123 votes
Accepted

How much steel armor can you wear and still be able to swim?

Steel's density of ~7.75 times that of water means you can discount 13% of its weight to buoyancy, but that's about it. I have lifted 18 kg of collected dropped weightbelts from the bottom on one ...
Therac's user avatar
  • 4,918
113 votes

How to make female breast armor viable?

My character lives on a medieval world, and is a female knight, she is looking for marriage and is trying to look more attractive for potential candidates without losing too much protection. I think ...
StephenG - Help Ukraine's user avatar
99 votes

Antler Helmet: Can it work?

Can Lord Woodesey have an antlered helm? Yep, you bet, absolutely. As Kilisi pointed out, lots of impractical/decorative armor existed back in the day, just because the wearers liked how it looked. ...
MarielS's user avatar
  • 2,778
91 votes
Accepted

What kind of natural armor would stop bullets?

Mantis Shrimp Claws will do quite nicely. Carbon is extremely abundant on Earth's surface and presumably any other Earth-like planet that the author may be working on. Given the many forms that ...
Green's user avatar
  • 52.8k
87 votes

Why might wizards be unable to wear armour?

Wearing armor is a skill. Just strapping armor on someone who isn't physically fit, doesn't have the callouses, muscle strength, and proper reflexes means the armor is worse than useless. It will ...
Jason K's user avatar
  • 12.6k
84 votes
Accepted

Why might wizards be unable to wear armour?

Easy. Metal interferes with the correct and proper flow of mana. Depending on how far you would want to take things you can say wizards can't stand to be near any metal at all while spell casting, so ...
adaliabooks's user avatar
  • 12.7k
83 votes
Accepted

Why would an invisible personal shield be necessary?

These people want to be seen. source Your advanced people are very good looking. They spend a lot of time and energy at it. They are vain. They want the primitives to see and appreciate them. ...
Willk's user avatar
  • 305k
80 votes
Accepted

How to make female breast armor viable?

Most known accounts of women in medieval era war have them wearing armour designed for men. One exception is Joan of Arc who had a suit of plate armour specially built for her. No known images exist ...
K Mo's user avatar
  • 2,774
80 votes

What sort of armor would a bounty hunter wear in the medieval age?

A bounty hunter is a predator. What kind of armor do predators have? source None. A predator does not want a fair fight. It does not want a fight at all. A predator is not going to roar at its ...
Willk's user avatar
  • 305k
72 votes

What kind of natural armor would stop bullets?

Good News Everyone! We already have a natural armor that can resist bullets. I introduce to you the humble Abalone. After millions of birds pecking at these things trying to get to the soft, gooey ...
PipperChip's user avatar
  • 32.2k
68 votes
Accepted

How would armour (and combat) change if the fighter didn't need to actually wear it?

You've removed the weight/protection tradeoff, so your lucky squire is going to be moved around on a cart because they're wearing so much armour. You've also removed the sensory/protection tradeoff, ...
Starfish Prime's user avatar
66 votes

Any examples of headwear for races with animal ears?

If the creature needs its ears to function well in battle, or for ritual or cosmetic show offs, you need holes. Helmets for military dogs have them: Otherwise, do fold their ears:
The Square-Cube Law's user avatar
63 votes

Why might wizards be unable to wear armour?

A wizard wearing armour is a disgrace – it suggests his magic is poor. Regardless of how good his magical defences actually are, relying on armour makes him look weak – and thus, regardless of ...
Dan W's user avatar
  • 3,994
63 votes

How much steel armor can you wear and still be able to swim?

A number of people have attempted swimming in heavy medieval-style armor as experiments, with videos available on YouTube or similar sites. I've never seen one where the person actually succeeded. ...
Daniel R. Collins's user avatar
62 votes

Why would an invisible personal shield be necessary?

