Oblivious Presents: Mages, Wizards and General Magic Users.

[benbenthegamerman]

i have a song to adress this issue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqO7zEWu0W0

also, that picture being of Jaina Proudmoore, i shall now continue gawking at her.

(far to nerdy moment in)
3...
2...
1...
Thats not Jaina Proudmore. Jaina is a blond and usually wears blue or purple robes.
http://th06.deviantart.net/fs40/300W/f/2009/053/e/e/Lady_Jaina_Proudmoore_by_SupermanLovesAspen.jpg
or here white with a bit of purple and gold.

.... This was kinda off-topic. sorry

thats a terrible picture of her! she looks fat and her face is too big! who does the art for that awful comic??? http://th03.deviantart.net/fs47/300W/f/2009/183/9/d/Jaina_Proudmoore_by_v_p_j.jpg

this is much better

 

[Kukakkau]

• Mages wear dresses.

The second I read that I remembered an awesome music video that sums up your arguement: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqO7zEWu0W0

"Just remember this when next you look to kill, that a man who's truly skilled can look quite good in twill"

And I dunno I guess it's the whole balancing of high damage and low defense. But yes dresses SUCK

EDIT: dammit been beaten to the video

 

[Jeronus]

Magic users have sensitive skin and anything more than cloth would cause unsightly painful rashes to appear that would interrupt spell casting.

 

[God's Clown]

Most mages are frail, weak, not very much muscle mass. Most plate/chain/scale armor is heavy, requires good muscle tone.

Mages main stats are INT, Wisdom. Most Medium/Massive armor requires STR. So unless a mage focuses on using their magic to enhance their body, they are stuck with cloth.

Personally if I were a mage I would just run around in sweat pants and my "I pwn noobs" shirt.

 

[God's Clown]

snip

I have to disagree. I don't take kindly to people making Jaina look like some kind of slut. She is a beautiful woman who deserves to be clothed properly!

 

[Azmael Silverlance]

No i understand the reasons for the cloth wearing. I got no beef with that. Especially in wow a mage with plate would disbalance the whole game :O
Plate Disc Priest in arena or BG? my god try n kill that *****. . .

but what i rly rly rly wanna understand why is cloth reffered to ONLY as robes. Im sry cant my character get a knife n cut the robe n buy some pants....go to a freakin adidas shop n get me some decent casual sporting set. Its light and im sure i can wave my hands and dance while casting all i want. +u can run n the shirt can absorb ur sweat that u are making cuz there is a horde of orcs behind you.
Nothing against the cloth restriction....just the type of designs we get for our casters

 

[thiosk]

Mages are squishy. They are the kickers and the quarterbacks. It is the job of the plated warriors to protect them. If the mage has to deal with creatures or soldiers actually physically touching them, they are DOIN IT WRONG.

 

[Ridonculous_Ninja]

Try reading a Dungeons and Dragons manual. If you try to cast spells while wearing armor, there is a chance that your spell will instantly fail if it has somatic components (where you wave your arms around, dance, etc.)...more so if you're in full plate or something.

In general, spellcasting is assumed to be much more intricate and precise than just saying "fireball!" and shooting an Orb Of Death(tm). If you screw up one part of the casting, the spell fails.

Some games ignore this because it's not feasible or makes the game un-fun. But it's generally become something of a tradition to have unarmored mages, even if there's no armor penalty.

Oh, and I just realized...mages train so freaking hard at magical arts that they generally don't have time to spend on martial ones like how to use armor properly. "But willard3, you just put it on and take it off!" you might say. Not so; it's way more complicated than you might think.

Studded Leather shouldn't interfere at all with Spell casting though, and if I were a mage I would definitely put in the time to learn how to get that on. Or hire a squire.

I can't see anyone doing intricate finger gestures with full gauntlets and restrictive arm plates on, so it does make sense to deny them plate. Denying them leather armour is silly.

At least armour up the robes slightly, maybe put some scale across the chest and leave the arms free for casting...

 

[Burst6]

well at least they can wear small pieces of armor or something. maybe even leather, i mean, if thick leather lets rogues do delicate work like disarming dangerous traps and picking locks, maybe, JUST MAYBE, they let you wave your hands.

 

[Commissar Sae]

You ever actually wear robes? They are quite comfy. Plus why on earth would you want to wear heavy and incredibly smelly armour? (fight for half an hour in full plate and your arming vest will be soaked through with sweat)Maybe mages just enjoy personal hygiene more than the average fighter.

 

[pirateninj4]

Try reading a Dungeons and Dragons manual. If you try to cast spells while wearing armor, there is a chance that your spell will instantly fail if it has somatic components (where you wave your arms around, dance, etc.)...more so if you're in full plate or something.

In general, spellcasting is assumed to be much more intricate and precise than just saying "fireball!" and shooting an Orb Of Death(tm). If you screw up one part of the casting, the spell fails.

Some games ignore this because it's not feasible or makes the game un-fun. But it's generally become something of a tradition to have unarmored mages, even if there's no armor penalty.

Oh, and I just realized...mages train so freaking hard at magical arts that they generally don't have time to spend on martial ones like how to use armor properly. "But willard3, you just put it on and take it off!" you might say. Not so; it's way more complicated than you might think.

This is correct. Heavy armor is something that has to be trained for. Wearing armor requires physical strength and training in how to move and fight while wearing it. D&D explanations are more or less on the mark. Magic was always seen as a less martial discipline, and the study of which did not include the training of armor wearing.

Other thoughts would be balance. Games need balance.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Some classes, however, like the Warmage, are allowed to wear light armour as are Warlocks and sorcerers.

