Ye Olde Inn

OK looks like this is a subject for mythbusters: is plate mail or chain mail easier to fight in?

All I found:

In general, probably only about 50% of the wearer's total body surface would be covered by steel plates in such a suit. This suit was much more flexible, and weighed significantly less than Full Plate, and allowed for the wearer to fight effectively on foot. However, it still significantly reduced the flexibility and mobility of the wearer. Depending on design and construction, such Plate Mail could weigh anywhere from 40 to 75 lbs (20 to 35kg)

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_did_a_Medieval_knight's_armour_weigh#ixzz1xvN9uGZF

I like Templar's idea of relating a Hero's maximum movement to his starting Body Points. I would prefer to see the maximum toned down a bit though; a Barbarian's max move of 8 is equal to or faster than every base monster but the Goblin--that's not enough of a penalty in my opinion.

Maybe setting a Hero's move to less than his starting Body Points would be enough. The Barbarian would have the movmement limit affect him 15 out of 36 rolls, the Dwarf's movement would be affected 21 out of 36 rolls, and the Elf would be affected 26 out of 36 rolls. Here's the rule worked into the Armory entry:

Plate Mail
850 Gold Coins
      Armor

This heavy metal armor gives
you 2 extra combat dice in
defense. However, because it
is so heavy, you may only move
fewer square spaces than your
starting Body Points while
wearing it. May be combined
with the Helmet and/or Shield.
May not be worn by the Wizard.

Just one extra line when compared to the original Armory entry is a little better, to boot.

it doesn't make sense to me the way you wrote it

how much "fewer spaces"?

Obviously the limit is "Starting Body points minus 1";

Barbarian 7, Dwarf 6, Elf 5 -> makes sense to me.

Thanks for feedback. I originally didn't want to include a phrase like maximum Body Points -1 in my description, as the Hero Quest Instruction Booklet doesn't use it. I'll include it here anyway in an effort to clarify things. However, the added flexibility of setting a max BP -X lets me adjust things to maximum Body Points -2 which more closely reflects Mercenary movement:

Plate Mail
850 Gold Coins
      Armor

This heavy metal armor gives
you 2 extra combat dice in
defense. However, because it is so
heavy, your maximum movement is
2 less than your starting Body
Points while wearing it. May be
combined with the Helmet and/or
Shield. May not be worn by the
Wizard.

But why stop there, now that Plate Mail is set at a lower value? Chain Mail is next, 'cause it should slow a Hero to a lesser degree. Being slowed, it should also be cheaper and thus available earlier:

Chain Mail
300 Gold Coins
      Armor

This metal armor gives
you 1 extra combat die in defense.
However, because of it's weight,
your maximum movement is equal
to your starting Body Points while
wearing it. May be combined with
the Helmet and/or Shield. May
not be worn by the Wizard.

Want Chain Mail the way is was? No problem...sort of. Here's a subtitute to fit in with the above entries:

Elven Mail
500 Gold Coins
      Armor

This light metal armor
gives you 1 extra combat
die in defense. May be combined
with the Helmet and/or Shield.
May not be worn by the Wizard.

How about the Elven Mail not being sold to the Dwarf? Just an idea.
To re-balance things, a Mithril armor (or some such) for the Dwarf?

I'd like to keep light Chain Mail to just one entry for simplicity. How does Mithril Mail or Mithril Chain sound? (Mithril Chain Mail seems overlong to me.) That would make it available to any race, kinda like in Mordheim. The thinking is mithril isn't fabulously rare, but rather it's of greater quality and lightness.

I like Mithril Chain Mail.

(now a full set of Mithril Plate might be nice, or maybe adamantite plate set over mithril chain...now where find a dungeon hiding enough Soveriegns to pay for it....?)

don't save up too much gold or you'll have another movment issue. Prince magnus's gold ithink they hit uss with a 200 gold chest that dropped movment to 1d6.