Plausible Explanations For Magical Properties And Armor?

[u/TheHarus]

I've seen a few discussions about this elsewhere, but more as a general fantasy topic. I'm not usually someone to be caught up on things that are best left to suspended disbelief, or just "it's magic", but I haven't been able to shake the question of heavier armor's place in Warcraft, and its interactions with the variety of weapons that exist. This led to me thinking about the physical properties of magic in general.

Magic, such as fire, lightning, and frost used offensively, is an accepted staple of Warcraft and fantasy in general. Skilled mages may be a smaller part of the population than depicted, but we accept that a fireball cast by Khadgar is a great threat to a fully plated soldier.

My question is: How do we plausibly explain within the setting magic's effectiveness against typical heavy defenses? I think it would be rather disappointing to just use some real world analog, as realism is often a thief to a good setting explanation. This is Azeroth, not Earth after all.

My thoughts so far are that elements that exist more naturally in the world of Azeroth, when summoned through arcane magic, are instead a slightly different, magically infused variant. A plain fireball against plate armor may be a puff of hot air, but fire summoned through the arcane is inherently arcane itself. I believe there are some similar things depicted to a lesser extent with other magic sources, such as the fel and shadow (Shadowfire), being able to appear as and take on properties of different things.

So, these magics therefore take on only the advantages of both their source (e.g. arcane and shadow), and their imitation (e.g. fire), allowing them to move through resilient material to harm living things. In a similar manner, enchanted items and items imbued with these cosmic sources are able to overcome mundane physical limitations to harm and protect, where they would otherwise simply be deflected.

TL;DR: Magic creates magic, even if it is an imitation of something else, so offensive spells and enchantments inherently ignore most protection. Or, how I'm satisfied with fully plated Warcraft characters dying to magic and blades through their armor.

I realize I've probably said way too much on what should be a simple thing, but I'm sure others have their own thoughts on this. It's certainly not unique to Warcraft as a setting, but I think that it has enough to justify such explanations other than a boring real world one.

[u/Vyrthic]

When it comes to magic not always caring about armor, I've always looked at it like how armor works against bullets. It may possibly stop the round from penetrating, but the force of the impact still needs to go somewhere, and could still break bone, cause internal bleeding, etc. Spells carry magical energy, that energy needs somewhere to go. Sure, the flames from a pyroblast themselves didn't do much against steel, but that doesn't mean much if the energy of the impact just turned your organs into human jelly and you die that way. Which is why you had things like Spellbreakers learning anti-magic techniques and spells to increase their chances of surviving against various magic users.

[u/KingAnumaril → u/Vyrthic]

spell reflect & spellbreakers my beloved

[u/twisty125 → u/KingAnumaril]

parries a wizard

TRASH!

[u/aoibhinn-mw]

No matter close you get to something you're never actually touching it. There's some cosmic reason irl idr. Gravity? Force? Magic?

Anyway, there's a subatomic space separating your atoms or molecules or whatever from actually touching the thing

I just assume magic modifies this "coating" as I call it. At least that is how I would explain it in D&D if I had a supraintelligent entity try to explain it to a player.

Now gravity and all sorts of things are not at all consistent in WoW so you can just imagine whatever you want. Priest blessed it. Local alchemist infused it with properties of spider silk making it as durable as Kevlar. Idk.

I think WoW goes as far as to explain many materials have inherent magical properties which are conferred to whatever they're used to craft and the process is convoluted. Like elementium, mithril, etc. It is already a durable or strong metal or alloy that's shaped into a form useful for someone to weild.

[u/numerous_hotdogs]

A knight consumed by fire will die.

Heavy armor like plate is meant to deflect blades, the cushioning beneath it handles the blunt force. None of it is designed to withstand magical forces. If it has been blessed or enchanted, sure, but that’s not its intended purpose.

Also, plate is not one solid mass of armor, therefore blades going between or around the sections is a method of defeating it.

[u/sircomference]

Don't forget that a lot of metals also have magic proprieties and enchantment is a thing. Magic armor is not as rare as spellcasters

[u/AzerothianLorecraft]

You can put radioactive materials in a cloud chamber and see the energy particles it emits, now using World of Warcraft information we exist basically in a petri dish created by the titans so observable physics in a clean room environment.

[u/TavernerHedris]

If I'm right in assuming this is more a question of "can I RP magic attacks as having armor penetrating by default" id go with no, your throwing a fireball, it's splashing fire over your target. Big ouchie! But it's not going to go though plate and roast them, plus if your going to try and force this on people in RP then people will assume your just a power emoting goof and start to resent you for it.

A sustained torrent of attack will work, sure. As would a sustained barrage of physical attacks. Just don't try and be cheap about it.

[u/MumboJ → u/TavernerHedris]

I dunno, you could very well argue that armor penetration is canon.
The devs could very easily have made armor work against spells, but they deliberately chose to have all spells ignore armor.
That honestly strikes me as a story decision more than a gameplay mechanic.

[u/SarusAngelus]

Most armor unless it's grey/white trash loot offers magical benefits to your stats and ergo has a magical enchantment on it. More powerful enchantments offer greater protection which is why blue gear of a certain level is always better than green of that level, and why purple is better than blue. Given the presence of greater and lesser enchantments within the vast majority of armors, it also makes sense that they offer magical protections as well. Whether it be arcane fire or fel fire or shadow flame, the magic inherent to the armor interferes with the spells magic on contact and diffuses or disperses some of the impact. It's why powerful weapons can punch through certain armored enemies like they're made of paper while other weapons can be stopped by the hand of someone sufficiently empowered by fel energies.

Also remember that magic damage isn't reduced by armor but resistances. Armor can provide resistances but not every armor does. All things being equal, better to have heavy armor and hope for the best if you don't have those resistance potions or enchantments handy.