[PF] Parade Armor?

[PlusSixPelican]

For a character from the nation of Cheliax (http://www.pathfinderwiki.com/wiki/Cheliax), what would their Parade Armor (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/equipment---final/armor/parade-armor) look like? Not necessarily a mechanical question, but I am curious.

[Grasharm]

Give me a sec to pull out the inner sea guide and anything that has the word Galorian in the title... and I can't find a reference after a skimming through a bunch of books so it's up to your GM to fill in the detail ;P. My best guess would be black with red highlight enameled Half-plate with a tabbard Depicting the Cheliax national flag and a large shield with your noble houses coat of arms.

Half-plate because it is a showy and strong piece of armor While still being somewhat practical and a little less expensive which as much as Cheliax does not wish to admit it has to be a consideration given Galoria's current state. The reason the main piece, the plate armor, has such a strong national vibe is because the adherence to a strict hierarchy would put the nation and it's leaders even above ones own house.

This would also make the shield a very important item as it's the only place you would be able to make your house stand out and so there could be an informal but very real competition between nobles houses to have shields that stand out and bring notice to your house during formal ceremonies while not being in such bad taste as to overshadow your place in the national hierarchy.

Anyway that's what I'd do off the cuff if one of my players brought me this question.

[Keneth]

Parade armor is more a uniform than it is an armor, so it wouldn't be a half-plate.

Page 57 of Inner Sea World guide shows a Thrune Agent which is what I imagine a Chelaxian parade armor would look a lot like sans the brestplate.

[Grasharm]

heh, I'd call what that guy is wearing half plate sans the chainmail underpinning which is just a fantasy artist's take on things because chainmail would mess up showing off those mussels s/he drew. Heavy leather boots with plate fittings, check. Breastplate, check. Gauntlets, check. Helm, MIA. So mostly Half-plate. Hell if that strip of cloth hanging down went further up that would be a full tabbard instead of just the bottom part. So really all he's missing from what I said is a shield with his houses crest to show hey! I'm a noble/someone important and that's really important here. Also it's silver on black instead of my red on black but... there you go. Oh and the helm.

Also I didn't chose half-plate for it's AC bonus. As I said I chose it because it's a visually impressive piece of armor. The only thing that is likely more impressive is a person in full-plate on the back of a horse but, that I see as being the providence of a wealthier nation. Not a nation fighting its way back up from a decline.


This sounds more argumentative and defensive than I intended but I can't figure out how to say what I want without it coming out that way. So read but realize I understand this is all opinion and everyone's is equally valid. So yours is no less than mine.
So why drop the breastplate anyway? It makes a visual impact and suggests the person wearing it is strong and powerful. Two things I think a nation that models itself after hell's hierarchy would appreciate in their dress armor. The only thing I can think of to make it more comfortable and I really think that given the nations disregard for it's fellow man in favor of form and function that ceremonial comfort is not very big on their priority list. Hell it's something we consider in the modern military but still end up with rifles that are 3 times heavier than anything you'd use on the battlefield and uniforms that are far more restrictive and uncomfortable than battle dress.

[Grasharm]

heh, found the misleading verbage.


Half-plate because it is a showy and strong piece of armor While still being somewhat practical and...

In this case when I said practical I was not referring to it's practical applications as armor. I was referring to the fact that you can move in it without looking like an idiot without being mounted and it being less expensive than full plate thus a least a little affordable.

[Keneth]

Without the breastplate, that armor is just a leather armor with some decorative plating and a designer tabard, which is what a parade armor is, hence the +3 AC and 25 gp price. I don't mind if you imagine Chelish nobles walking around in pimped up half-plates and call it parade armor, I'm just pointing out that actual parade armor in game terms is a light armor of decorative value and is not meant to be worn exclusively by rich people.

[Coidzor]

I'm thinking jack boots with red trim, black pants/breeches/wossname with a trim of red along the outside of each leg, red doublet with a sleeveless buffcoat covered by a black tabard with the Chelaxian emblem on it in red or the buffcoat itself being black leather with the emblem on it in red. Reinforce as necessary with a little bit of light chain that's not necessarily visible and add lacquer as desired. Possibly the leather coat is lined with chain and lacquered black with the emblem being put in red on top of that.