Holding a shield is like an invitation for others to throw stuff at you. It's a pretty aggressive move actually. You're saying "I know you're violent and I'm prepared." You're telling them you're ...
Cyn's user avatar
  • 20.4k
60 votes
Accepted

How do I create armor for a physically weak species?

Focus less on actual armor and more on keeping the enemy at a distance. Ranged weaponry is your friend. In most role-playing and computer games, the sling is almost always seen as a sub-optimal ...
Michael Richardson's user avatar
60 votes

How to make female breast armor viable?

Armor is for protection, not sex appeal. A live woman is a far better marriage prospect than a dead woman. The whole sexy armor troupe is about serving the male gaze, not doing anything for the ...
Cyn's user avatar
  • 20.4k
57 votes

Full plate - ways to make individual suits look more distinct

Historically, tabards and painted shields were used display a Coat of Arms. If you want knights from the same area (but of different houses) to show some similarity, then you can make some armaments/...
K Mo's user avatar
  • 2,774
57 votes
Accepted

How can my powered armor quickly replace its ceramic plates?

There are two ways to go with this. The way it SOUNDS like you're asking for is for your powered armor to carry an entire second set of ceramic plates all the time can be swapped in and out while you'...
Morris The Cat's user avatar
57 votes

Why would an invisible personal shield be necessary?

Police is already widely use transparent riot shields. The reason is simple: to see through. Invisibility might be just a side-effect of super-transparent technology.
ksbes's user avatar
  • 9,923
56 votes

What would cause full body armor to return?

Environmental dangers Space is a dangerous place. You may find that you're more at risk of dying from radiation or lack of oxygen or heat than by being shot by the enemy. Sure you might get instantly ...
Lemming's user avatar
  • 6,097
50 votes
Accepted

Could a Super-Light Gas Improve Heavy Armor?

Instead of superlight gas, imagine you had vacuum: no gas. Real things containing vacuum must be structurally augmented to avoid being crushed by atmospheric pressure which is why gas fill is nice. ...
Willk's user avatar
  • 305k
49 votes
Accepted

If you were wearing a bomb suit, would it be safe to set off a Claymore mine strapped to your chest?

Not survivable Imagine you removed the plastic body and ball bearings from a Claymore, so that all that is remaining is a layer of about 700 g of explosive. The quantity of explosive is several times ...
KerrAvon2055's user avatar
  • 27.1k
48 votes
Accepted

Is diamond armor better than traditional armor?

The material property we'll want to concern ourselves here is Toughness. This value denotes a material's resistance to fracturing. A typical diamond has a toughness value of 2.0 KIc, which is ...
MozerShmozer's user avatar
  • 4,967
45 votes
Accepted

Would steel armor with gems embedded within its design be weaker than regular steel armor?

Yes Any change in material or join is a weak point or a stress point. If the gem was an integral part of the armour then the gem would be a weak point: because the join is a weak point because the ...
Separatrix's user avatar
  • 118k
43 votes

Full plate - ways to make individual suits look more distinct

Knights did not walk around in armor. Armor was worn in battle, or at tournaments, or, occasionally, at social events. (Quite similar with modern soldiers; they don't wear body armor when they don't ...
AlexP's user avatar
  • 88.7k
42 votes

Would steel armor with gems embedded within its design be weaker than regular steel armor?

You don't have to weaken armor to decorate it. First, gems are never going to make plate or other metal armors better at their job. Plate armor is best when it has as few joints, beyond what is ...
James's user avatar
  • 32.9k
41 votes

How can I protect witches in combat who wear limited clothing?

Needing soldiers to protect a valuable asset in the midst of combat so it can be used limits its value. Definitely not, at least in absolute terms. That's the exact concept used with naval squads, ...
L.Dutch's user avatar
  • 285k
40 votes
Accepted

Would armour made of spider silk work?

Cloth armor - specifically, linen armor - was a thing, historically. It was used, tested, and could be quite effective. it was lighter and, reportedly, more comfortable and/or maneuverable than ...
Megha's user avatar
  • 4,914

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