Wait a second. Warlocks and Sorcerers are spellcasters, too. They wear armour.

Warlocks are restricted to light armor (without an extra feat), with the explanation that their somatic gestures are simpler than normal arcane spells. Sorcerers don't wear armor without an alternative class ability...unless they changed that in 4th edition, which I'm inexperienced with.

 

[Kasawd]

Some classes, however, like the Warmage, are allowed to wear light armour as are Warlocks and sorcerers.

Wait a second. Warlocks and Sorcerers are spellcasters, too. They wear armour.

Warlocks are restricted to light armor (without an extra feat), with the explanation that their somatic gestures are simpler than normal arcane spells. Sorcerers don't wear armor without an alternative class ability...unless they changed that in 4th edition, which I'm inexperienced with.

I'm fairly sure they are allowed in the new edition. I'll be damned if I'll use 4th fully, though.

Anyway, it's something I allow because I feel the allowance helps balance out the class. I actually works fairly well. Speaking of blancing, how about that monk?

 

[Kinguendo]

Why do mages wear dresses... Well, the answer is a well guarded secret but here goes:

Mages are known for being wise and INSANELY tolerant, hence why any race has a type of magic user... and even if they cant use magic they still let them pal around with actual mages.

So in order to weed out the intolerant they wear robes... something homophobes would not be drawn to, also allowing EVERY race to become a mage or affiliate of the mages they get rid of racists and allowing women they get rid of sexists... See?

Its simply because the mages love all people and dont like intolerance... arent they nice?

Except for necromancers, they are dirty. You dont screw around with dead people necromancers... you just dont, okay!?! D:<

EDIT: Also, the mages are modest and dont like to boast so they wear baggy clothes in order to hide the gigantic endowement that all those who have magical-ness are granted.

Also they are super ripped and dont want to makes the "stronger" warriors feel insecure because, as we all know, warriors make their outside look tough to hide the scared child within who just wet himself because of the ghouls and goblins... and such.

 

[L3m0n_L1m3]

This makes me want to play Oblivion again with my heavy armour conjuring character.

Oh god, your avatar...

OT: I had a Nord assassin/warrior/mage in Oblivion, and he wore glass armor with 95% chameleon. Go figure.

 

[TheDoctor455]

I've noticed something lately with regards to the users of the arcane arts within games, which has started to puzzle me.

• Mages wear dresses.

No, not kilts. Dresses.
Why is this? What is this arbitrary law that forbids the Wizards of fantastical realms from wearing appropriate protection, like all other adventuring heroes? Now I know this is not true in all games, but the vast majority of games with a fantasy settingconform to the unwritten law that Wizards wear dresses. Sure, they may call them robes - I've even seen them jokingly labelled Muumuus [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muumuu] in the free MMO Dungeon Runners - but it's still a man in a dress. Now, here I must stress that I have nothing wrong with cross-dressing and I myself have been caught doing it for charity, so this isn't a rant saying "OMG It's wrong and ghey" before you all yell at me. I simply want to know why wizards must wear robes.


[img=inline_caption align='left' src='http://liberal-debutante.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/wow_mage_guide.jpg']While there are games that allow your magic using character(s) to protect themselves adequately with chainmail and platemail and the like, Dragon Age is one example I've noticed with my mage stomping around in his lovely bloodspattered chainmail. But this trend of robed wizards continues, even in the giants of the gaming nation. World of Warcraft refuses to let their Mages, Warlocks and Priests, generally the primary healer required for any group outing, wear anything more protective than a duvet. Sure some of these items may look pretty and have some "bitchin stats" but still, these brave adventurers are almost defenseless against physical assault.

So I guess my real question is this: Why do the magic users get the worst gear?
Everyone seems to be clamouring over "realism" in games and a more believable fantasy yet still restricts those zany mages to wearing something no more protective than a menacing stare. If we're to really connect with our hand-crafted elven Mini-Mes as all games truly aspire to then we can't let game developers force them to be cold and vulnerable. I say we let our mages dress as [sub]Sure, she may look hot, but it's really chilly out there.[/sub] Spacethey should in times of war and strife, especially if they're to be going on the battlefield.

So what say you? Should mages, wizards, warlocks and priests live forever in the cloth? Or should they break free of the
Manacles of Opression+1 and wear whatever they damn well please and whatever will serve them best in their adventures?

In fact, as a closing thought: Does anyone even know why our magicly gifted heroes have been shafted with robes throughout the ages? Is it tradition? Is it ceremonial? Or is it just everyone copying one another?

In terms of gameplay reasons, this goes back to DND really. You see, to prevent wizards and other magic users from becoming overpowered heavy damage-dealing tanks, they decided to put on some hefty spell failure penalties for any magic user that wore armor of any kind.

In terms of why its robes specifically... I can think of 2 possible reasons. The first goes back to the Middle Ages when being educated was practically a punishable offense, and robes (along with a hood usually), were great for blending into a crowd of plague victims who often wore fully body robes to conceal their pustules. The other possible reason goes back to the education thing. You see... the word "wizard" originally meant "someone who knows too much", which again, usually meant people who had attained higher learning, and one thing that was associated with higher learning were alumni robes. There you go, case closed.

 

[paragon1]

Because wearing armor is fucking exhausting? Because it's unlikely that someone whose nose-deep in magical scrolls all day will be able to lug around half their mass in metal? Because it's hard to run away in armor? Because spell casters would be powerful enough already, and giving them unfettered access to armor would completely unbalance the game(s)? Because it's a convenient way to identify who can kill everyone in the room with a sword, and who can do it with a little concentration and a few special words?

This guy hit the nail on the head from every angle.

Thank you. I try to be thorough.