestions, additions, or corrections please let me know!

Note: Obviously, not everyone is going to be conducting combat like this. We don't expect it either; this is designed as a guide for new roleplayers and those curious about combat roleplay, or just people wanting to add onto their knowledge in regards to combat roleplay. Do not try to force this method of roleplay on -anyone- just be glad that they roleplay in the first place and move on.

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Understand that this is a work in progress, 

Thank you and enjoy!

Contents:

Chapter 1: Do's and Do Not's of Roleplay Combat

Chapter 2: Posting Order Methods and Dungeon Master Tips

Chapter 3: Melee, Ranged, Magic, and Armor in Combat Roleplay

Chapter 1: Do’s and Do Not’s of Roleplay Combat!

Obviously, there is things you can and cannot do in roleplay even more so in combat roleplay. The combat roleplay we practice is considered the most difficult and advanced forms as we rely on both parties on being fair, and remaining logical, and all together avoid the natural sense of pride that humans hold; avoiding the urge to do whatever it takes to win.

Instead, we count on you wanting to have fun and develop your character! Winning does not always define your character the best; think about it. - What is more tragic? A greater tale to speak of in the future, a story of how you have won countless battles with hardly a scratch on you… Or the deep struggles of a life and death situation where you fought your enemy in a tooth and nail grudge match; only to escape near death by fleeing. Now, you have a grudge to settle, you have a bad memory, your pride has been hurt…

You have now received several reasons for character development; rather than just winning which may only give satisfaction for the time being. So lets begin with the Do’s of combat roleplay!

Do feel free to be creative; combine abilities and experiment with new abilities!

Do be detailed; explain that you’re swinging your right fist; or your left foot moved back. These can be important details for your enemy; and also used to your advantage.

Do try your hardest; fight as if your life depended on it you never know how far the other party may go. Unless state otherwise; fight 110%

Do use your brain! Larger weapons are going to be slower than smaller weapons. Stronger armor is going to be slower than weaker armor.

Check out Chapter 3 for more details!

Now on to the Do Nots!

Do Not try to control the other person; do not tell them where they are or how they are damaged. Say things like: Would, if, and attempted to assure that you’re not godmodding for example. - IE: Valthalore attempts to slice the man’s knee. Valthalore would stab the man if he did not move.

Do Not focus on winning! It is about having fun and developing your character! Is it nice to win? Sure, but I promise it only grants temporary satisfaction. As a person that has had plenty of roleplay fights; I assure you there is really nothing special about winning it was a lot more satisfying to lose.

Do not try to insta-kill! Never, ever, ever say things like: “Chops his head off.” And be sure that if you do plan on fighting to the death; make sure to have the other persons permission.

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Chapter 2: Posting Order Methods and Dungeon Master Tips!

Posting Order Methods There are a lot of different methods and opinions on posting order. While I love to DM, I have a very unique, custom role system and posting order in which I imply, though I’ll only do this with close groups.

Over the years, I’ve had a lot of experience with massive battles, DMed events, so on and so forth. As such, I’ve learned a lot of different methods and tricks that will hopefully make your life a little easier. I really want to note that this is opinionated and largely debatable, if you have another method - by all means share it with us!

The first call

A really simple and basic way in which you can determine a posting order. Simply play the ‘Not It’ game, essentially. On the DM’s count, have the involved players call out: “It” or some other word to signify who is going first, allow the remaining to play again until there is no longer a pair of players.

Recommended usage is for close knit friends, and people used to the surrounding peoples. This is considered a less classical method, and usually used in less serious settings.

The Roll

It is both simple and a classic, the time surviving roll of the dice. Simply type /roll, and proceed to either go along with the numerical order for your posting organization, for example…

Jack Rolls a 78, he is first. Jill rolls a 65, she is third. John rolls a 45, he is fourth. Jimmy rolls a 77, he is second.

Or the highest roller is first, allow the others to roll again, the highest number of that group is then second, so on and so forth.

A rather simple and quick way to determine a posting order, this method is very common.

The List

Besides my own method, this is my favorite. Simply look at the party images… From top to bottom, that is the posting order. Quick, simple and easy.

Often best for small groups and close friends.

