drathe wrote:I've had a few purchase them, but only one use it and they did so quite effectively.
When a door was opened revealing a room full of tough monsters, they would equip the plate mail as they wouldn't be moving very much, or very far until the room was clear.
sadkitchen wrote:@drathe
That idea never even crossed my mind. And though what your player did follows what the rules state, the Zargon I played with would have home-brewed that a hero carrying Plate Mail could only move 1 Red Die, after the first quest that it was attempted. (We always play that rules cannot be changed mid-quest).
-SadKitchen
SadKitchen- I'd say your Zargon player had it right. drathe's player was following a house rule. Page 12 of the rules state that there are 6 possible actions in a turn- ATTACK, CAST A SPELL, SEARCH FOR TREASURE, SEARCH FOR SECRET DOORS, SEARCH FOR TRAPS, and DISARM A TRAP. The next page notes 2 exceptions during movement that are NOT actions- looking and opening doors. Nearly immediately following is a short list of activities that are also not considered actions that may be done at any time during a Hero's turn- getting caught in a trap, drinking a potion, and picking things up. None of those allowable actions defined by the rules include equipping Plate Mail.
Page 22 contains the closest thing to relevant information about equipping armor. Found under
How A Hero Defends, it is mentions that a Hero rolls more defend dice after purchasing armor. Armor can only be purchased at the Armory between Quests, so that is when Plate Mail is equipped. I think its okay to change armor between Quests as well, as it's permissible to change armor anyway when purchasing and equipping new armor.
I think weapons should be treated differently, as equipping a weapon from a scabbard or the like is basically picking a thing up. If a weapon was already equipped, it would require a free hand to hold or must be dropped. Later, when no monsters were visible, a dropped weapon could be picked up and retained just as treasure or artifacts are.
As a practical limit to counter cheeze, only one weapon (or a shield) can be picked up/equipped in a turn while attacking. -edit