(RP) Why would a priest NOT wear plate?

[Gamdwelf]

Cus dresses are prettier

[leaks]

Because they don't put on a lot of muscle reading books.

[raddry]

So we are talking about RP, then the answer is easy: Cause their magic is stronger any way. In RP, there is no way that a malee warrior would win 1 on 1 against a magic user. It's only that in games, we can't have overpowered mages ( oh you see what I did there? ). But in 'RP' situation, the priest would blow up the malee and eventually protect himself with spells, no need to waste an armor set.

Edit- And obviously, when did you see a fit and muscular 'church head' ( sorry for this I got no idea how to say that in english except priest ), strong enough to wear plate ( this thing is really heavy I guess ) in real life?

[Soulless Cynic]

Wearing armour one is not accustomed to is actually more of a disadvantage. Armour is heavy and cumbersome. The better the armour, the more heavy and cumbersome it is. This limits one's speed, reflexes, range of motion and it fatigues them more quickly. And that's for someone strong enough to wear it and accustomed to using it. The negative effects would be even more pronounced for a physically weaker individual who has no experience fighting in armour. Priests and other casters rely on their minds, not their bodies. Armour would only serve to slow them down, tire them out and distract them. A Priest's faith is literally better than armour in a world where one can draw on the Light to cast magic.

[Danner]

Wait wait...
Priests are not wearing plate?

[Deleted]

With Blizzards speed on nerfing they probably will in about 1 months time!

[Inukashi]

Uhm, from playing Larp I was a Medikus. If you are a Healer on the field you often have to carry people to the Lazaret. I don't see a Priest as someone, beeing there, killing others. Diszi and Holy are Healers and most of the time, when you find an injured Friend, that has a chance to survive you carry him out of Battle. Well not in real warsong, but in RP maybe..

Another thing is, when you don't have a shield or a melee weapon, your armor is mostly useless. If you can't parry or block strikes, even an Armor won't protect you much because they gonna hit you with their full force because they know, they don't have to fear a counterattack. It doesn't matter if a sandsack wears Armor.

So I think you go for dodge and running away and there a Plate Armor is distrubing. If you wear a good Armor it won't hinder your movements, but an Armor is heavy + you'll need a gambeson to protect yourself from the sharp edges (+ and chainmail maybe to protect the weak parts) and running around with it, all day long, carrying people out of fight in a hot summerday.. you'll need a Medikus yourself soon.

And another point. It may sound stupid, but some clothes are better to protect you from Arrows than a Platemale.

[dangelo37]

Mobility would be a strong reason to wear cloth over plate. Moving from one injured person to the next is faster if you are wearing lighter clothing. Plus I would say all priests (religious) wear robes made of cloth as part of their ceremonial garb. Maybe they can channel more spiritually with them on?
Also, what a lot of people have already stated: The light and power from those they worship give them the armor they need on the battlefield.

[rayden54]

This "the light is my armor / faith in the light" (or delusional arrogance depending on how you look at it) is a very interesting angle. Also interesting that Holy Paladins do not share this view! Do they have less faith than priests!? "Sure, yeah, the light is my armor, I have faith... but let me wear this plate armor just in case." Or are priests simply delusional?

"My faith protects me. My Kevlar helps." - Michael Carpenter, Jim Butcher's Death Masks (Dresden Files)

[Deleted]

In the lore priests have all kinds of defensive spells, that is why they don't use plate armor.

Holy paladins use plate, but they do not make sense at all lorewise anyway (Paladins are not healers/menders in the lore, they are crusaders. Priests are)

[Verain]

Priest spells are subject to spell failure in armor. Paladin spells obviously are not.

[Felade]

Its a game function that has been inherited from games like DnD. Yes, a DnD cleric wore armor, but Priests aren't Clerics, they work more like DnD Mages as far as armor is concerned. Usually the rationalization goes something like this: they can't do the proper movements for their spells in anything besides cloth.

Again, it boils down to a game function that serves to differentiate classes and the rationalization isn't that important. Its right up there with "why can't blood elves be Druids?" or "why can't Paladins use staves?" or "how do forsaken magically learn a new language and forget Common the moment they are revived to undeath?" It just serves to differentiate races and classes, or to keep factions from trolling each other in game.

[Wolfbear]

Man of the cloth. Have a wee think about it lad.

[Deleted]

Have you ever seen a priest real life in plate? Most "Priest" type guys are wearing white robes AKA cloth.
Rogues wear leather because chain would make to many noise, and cloth is to weak + quicker escape with leather
Shamans wear mail because they need to stay in touch with the elements.



Try running away in plate and then in cloth, see who is faster?

Those are all logical reasons... bar one... why wouldn't a shaman wear leather as it's the closest you can get to a beast without crawling up inside one?

[Deleted]

They simply don't need it.

Why burden yourself with heavy armor when, with a flick of your wrist, you can protect yourself with some sort of holy shield? Also, most priests are support, they've got a line of warriors and paladins and other strong tanking classes to protect them, why burden yourself with cumbersome plate when you don't need it?

Sure it'd be handy as another layer of physical protection, but the way I see it, if you need to protect yourself through physical means you're not a very good priest, you're just a warrior with a big stick and lightbulb.

[Deleted]

Two main reasons I can think off the top of my head.

1. They're not strong enough and would struggle to move in all of that plate.
2. Priests aren't supposed to be running around in the battlefield. They're either staying away from it to tend to the sick and wounded, or staying away from the battle, attacking opponents minds from afar. Therefore, heavy plate armour is just an inconvenience.

[Yvaelle]

I still like my "quick romps" answer best.

[the9tail]

Armor penalties duh. Can't walk around with full plate without penalties to like every atheletic type role in D&D.

[Highmoon7]

Gym memberships are expensive. As a men and women of the cloth they have taken a vow of poverty and can not afford it.

[Inukashi]

Another Reason why Priests can't wear plate and Paladins can is: The way they cast spells is different. A Priest channels the light through his body to force it into a spell. That's why undead holy/diszi Priests can exist. But a platemale would weaken the channeling.

A Paladin gently asks the light to help him. That's why there can't be an Undead Paladin. The Light won't help them any more. Because a Paladin doesn't need to channel the light through his body he won't get an malus on casts by wearing a Platemale.

You can read this on wowwiki, some parts on "cult of forgotten shadow" there is a blue post added in there