The Pointer

The DM or party leader decides on a posting order, for what ever reason they decide upon. Usually the DMs will choose an order they feel is logical, such as allowing the stealthies to go first. Recommended for larger groups of experienced players.

The Class

This is based on the dungeon systems of WoW. Usually the ‘tank’ will be selected to go first, then the ‘DPS’ units such as hunters, mages, and rogues, and finally the ‘healers’ such as priest. While rarely used, I’ve found that this can provide some interesting collab roleplay as the group must now work together, I recommend trying it on small groups of friends.

Some tips and hints,

1. Don’t argue with the DM or Party Lead. Yes, he could have decided on a different method to decide the posting order, but he didn’t and you should have faith that the DM did it to enchant your experience and make his job easier.

2. Encourage the players to have responses to attacks ready, while everyone else is posting. So if Jack is being attacked, he doesn’t need to eat paste for ten minutes when he knows a Skeleton is swinging at him.

This really increases speed and keeps things running smooth.

3. Communicate, yes, even OOC. Some might argue that it is metagaming… In reality, metagaming is only an issue when it is used to harm another, or benefit someone else exclusively. (That’s a topic post for another time.)

So, if Jack wants to pick up a Skeleton and throw it at the Skeleton about to attack Jill, he should let her know and ask, before doing so.

This gives everyone the satisfaction of doing what they’d like to do, while inspiring team work and creating IC and OOC bonds. As well, it allows for Jill to alter her premade response so she can continue to quickly post.

4. Trust your DM, especially if they volunteered for the position. DMs are usually going to be the nicest and creative people that aren’t just amazing writers, but are eager to give people a good time and make sure everyone has fun. If they request something, simply do it. If you have an issue with it, bring it up privately so that the raid or party chat is not disturbed.

5. Roll Order can be really simply, or very chaotic. Especially for new DMs or new leaders, it is really overwhelming the first couple of times to be in charge of a whole situation. Just be patient and understanding.

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Chapter 3: Melee, Ranged, Magic, and Armor in Combat Roleplay!

There is a plethora to combat methods in the real world, not to mention World of Warcraft that adds the seemingly limitless combat method of Magic.

This chapter will be pretty long, so go get your favorite beverage and snack, sit down and prepare to learn in just a few minutes what has taken myself, and my friends years to learn. —-

Contents:

Part 1 - Melee Combat Part 2 - Magic Combat Part 3 - Ranged Combat Part 4 - Combat Armor

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Part 1 - Melee Combat

First, we must establish what forms of melee combat there is. In reality, it’s endless… Literally anything is and can be a weapon, including yourself. In Sunvein, we refuse to allow the game mechanics to limit our experience and often will roleplay the use of weapons that we can’t even wield to uphold realism in our experience.

We’ll begin with the obvious,

Section 1 These weapons are -specifically- designed and in many cultures exist only for melee combat. Over years of war an conflicts, these weapons have been perfected to be lethal weapons designed to kill in the quickest method possible; often weapons such as these are respected and notes of authority and culture.

1. Daggers, Knives, Shivs, and other short-blade weapons.

2. Swords, medium to long length blade weapons.

3. Axes, long shaft with a thick and heavy cutting blade at one end, and a hilt at the other. Depending on the weight of the blade and the length of the shaft, they can be one handed or two handed.

4. Maces, long shaft with a dense bulb of hard material at one end, and a hilt on the other. Depending on the length of the shaft and the weight of the bulb, they can be one handed or two handed.

5. Spears/pikes, a long shaft usually about body length, one tip adorned with a pointed tip while the shaft itself is used for a continued hilt. Medium to long range weapon. —-

Section 2 These weapons are necessarily designed for melee combat, but can commonly be seen as such.

1. Staves, usually a body-length stick made of light metal or carved wood. Commonly used as walking sticks for support, or non-lethal weapons.

2. Bows, yes a bow. It’s quite common for a -resourceful- Ranger to use his bow as a melee weapon in close range. A quick strike to the head with a bow can end a fight or block an otherwise deadly blow.

3. Fist Weapons, fist weapons are not common at all and really aren’t considered ‘weapons’ they were commonly last resort methods, and used heavily underground by the less classy people. They are not designed to do anything more than to give a fist strike additional damage.