Although, this might give you some other ideas (http://emuwalton.deviantart.com/art/Cheliax-Pathfinder-Rank-317725431).

On the other hand, I suppose there's the more "roman" aesthetic choices you could go with.

Grasharm: Half-plate and breastplate are off the table by RAW, unless you're talking about something that looks like half-plate but is so much thinner that it doesn't protect properly.

[Slipperychicken]

A quick image search revealed it's basically normal plate with insane amounts of embellishments, intricate swirly designs, and gold. It *looks* like extra-badass armor (that's the point), but is really just a facade. Since it's not supposed to see combat, I wouldn't be surprised if it was lighter, too.

[Grasharm]

I disagree a bit but like I said I don't see us seeing eye to eye on this. I think that the country of origin's culture is the most important part of parade armor. The fact is only +3 and 25 gp can come from a number of different areas. Perhaps instead of this half plate being built on chainmail it is built on a fine velvet coat that hangs to the knees. So loses all the chainmail AC and the metal while beautifully worked is very thin so it has a much lower material cost but is more easily pierced, especially when the tip of something catches in one of those groves or whirls of the scrollwork. That should be enough for your mechanical objections.

I object to the thought that you think that the empire of Cheliax is going to spend 25 gp on a common soldier to outfit him with parade armor. They are just that common. The lowest rung on the military hierarchy. No the people in Celiax that are going to have special armor are going to be captains in the military and above. If they aren't noble now they will probably marry someone noble in order to advance their career or be replaced by someone with better connections.

Of course this is all just how I interpret the setting. I see Celiax as a sort of Camalot run by Aztecs.

Edit: Yes that is exactly what I'm talking about aparently. We aren't talking about crunch here, we are talking story. Crunch was taken care of in UE now all we are talking about is style which is why none of can be wrong and I keep telling that to myself. It's just so hard sometimes.

[Coidzor]

I disagree a bit but like I said I don't see us seeing eye to eye on this. I think that the country of origin's culture is the most important part of parade armor.

Follow the link, sirrah. You're confusing *parade armor* and *parade* armor.

[avr]

As refluffed studded leather, I expect parade armour is mostly leather and/or cloth, with some showy metal bits. A helmet & bracers perhaps. Probably not a breastplate.

[Grasharm]

Except that the example given in ultimate eq. states that parade armor can include For example, one country’s parade armor may be a chain shirt, tabbard, leather greaves, and a winged helm. This is not a question of crunch people. I admit that it could be anything. It could a friggin' loin cloth with a magic symbol of protection and virility.
This is about style and the culture of Celiax. I see the common soldier being only slightly less oppressed than the common citizen. I see ceremonial armor such as parade armor only belonging to people who have some sort of standing. We are talking about a people that worship Azmodius the top dog of the Devils and have modeled their government after hell. You can give the armor any stats you want just please at least tell me you recognize that in this government the peons are just chattel and cannon fodder; not worth thinking about enough to do more than feed and make sure they have something pointy to stick into someone when you need them to. To these people common soldiers are numbers and the price of one set of parade armor for a common soldier is far offset by the bonus of hiring two more soldiers instead. If you have parade armor you probably have some sort of office or rank in the military. So stop trying to bring rules into a story situation. We know the rules. The armor costs 25 gp, gives +3 ac, has a max dex of +5, an armor check penalty of -1, an arcane spell failure of 10% and gives a situation bonus to some skills.

That having been said... I have to revise my original thoughts anyway to match more what the consensus is. Celiax is a water power and there is no way they would weigh down their important people with a lot of metal. So yeah black and red embossed leather with alot of awards to show off with and embellish the armor and make everyone understand how important you are or unimportant as the state of your armor decoration shows.

[VanIsleKnight]

I think it might look something along the lines of this. Just with Cheliaxian motif's and such. The armour itself doesn't have to be very thick, just very impressive looking and very official.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01861/royal-guard_1861297b.jpg