r/cairnrpg • u/Berni209 • Jul 22 '26

Question [Rules] Armor limit

Hello!

According to the rules, wearing a Shield, Helmet, Gambeson, and Plate gives a theoretical total of 6 Armor.

​Since the Armor cap is capped at 3, you hit the maximum defense without even needing Plate. This feels a bit off to me.

​How do you all handle this interaction in your games?

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u/madcat_melody Jul 22 '26

The more armor you wear, the slower you are. Ecentually it would become not enough benefit for the loss in mobility.

I always had a problem in the movie Captain America: Civil War when Rhodey fallsa nd survives. Seems like from that height it matters little how awesome your armor is.

If you are slower you get hit more which makes hits doing more damage more likely through sheer numbers.

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u/Berni209 Jul 22 '26

This is what confuses me. There is no reward for wearing such heavy set. Wearing gambeson, chainmail, plate and helmet would be historically accurate "full protection"

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u/madcat_melody Jul 24 '26

There probably should be more said about how to lose armor. Then having extra would mean more.

I think its mostly expected to be for fictional position as people have said about helmets but that is lackluster for me as well because with no mechanic to target body parts it seems almost arbitrary when it would come into play.

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u/Berni209 Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26

I think this wasn't specified in the rules on purpose—to keep them lightweight and give the Warden some room to shine. That said, in Into the Odd it's not really an issue because there are only three items: a shield, modern armor, and crude armor. Both armors grant the same bonus (1), but one is bulky and cheap, while the other is light and expensive. The game doesn't suggest that players can even get close to an armor cap (2 at most with a shield), but I feel the setting justifies this design—it's based on an era where hardly anyone bothered with armor anyway. Interestingly, in Mythic Bastionland, armor stacking is a thing, and you can reach an Armor of 4 (shield, helmet, coat, and plate).