4. Furniture, yes, furniture. In times of desperation or drunken brawls, it is not uncommon to see a chair being flung or a glass bottle being used to strike someone. While none of these things are specifically designed to cause harm or kill, as you can imagine… It hurts to get hit with a chair. —-

Section 3

1. Your body, naturally the body isn’t really a weapon. Sure, you can swing a fist and hit someone, it’ll hurt, but it’s not a claw designed to kill and really we wouldn’t need weapons if our body was designed as a weapon.

With training however, the body can be a very dangerous weapon. Knowledge of vital points, endurance training and so on, can ensure that in a fight with nothing but yourself - you might do okay. Monks are a good example. —-

Alright, so those are the average/typical usage of melee weapons that you’ll see.

Now, lets go over the advantages and disadvantages of some of the more basic ones.

1. Knives, Knives serve one of two purposes, rarely do they do both. They are either designed for stabbing or cutting, again rarely will you see a good quality, well designed knife that can cut and stab.

One of the main disadvantages of the Knife is that you have to be so close, as it only adds a few inches in your arm length. Additionally, with such a short bladed weapon, you must be precise with your stabbing or slicing to hit vital areas and precision points.

An advantage to the knife is ironically getting so close. In that close distance, you’re going to do some major damage, most likely vital especially if your skilled and trained.

Another upside is the lightness of the weapon, hardly weighing nothing allowing you to get off several blows.

Special Side Note - Duel Wielding Daggers is extremely silly if not completely useless. Sure, you look like a bad ass but you’re going to die. You -can’t- block a heavy bladed weapon with a dagger, it’s not happening, with all the pressure it’d either break the blade, break tour wrist, or send the blade flying.

One dagger, in one hand. Keep the other dagger as a backup, use the free hand to grapple to stay as close as possible.

Unless you’re doing a suicide mission. —-

2. Sword Like daggers, swords have two purposes - stabbing or cutting, rarely can they serve both successfully.

Swords are perhaps the most iconic and most respected of all the known weapon types. There are whole societies built on the sword.

(An example of a stabbing only sword would be a classic Rapier, while a classic slashing weapon would be a Cutlass.)

Advantages: Strong and durable, reliable - if you have a cutting blade, it’s going to cut; if you use a stabbing blade it’s going to stab; it’s basically the M16 of the Melee world. Perhaps the lightest next to the dagger, allowing for swift and accurate blows. It doesn’t take a trained warlord to use a sword, you can pick it up and swing and chances are you’ll kill something.

Disadvantage: It is a medium to long length weapon, meaning that if someone is right on you - if you swing your weapon at them, it’d be such an awkward swing you’d hardly do any damage.

Again… Duel Wielding is unrealistic, silly and a calling for suicide. Even the master of swords himself IRL stated in his book that he only used two swords at once when he was surrounded and was planning to die, even then he used a short length blade and a medium length sword. —-

3. Ax

The ax is balance between the mace and sword, not as slow as the mace, but not as fast as the sword. The ax is designed for hacking and chopping, originally designed for chopping trees. You have go imagine, if it can do that, one designed to kill is just brutal and smooth.

Advantage: Not to slow, with quite a bit of power. A savage weapon that can easily lop off an unprotected limb.

Disadvantage: Depending on the design, the ax will usually be short to medium length in its reach, being slower than the sword and having only one function, it’s easy to predict and plan for. —-

4. Mace The mace is a brutal weapon, literally designed to crush bones through thick plate armor through pure force and shattering shields.

Advantage: Huge powerhouse, if you want to mess a face up, use this.

Disadvantage: Sloooow, especially if you’re not experienced with it. It requires trained stances and methods in order to get it at a decent speed, let alone to pick it up. —-

5. Spear My personal favorite weapon, it saddens me to not see such a resourceful weapon used more, especially now that we can use those and shields.

The spear is designed long range thrusting and easily one of the worst enemies of mail-wearing opponents.

Advantages: Light, which makes it quick. Simple and cheap, really can’t go wrong when you grab a spear. No hardcore training required. You get to act like a Spartan. A skilled practitioner of this weapon can actually use it as a decent close- to medium range weapon as well as long range.

