Cloaks & hoods?

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PalladiumBrony
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Cloaks & hoods?

Unread post by PalladiumBrony »

OK, I know of one other thread that touched on this topic, but it's dead and really didn't discuss very much so I'm going to start my own thread on the topic: I'm looking for advice, opinions and thoughts on the various benefits of cloaks, from a game-mechanic standpoint, or how others might handle certain situations. So far I've thought of the following:

Pros:

  • The right cloak can protect you from wind and rain - I'd say a fair way to represent that would be to reduce the penalties from cold and rain to zero or almost zero
  • Hoods can keep wind and rain off your face - probably a reduction in the vision penalties caused by rain? Side note, ARE there any such penalties? Like, being blinded by rain in your eyes, separate from the issue that rain just generally reduces the distance you can see clearly.
  • Cloaks can disguise your identity to some degree. Perhaps a bonus to the disguise skill, or giving it to you at a certain small percentage if you don't have it already? (also see cons)
  • Cloaks can disguise what you're doing with your hands: Perhaps a bonus to the Pickpocket, Palming or similar skills, and a chance to make a sneak attack with a dagger or small, one-handed weapon?
  • Cloaks could be used in a fight, making it harder to identify exactly where your opponent's body is (a mis-aimed strike of as little as 2 inches can be the difference between life or death), or thrown in your opponent's face to distract and blind him, or thrown over opponent's limbs to entangle them maybe? Not a lot, but in a fight all it takes is a fraction of a second.

Cons:

  • On the topic of disguise: While a cloak may make it harder to see your face and therefore identify you, that won't work nearly as well if the enemy can get close to you, and unless everyone is wearing cloaks, the wearing of one, or the sudden raising of a hood, may make a potential enemy think "that's someone who doesn't want me to know who they are", rather than "that's just a random guy in the street", which may in itself be mildly suspicious. So maybe only apply the Disguise bonus until the threat gets within say, 10 feet?
  • Hoods completely kill the ability to hear the world around you, and destroy peripheral vision (a penalty to perception maybe, or something to make you a bit more at risk from surprise attacks? Obviously not applicable if you already know your enemy is there). Once you know you're in a fight, it probably wouldn't even cost an action to flip your hood down, which negates the problems with peripheral vision.
  • If you're not experienced in using them, cloaks can be a major liability in combat and when traversing difficult terrain at speed - they're easy to trip over, get tangled in branches and stuff, cam be very easily grabbed by an opponent, and they can restrict the movement of your sword arm. Again, if you're expecting trouble, it should, I think, not even cost you an action to flip the cloak back over your shoulder to free up your weapon, it's if the enemy catch you by surprise that you're in trouble.
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Whiskeyjack
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Re: Cloaks & hoods?

Unread post by Whiskeyjack »

As someone who wears a hood in the winter on my wool anorak, I can offer a bit of insight.
Pros:
Warm. Especially for negating wind from the side and back. This is rendered obsolete with wind from the front, which can actually be directed down the garment.
Dry. They do a great job at keeping you dry as well. While they will keep the rain/wet snow off your face, it does nothing for your visibility through it.

Cons:
Warm. It can be very easy to overheat with a hood in all by the most extreme cold.
Sight. Your field of view is pretty much restricted to about 45-50 degrees in front of you.
Sound. Depending on the material, your hearing is going to be reduce from 25-50% making you easier to sneak up on. On the other hand, sounds coming from the front can be amplified by the hood.

As for cloaks, one of the biggest cons I can think of is for swimming. I think they would quickly drag you under to a watery grave. I would think that the negatives would be similar to full plate unless you have a quick clasp.
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glitterboy2098
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Re: Cloaks & hoods?

Unread post by glitterboy2098 »

i'm not sure that cloaks would remove the penalties for wind and rain.. wind and rain would still mess up a lot of stuff, due to the reduced traction from the rain and mud, the wind complicating various actions, etc. especially when you consider that fighting would usually result in the cloaks being open quite often, exposing their occupants to said wind and rain, offsetting the protection.

the main thing cloaks would do is make the experience a bit more comfortable when walking or riding, less likely to catch ill or the like.
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kiralon
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Re: Cloaks & hoods?

Unread post by kiralon »

My party tends to use the long hooded cloaks as partial disguises and something easy to sleep in overnight if you have to be ready.
PalladiumBrony
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Re: Cloaks & hoods?

Unread post by PalladiumBrony »

glitterboy2098 wrote:i'm not sure that cloaks would remove the penalties for wind and rain..


Well, I didn't mean all of them. Rain will still make it difficult to see more than a few yards ahead of you (if it's heavy enough), and make movement tricky because the ground is slippery, and mask the sounds of things moving around nearby (which a hood would, from my personal experience, only make significantly worse), but wearing a cloak will keep the rain and wind off your clothes/skin, which keeps you dry, which helps keep you warm - unless it's also really, really cold, then a simple rain cloak won't do anything. For snowy type terrain you're gonna need, at least, a wool or fur-lined cloak, plus other winter clothes.
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