Far less involved and far more likely to be applied during play than my rules for armored mages are my house rules regarding the thief class and armor. They go as follows:
Thieves may opt to wear armor other than leather, but doing so limits their effectiveness in their chosen profession. Wearing armor providing up to AC 6 (scale mail) will reduce a thief's abilities to 1/2 normal (i.e. hide in shadows, move silently, etc...). Wearing armor providing protection of AC 4 or 5 reduces the same to 1/4 normal. A thief may not use his special abilities when wearing armor providing protection of AC 3 or greater.
Some common sense still needs to be applied. A thief capable of reading languages should be able to do so regardless of how well-armored they are. A thief climbing walls may need to put down their shield to even make an attempt.
My purpose in offering this rule and the one for armored mages is not to have iron-clad footpads and wizards traipsing across my world. Rather, I want the players to have options. Even bad options are better than a flat "no" when asking, "Can my character pick up and use that shield?"
PDF
The other consideration is that carrying a shield or wearing heavy armor causes fatigue. Fatigue makes it more difficult to ply the thiefly trades, thus the restrictions. I think your solution is reasonable, but would apply it on any day where the Thief chooses to use heavy armor or shields.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting point regarding fatigue, and one that tidily addresses the gaming issue of: "OK, I take my armor off and then climb the wall." But I wonder at its verisimilitude. I don't, for instance, penalize thief characters an entire day for having been encumbered with loot or equipment at some point.
ReplyDeleteI'm also not sure the potential abuse of the rule poses a big enough problem that needs curbing. The thief that removes his armor to quietly make his way down the dark corridor, or climb the steep wall to the top of the unfriendly keep, is putting herself into a dangerous situation without the benefit of the added protection she felt she needed.
The idea has some merit, though. I'd just have to consider it further before applying it to my game.