Tip/Secret: While a very unserious, unrealistic game; check out Dynasty Warriors and watch some of their spear wielding characters to get some nice ideas on spear movements. —-

6. Staff The staff is not really a weapon in most cases, if anything it is to use the range to keep foes back or defend from attacks that would otherwise be fatal. Jab, smack, and swing to keep the baddies at bay.

Advantages: The average range of the weapon is similar to the spear, allowing you to stay at a distance. In the right hands, a staff can be a very useful and resourceful weapon with many purposes.

Disadvantages: It’s just not made to be a weapon, a good swing can break or fracture a bone perhaps, but hitting some plate armor is practically going to do no damage, other than break your stick. —-

7. Fist Weapons As mentioned previously very rarely are fist-weapons really designed to be weapons designed to kill, usually all they are there is to strengthen a direct hit. Occasionally you’ll see a form of claws, which of course would cause some damage, but with the position and the removing of at least six inches on your reach compared to a dagger… You’re better of going with a dagger.

Advantages: Quick, easy to conceal.

Disadvantages: Very short range, rarely proficient weapon, not designed for fatal blows in most cases. —-

8. Self/Body The body, depending on the culture is one of the oldest weapons, people have been training in forms of martial arts since the beginning of time, with wrestling and friendly spars. However, the body as mentioned is not a weapon. Someone not well disciplined or trained is more than likely to get themselves wounded rather than do any harm to their foe.

Advantages: Once trained and disciplined, the Body can be a potentially lethal weapon, if not able to hold its own in most combat situations. However, you’re required to be at a very close range. Being in close range can either be very limiting or very advantageous depending on who you’re fighting and what they’re wielding.

Disadvantages: Of course, as mentioned being so close can be a huge disadvantage, only the best of the best can do damage against those wearing Plate armor - Even you silly monks, the art is through dispersing Chi or Mana through the plate, essentially ignoring the armor. —-

Part 2 - Magic Combat

First and foremost, I won’t be discussing Light here for I feel that’s a whole other ball-game with all sorts of exceptions and such, I’m sure it’ll end up getting its own section… The Light is complicated.  Anywho, we’ll be going over the basics of Magic Combat here, keep in mind a majority of this is what is expected in Sunvein while not necessary custom in the majority of the community. Also noting, I’m not going to go over eeeeeevvvvveeeeeerrrrrryyyyy type of magic, because there is a -lot- I’m only going over the most common.

This first section will give a bit of back ground on the two basic Magics you’ll see in Combat, the next section will go in depth on the combat.

Fel Magic Many Sin’dorei have been corrupted by Fel and with that taste, they’ve become Fel-Users. These Casters are very powerful but also very self-damaging. Using the most pure of all Arcane (Fel) is very dangerous, think of it like this: Arcane could be classified as a Gate-Way drug, sure it makes you feel good for awhile and you enjoy it… Fel Magic in comparison would be Meth, giving you a super high with super damaging results.

Fel will often times be seen as dark purple, or dark yellowish-green flame. The Advantages of Fel Magic is -extreme- power that comes extremely easily. Most of the time, Fel Magic doesn’t even have to be forced to the user, it’s usually there eager to give you power - And each time, it gives you a desire to use it more. Summoning Demons, crafting flames that can’t be extinguished, and providing withering disabilities — all at a moments notice.

The Fel-Users of Sunvein will be hunting Grimoires commonly, which are powerful books that are in theory indestructible, forever constant - Neither a part of history, the present or the future. Fabled to be between this realm in the next. These books provide spells and incantations for the Warlock, that without the proper level of strength will seem unreadable. Grimoires are incredibly aware and interactive, usually copying all of the known powers and spells of the Warlock onto the pages of the book, to pass on to the next Warlock once the current owner should pass. As well, the grimoire may be opened and show the words that the Warlock was looking for - containing no page numbers, the book will always show what the Warlock is searching for.

