Martial Arts Fighting Styles and Armor

[Delvin Darkwood]

So, little question here.
A player (Cleric) in one of my AD&D games recently took up a martial art weapon proficiency (it was either some form of wrestling, or a style he made, i cant remember). The question is here, is can he perform martial arts while in his armor, and if so, does he get the AC bonuses from his style? His current set of armor is splint mail, which i know from a vermislitude perspective wouldnt seem very logical. I was just wondering if there was any official printed rule on the matter in 1st or 2nd edition.

[Winter_Wolf]

"Martial art" is such a broad term. Some of the arts are not compatible with armor, but a very large number (of traditional MA) are.

Anything involving throws and locks is completely doable in armor. The Chinese martial art that I do was invented with the intention that people would be in armor and in the middle of a war, and works with anything from a spear down to bare fists and grappling. There's a program that was either on Discovery or History Channel showing a man doing cartwheels in full plate armor, so there's an indication of the kind of mobility you could conceivable have. You might even be able to find it on Youtube.

[Jay R]

Read the exact rules for that weapons proficiency.

From a medieval standpoint, it depends on the moves. There are wrestling moves in Talhoffer (15th century Germany) and Fiore (14th century Italy), but not in many period martial arts manuals.

AS I recall (I am not an expert), they can bind their opponent or knock him down, but not throw him any distance.

[Spiryt]

I don't know about AD&D rules, but from "verisimilitude" perspective, nothing in correctly fitting armor should be of any problem in 'fundamental' martial arts. Save from obvious stuff like tiring, but D&D anyway doesn't really cover it.

More flashy and supernatural "hee---yahhh" stuff would be more problematic, but that's what generally monk is for.



There are wrestling moves in Talhoffer (15th century Germany) and Fiore (14th century Italy), but not in many period martial arts manuals.

AS I recall (I am not an expert), they can bind their opponent or knock him down, but not throw him any distance.

Actually, there's some wrestling and locks in pretty much every manual out there, as it's fundamental to any combat. Aside from purely grappling manuals, obviously.

Throwing opponent at 'any distance' is anyway really hard to do most of the time, armor doesn't change much here.


http://i45.tinypic.com/14bu5wn.jpg

[Jay R]

Actually, there's some wrestling and locks in pretty much every manual out there, as it's fundamental to any combat. Aside from purely grappling manuals, obviously.

I guess we're reading different manuals. I don't find it in Agrippa, Capo Ferro, Di Grassi, Sainct-Didier, Saviolo, Silver, Hope or Angelo.


Throwing opponent at 'any distance' is anyway really hard to do most of the time, armor doesn't change much here.

What I mean is that there are throw-downs, but no judo throws of several feet. Fiore's opponents will land at his feet. A judo opponent might land six feet away.

[Spiryt]

I guess we're reading different manuals. I don't find it in Agrippa, Capo Ferro, Di Grassi, Sainct-Didier, Saviolo, Silver, Hope or Angelo.

It is in Gladiatorie, Codex Wallerstein, Fiore, Filipo Valdi, Goliath Hector Mair - among others.



What I mean is that there are throw-downs, but no judo throws of several feet. Fiore's opponents will land at his feet. A judo opponent might land six feet away.

Well, no matter if something's deemed judo throw, aikido throw, wrestling suplex or anything else, throwing someone six feet away is entirely secondary matter, and will depend on momentum, opponents resistance and many other things.

Assuming any more strenuous and 'spectacular' throw is successful, opponent will land somewhere nearby, and exact distance is not really important here.

[LibraryOgre]

If you're using the rules from OA, no, you cannot use most of them in armor.