Heavy armor

[Brad]

Scientists monitored volunteers fitted with 15th Century replica armour as they walked and ran on treadmills.

Nothing about the article spells out just who these volunteers were. If they just got some poor schlubs off the street, it's virtually meaningless. I'd like to see this study done with a bunch of pro/oly athletes, given 6 months of "knightly training" and see how they fair. I'm sure heavy armor would impede their ability act at peak performance, but...the modern military wears/carries equipment in excess of what plate armor weighs. Some of those guys never ever get a reprieve during their deployment, literally in combat 24 hours a day. Super elite soldiers are used to being seriously burdened with a lot of gear while still performing at peak capacity for extended periods of time. Knights were supposedly elite, trained from a young age, etc. etc. I think this article is vastly overstated...if metal armors were such a bad idea they wouldn't have been around as long as they were. Say what you want about the military, but innovation is paramount to battle. Military units are always seeking to gain an advantage, and they use what works. Metal armor was extremely effective for a long, long time. Sure, I don't doubt knights were tried after lengthy battles, but I also don't doubt a lot of them could probably fight for days at a time with little rest.

[bighara]

*The limited movement AND the weight slow the character (penalties stack).

I've noted that sentence in the rules several times, but never understood what it's getting at. Elucidation would be appreciated!

As I see it, and never thought of it properly before this thread (thanks!) heavy metal armor limits your movement due to it's lack of flexibility and range of motion - no doing back flips in plate mail! And it weighs a ton - so the fact you can't walk normally in it despite the weight... then add the weight, that would really slow down the dungeon crawl.

Exactly. In my games, the fact you are wearing ___ mail at all hinders your movement. The weight of it ALSO adds to your encumbrance totals. This means heavy armor can have a real cost/benefit aspect to it.

As far as "real life" and things like having people jog in plate mail, it's not really important to me. YMMV, but I see these in-game limits as "realistic enough" and game-balancing. I'm no historian or military expert, but IMOSHO, fighting a war on the open battlefield is a different animal than dungeon crawling.