Fel-Users within Sunvein are not so much feared, as respected. We see Warlocks as people willing to take a sacrifice of their own health, mentally and physically to fight the foes of the Sin’dorei - We honor their pursuit for unlimited power. Commonly however, Warlocks are usually frowned upon - Scaring the public with their power, and wielded companions. Many people have bad experiences with Warlocks and Demons, developing a bad taste.  —-

Arcane Magic This also includes the many branches extending from the Schools. Arcane Magic was the original ‘I don’t know about this so I’m scared” magic, even before Fel Magic. Arcane is extremely powerful, so one can only imagine how strong Fel is. Almost limitless in its flexibility, one can do anything from make a house, to creating protective runes, to catching a tree on fire - All with an incantation of a force of will.

Concentrated Arcane will often be seen as a light blue or white color.

The Advantages of Arcane is the extreme flexibility, again being able to craft just about anything from thin air and destroy anything with a quick chant or flick of the fingers. You can either focus on a particular tree and become a master of Conjuration, for example, and be able to summon just about anything and hold it there for several minutes, days, or even years. If you enjoy having options, then I’m sure you’ll love messing with the arcane - especially in combat.

Arcane Users of Sunvein will often times be hunting for Tomes, either from previous Sunvein logs or even further logs coming from our Highborne ancestors, the Oakvein. Usually the Tomes will wield Runes, Incantations, Spells, and secrets to other tomes. Collecting these Tombs will allow for you to grow your spell collection and further your strength.

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Now for the Combat of each of these.

Both Arcane and Fel Magic Users: It’s our personal acceptance that Mages and Warlocks are -extremely- powerful, however… They do have their limits. We strongly recommend developing a rule guide for your character, such as only being able to Conjure a weapon that will last for one-two emotes, or having to wait three emotes before you can blink away to another location. Honestly, the more limitations you have the better it is for you and everyone else - as you make it challenging for you, and everyone doesn’t think you’re just godmodding. We strongly recommend that if you’re roleplaying a new Mage or Warlock to have longer wait times on spells, waiting five emotes when you first start off compared to say, six months later that now with more training you can caste the spell more often, only having to wait three emotes.

Fel Magic The glorious thing about Fel Magic, is that you’re extremely powerful, Fel Magic is like the Mace of the Magic World - Don’t let others say otherwise, they’re just being mad that you’re powerful, also noting way ahead of time - Hitting people with fel-tainted magic will actually give them a taste of the fel, thus giving them that brief sense of essentially being high.

In Combat a Fel User can be extremely dangerous, considering that they can fight in every range, including several abilities to stun the target. You’re going to have your classic Fel-Flame, long distant attacks, you’re medium range curses to weaken your target and your close range Area of Effect spells; not to mention your squad of Demons to choose from.

Some tips and hints for Fel-Magic users:

Fear can totally be used ICly, usually we roleplay it out just as it sounds — We ask the person OOCly what their major fears would be; we then reply with a private emote entailing an almost dream-like state that gives them all their favorite fears in a terrible way. Love gore, violence or disturbing scenes? I’m sure you’ll love playing a Warlock just for this - Of course, always ask before posting something disturbing.

Use your curses ICly, many people just dust these off which is rather bothersome to me - Curses are a huge thing to Warlocks. Think of placing an enfeebling curse on some Brute that’s just about to punch you, that’d make his strike nearly tickle… You can fake your injury and totally take advantage of it.

Be creative! Understand this is a magic, and there are many things it can do. Feel free to come up with your own spells, just be sure they’re not too out of this world, and try to balance them out. —- Arcane Magic: The great thing about Arcane Magic is again the flexibility. There is so much you can do, sooooo much. You can conjure a shield to block an arrow, then take that arrow out and use an arcane push to shoot it back. You can free yourself and then force fire to explode from your body, sending a plethora of fire and splinters of ice all around you. You can blink behind a tree and make some cookies while you’re being hunted down.

Being an Arcane User your number one advantage is being unpredictable, unless of course you’re a Pyromancer or Cyromancer, then… Well, not so much. You have a lot of defensive abilities, movement abilities, long range through short range abilities making you a very deadly force. Take a moment to look over your abilities, create combos that can end fights quickly, keep your targets on their toes. Above all else, while you have defensive abilities… It’s always better if you don’t have to use them, so keep your targets at bay!

