What is the best Armor for slashing Protection?

The best armour period is plate. It doesn't restrict movement very much and the weight distribution allowed it to be worn for long periods at a time. It's expensive to make and keep though so if piercing damage is not a concern then mail would suffice. Even gambeson (padded armour made with many layers of linen) would be enough then, really, although you'd probably prefer a light gambeson under a mail coat in hot weather.

 

Its hard to beat plate for protection, but wearing armor 24/7 is also sucks. I think most things that would count as armor are slash resistant. Even soft leather offers some protection against that (heck, bunched up newspaper can protect against that). However, it not just the slash, its the impact as well, and so real armor would be required, and if your gonna be in a fight, I am sure you want actual armor.

I suppose I would say, I would prefer to wear no armor at all, and if I had to, I would want the least restrictive armor I could find, which I am thinking would be cloth or leather type armor. If there was to be a battle though, I would want something metal.

All climates will affect armor. Metal armor rusts, and leather armor tears, gets worn and rots. Taking care of armor and items would just be a fact of life.


If I was a rich person, I would buy plate, and likely wear chain in less dangerous places. If I was poor, I would wear would I could manage, and steal better when I could. I suppose I would have something cheap and easy to make, like thick cloth or leather. Maybe something with wood.

 

Like slip.knox said, I don't think there is an ideal material like that in reality. Some may come close, but, if your world is a fantasy it might be for the best to invent your own. For instance, you could create a type of grass that is extremely difficult to cut with a slicing motion, meaning it would need to be harvested with shears or something unorthodox. Since it's a common grass, peasants could make crude woven suits out of it. It may not look posh (imagine wearing a flexible wicker jacket and pants), but it'd save your skin from scimitars. For folks with money it could be a type of silk. And so on, and so on. Even something like denim would make a good armor if it were tweaked a bit.

If you're dead set on keeping it as real as possible, then I'd suggest looking into historical armor from various cultures with an eye to the weapons they were intended to defend against. Conquistador chain mail worked quite well against slashing motions, for instance, but they sucked horribly when pitted against reed darts, if I recall correctly.

 

Have to agree that role playing games have messed up our view of armour.

I am quite found of chain, having fought in it and plate many times.

Strangely enough I have almost never fought in plate without at least a hauberk of chain under it.

Well made chain I find moves quite well. I would not want to spend all day in my plate, especially the helmet, but I suspect like most things if it became part of your life you would get use to it.

The OP approach is kind of odd. IT is like assuming that somewhere there is an armour department store and then you encounter a need and go buy something off the rack. Armour didn't and likely won't develop that way.

Armour, like most technology, is a response to a problem. Neighbouring tribes developed better bows...how do we deal with that? Invaders armour is better than ours? Better copy it.

The best way to chose armour for a culture is to understand the underpinnings of the culture and then understand the problems it faced and how it responded to those problems. IT might actually lead to something thoughtful and interesting.

History was not full of guys sitting around trying to figure out who to "mini-max" a technology or military problem. It was filled with people responding to problems with the resources they had at hand.

 

I probably should not answer, cause what do I know?

1) how practical is it to wear plate 24/7 (except in sleep of course)?

I think, unless the environment was very dangerous, people would choose not to wear it unless they had to.

2) how hot is it inside plate, let's say in a mediterranean climate (hot and high humidity)?

Its hot, but people did it. They just become kind of acclimatized to wearing it.

3) what about the smell inside? will other also smell it or will the smell be confineded inside? how bad would it be?

It would smell like old socks and iron, but a lot of things smelled bad in medieval Mediterranean. I am not sure it would stand out as smelling a whole lot worse.


I don't know about Metal armor, but in the army I wore all the Kevlar stuff, and I did not enjoy it. It was stiff, the helmet sucked, smelled bad, and strained my neck often, the Kevlar vest would hit you in the chin if you were not careful taking a knee, and it chaffed a lot. And it made it more difficult to carry stuff comfortably as your arms were out further from your body. It was not something you wanted to run around in and then drop into a prone position with. If I had my way, I would rather not have it and just take my chances (well, I would keep the helmet), and in hot environments, the armor was even more unpleasant.

 

1) You have to define what you mean by plate here, but the short answer is, it isn't practical at all. It is heavy and a pain in the ass if you are just doing your day to day stuff. I surely wouldn't want to wear my plate around having breakfast, chopping wood, walking to the outhouse, and don't get me started on going in the outhouse! Now could I wear my breast plate around all day...maybe if I had to. But throw in my leg armour and sabatons etc...no chance.

2) yeah, plate can be hot.

3) The armour doesn't smell, you and your clothes might, but the iron and steel and leather straps don't smell. And no plate armour I know would trap the smell inside.

 

If one is fighting magic, perhaps armor is the wrong ward. In the same way that one might use garlic and holy water against Vampires, perhaps magic using types can be thwarted by every items. Maybe such a warrior might carry hemlock as a way of protecting himself from magic, instead of armor. Assuming, of course, that hemlock had some real warding effect against supernatural forces.

 

The best mundane (non magical) armour is well maintained plate armour with chainmail vest and padding underneath. The chainmail would cover the chin, and around the face.
In a hot climate don't make the armour black, have it be bright and reflective. That's the best you can do.

 

It all gets easier if the patrolling is done on horseback