Some Tips and hints for Arcane Users:

By all means, create spells. Be creative! Magic is nearly boundless in WoW.

Take advantage of -all- of your abilities, don’t put gaps in your defense that don’t need to be there.

People are bound to complain about you being ‘Over Powered’ when you’re really not. A Mage, as I’ve said is super flexible… Do you know why? Because when you get through all of their spells, it’s only going to take one to two hits to really kill them off. Compared to a Warrior that can probably take several direct blows before even really feeling fatigued. Same goes for the Fel-User. —-

Please ask questions if you have any! —-

Part 3 - Ranged Combat

Ranged fighting is very simplified within WoW, in order to get a sense of realism it’s important to understand some basic things such as the non-present wind, gravity, so on and so forth. While neither of these things can really be measured in WoW, they’re a great way to add realism and depth into your long-range post, allowing the use of the forces for your target so that the shot can miss. Clearly, a skilled Sniper would have taken thought of all these factors and would have made a clean shot, but it’s a nice and easy way to allow the skill of your character to remain, while allowing the forces of nature a chance to alter your shot, making your hit non-lethal.

Anywho,

Guns Guns, beautiful guns. There are a lot of different method of guns in WoW, rifles, pistols, so on and so forth. Really, there hasn’t been a ‘type’ of gun that hasn’t made it into WoW, so yeah your options are limitless as of now - Don’t let silly people say otherwise. There are primarily steam-powered guns and gunpowder/black powder powered guns; there are a few differences between these two.

Steam powered is going to be essentially like shooting a 9MM no matter what you do, it’s going to be a lot weaker, really only useful against a cloth-wearing foe, maybe leather. They are however a lot easier to take care of and in theory a lot less likely to jam or break apart in combat.

Powder Powered guns are going to have a lot more ‘umph’ to their shot. These are the guns that are going to offer your range and power, even offering chances to break through plate armor - with the right bullet type.

I’ll say it right now… It -does- take a certain type of bullet to pierce plate, especially the thick ass plate that you have in a game like this. Keep in mind, materials such as -steel- is considered weak in WoW.

We’ll get into ammo types later though.

Bows Bows are old, but extremely useful and widely used throughout the world. They offer range, power, and the best of all… Silence, other than the slight vibration of the cord being plucked. It does however take quite a bit more skill with a bow than it does with a rifle or crossbow. Those that invest the time in a bow though will surely not be disappointed.

Crossbows Crossbows is a step above bow and a step below guns; coming into a sweet mid-ground. Crossbows don’t take much training to be accurate with them and they offer a lot more power than a bow does, though not nearly as much as a gun. These weapons were actually designed on a mass scale to essentially piece armies of armor-wielding soldiers, it was quite upsetting I imagine to have peasants that had trained for a week, killing your soldiers that trained for years. Crossbows however are difficult to reload and take quite a bit of strength. —-

Ammo Types

There are a lot of different ammunition out there for guns, bows, and crossbows. I’m sure all of you CoD and BF4 fans are freaking out at the moment. Let me assure you however, that to my knowledge there are no FMJ rounds, there are however steel-tipped rounds, and hollow rounds. As well for the bow and crossbow there are spiral heads and hook heads. (Heads referring to the arrow tip.)

Spiral Heads: Rare and very difficult to craft, these patiently designed arrow heads are essentially steel-tipped rounds for bows and crossbows, with the design of the head, the bolt will spin as it’s fired, giving it extra strength and accuracy, increasing the distance and power.

Hook Heads: These painful heads are hooked on the ends, making it easy for the arrow to slip into the flesh, but to come out, it’s going to be painful as the hooks will dig into the flesh and drag out roughly. If you hate someone, you’ll use these.

Steel-Tipped rounds: Essentially these don’t just have to be steel-tipped and I’d imagine there are creative people out there using saronite tipped bullets, essentially all this means is you have a hard material on the tip that will allow for the bullet to pierce any material rated lower in strength than that.

Hollow Rounds: Designed so that the tips are hollow, meaning that once they hit, the tip smashes down, making a bigger hit radius - Essentially making it so the bullet doesn’t go through a target and will actually remain inside the target to weigh them down and do more damage as they move around. Most of these are actually designed to spin once they hit to create massive damage.  —-

Part 4: Combat Armor

First and foremost, don’t allow game mechanics to dictate what you’re wearing. If you want to say you’re wearing cloth, wear cloth. If you want to wear cloth and plate, wear cloth and plate. If you want to wear a latex suit, don’t do that. However, with the responsibility and understanding of wearing any armor you’d really like to… Also understand the pros and cons of this armor. This is very vital and combat and personally one of my most hated petpeeves when I’m in a RP conflict.

Plate Armor Plate armor is perhaps the most abused of all the armors, at least in my experience. I see all the time rogues casually punching through plate armor with a knife, and I see way too many plate-wielding warriors able to keep pace with a rogue.

So here are a few things to keep in mind when you’re fighting a plate-wearer, or when you’re the one in the plate.

1. Plate is -heavy- keep in mind that when Plate Armor was popular kids began training as early as the age of five (depending on the culture and location.) People spent life times developing the proper muscle content to be able to even walk around in plate armor, let alone swing a sword faster than a slug’s crawl.  I understand, you’re a warrior or paladin. You have been doing this for years, especially if you’re a Sin’dorei. There’s really a point where you can only be so fast in such heavy armor - if you build up too much muscle, it can actually damage your speed and ability to move around in the suit. If you don’t have enough muscle, you’re hardly going to be able to move.  In short, I’m sorry but you’re not going to move as fast as a leather wearing foe, cloth wearing foe, or in most cases, a mail wearing foe.

So what does that all mean? If you’re wearing plate, you’re slow. You’re not as fast as anyone else wearing a lighter degree of armor.

2.There are ways to be faster in plate armor, especially as a Sin’dorei (Or really any magic-based person.) With the assistance of the Arcane, it’s quite possible for people to have increased movement speed, increased strength, so on and so forth allowing you to move quickly in short burst. I say again, short burst.

For example, my Battlemage (Warrior), Val’thalore… In a combat situation, he has the ability to Blink to a Target, either to deliver a strike or to receive one. The idea is a combination of Charge and Safeguard, mixed with the simple Mage blink.

3.All that being said, the standing theory that Sunvein holds is that Plate Armor is difficult to cast in. So, no you can’t be a completely decked out Plate-wearing Magi shooting fireballs left and right with no downtime or cast time. At least not in Sunvein… And probably not in the community unless you’d like to get a lot of Hate Anons, I’d imagine.

4.Plate is heavy, yes… But that sacrifice comes with great strength. I want you severely stress that plate armor is -made- specifically to prevent being pierced or cut. Plate armor was the first tank of war, it could take a lot of blows and only come out with a few dents and scratches; especially depending on the design. Plate armor is often rounded in vital areas, naturally fitting the curvature of the wielders body and thus allowing for strikes to slide off. Really, it’s not about the material being strong, more about that it’s -really- hard to get enough pressure behind a strike without slipping off from your pressure point, leaving only a dent.

5.Plate is strong, yes… But you’re still going to feel being hit. Let me assure you that even with plate armor, you’re still going to feel the strike and you’re more than likely going to have a nasty bruise (better than being stabbed). So no, you’re not immortal… You’re going to feel pain, luckily most warriors have transitioned to taking this pain as motivation.

6.Trying to kill a Plate Wielder? Well, sadly not everyone will read this and even then not everyone will agree - Even if most did, there would always be a dick.

I strongly recommend whispering -anyone- before combat and having a simple conversation with the player, ask them if they’d like to fight. If they would, discuss their limitations not for meta-gaming purposes but to essentially understand you’re not going to be wasting all of your time and research fighting a God. If the player is willing to communicate and does in fact understand that there are weak points in armor - go at him, he’s more than likely a skilled roleplayer with a wealth of knowledge involving combat; which should mean good times.

Now for the Mages, in our belief most arcane is going to be super conducted once it hits plate armor, strengthening your attack against us. If someone doesn't hold this belief, well… I’m not really sure what to tell you other than: Don’t fuck with a plate wearing giant in the first place. Other than that… I suppose you can essentially play an assassin, research weakpoints in armor and try to kite the plate-wearing player. —-

Mail Armor

Going to hop right into it!

1.Mail Armor is pretty much all but immune to slashing, that means if you have a cutlass… Good luck trying to kill this player; in most situations not even an ax can make it through mail armor. It all has to do with a bunch of science stuff like displacement of force and such and such.

2.Mail Armor is however extremely weak to stabbing attacks. Daggers, spears, bullets, arrows… If you’re using any of those, have fun destroying anyone wearing mail armor. As well, maces are incredible at screwing over mail-wearing targets. The mace just produces too much force and will shatter the bones underneath. (SAME THING FOR PLATE ARMOR)

3.Mail armor is commonly and often paired with other types of armor to reduce its major flaw towards sharp objects. It’s not unrealistic to be wearing essentially a Football-Styled shoulder and chest guard of plate, not limiting your flexibility or adding too much weight while adding a huge boost to your defense. Keeping your hear and lungs safe. I would say any more than that and you’re really putting on too much weight, not to mention if you’re trying to be stealthy… The chain mail is clinging against the plate armor.

Other than plate, it’s very common to have a leather jerkin under the mail armor. To prevent any noises from the metal clanking against some other metal object. As well, if you’re hit wearing mail armor… It hurts pretty freaking bad, having leather under can actually help quite a bit.

4.Mail armor is neither too heavy or too weak, it’s really quite a nice balance between plate armor and leather armor. Keeping you flexible and rather protected from about 50% of the possible weapons out there. Especially considering NO ONE PLAYS A SPEARMAN!

5.Like Plate, Sunvein acts as if Mail is another huge conduit for arcane. Making magical attacks against mail users more deadly.  —-

Leather Armor

1.Leather armor is really not that strong, I’m sorry edgy rogues. You can essentially go through a garden of roses and expect not to be harmed if you’re wearing leather armor. However, against a sword, spear, mace… Any weapon really, it serves for little to no protection.

2.There are -2- ways to wear leather. You can either wear the borderline spandex like most, or you can actually wear loose fitting leather armor that in most cases is actually a lot more useful. It is less lightly to make noise, it makes it harder to be stabbed of cut and if gives more room between you and a weapon; essentially meaning you take less damage.

The advantages to tighter leather armor is that you’re harder to grab onto; thus making assassinations and escapes more viable.

Honestly, Skyrim does a lot of nice realistic versions of Leather Armor, I suggest checking out some images there. Granted, we’re not Nords - but still.

3. Leather armor is quite infamous for being upgradable, so to speak. Many times a well traveled adventurer will have a combo consisting mostly of leather, but have some mail and plate augmentations to fit their needs and wants. This can consist of adding studs to increase the durability and survive more weapons, or adding plates of mail over the chest. In many cases I see people adding plate to their forearms, knees, and skins in the chance that they need to conduct hand to hand combat - as well as being able to take a fall without much damage. As well, leather armor is one of the few armors that essentially has unlimited possibilities for alterations. Adding secret pouches, pockets, sheathes, so on and so forth. You just can’t do that to mail and plate, without a lot of time and money, as well as skill.

4.Leather is -really- good at disbursing energy, essentially meaning that being hit with a blunt object such as a stick or someones fist… Sure, you’re going to feel it, but more than likely your bones will be intact, whereas they’d be broken without the leather. This does not mean that a hit from a designed mace is negates, a mace is still going to destroy you… I mean, really what is a mace -not- going to destroy? But that’s the point of having leather armor, you’re fast.

5. Leather Armor is the best possible option for having the most speed with the most protection (granted it’s not much protection.) With leather armor you can remain at the highest possible speed with very little weighing you down, while ensuring that if you were to take a tumble you’ll be alright. As well, leather armor does very little to limiting your ability to channel your mana.

Cloth Armor

1. Cloth is the lightest armor and provides the least resistance to channeling mana, giving essentially no limitation to your speed or ability to cast.

2.As you can imagine, cloth is -very- weak. Sitting on the complete opposite scale of plate armor. With much speed comes a lot of weakness. Cloth is going to give you very little to no defensive benefits. Luckily, most that choose to wear cloth as an armor can create their own magical armor.

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Chapter 4: Class Specific Combat!

Coming Soon!