Having some memory issues, as in i've forgotten something or imagined it :(

I seem to remember reading YEARS ago in LT rules that you could wear a helmet and get armour bonus, without requiring necessary armour use skill.

Now, 2 questions;

1 - out of curiosity, did i imagine this, or did it in fact ever exist?

2 - does it currently exist in the rules


Ta

To get any armour bonus you must have the skill or it counts as an AV of Zero. I can't rememeber if you ever could do that but in 94 (?) your head was imm to damage.

"Armour Skills
With these skills, your character can wear amour and gain protection from wearing it. Armour worn
as costume, without the appropriate skill, offers no protection to your character but still restricts
casting spells as normal."

Pg 48 players v4

So, if you wear a metal helm, but do not have Heavy armour use, it counts as AV 0. Whether you have Heavy Armour Use or not, it counts as Heavy Armour for the purposes of spellcasting, which means you cannot cast Ranged or Mass spells while wearing it unless you have the Transcend Armour or Champion OS.

When they made heads immune to damage (do discourage head hits), you ended up with people parrying with their heads.

The head parry.. oh the numpty factor in all its glory.

That would be massively back in the time of Rules 2 !

some of us are just slow :)

And thats exactly what I was thinking of :)

I started playing in Rules 2, somethings stick in the mind ;)

Rgds

Absolutely - there's been a distinctive trend in recent years for large shield users holding their shield low and repeatedly striking at the top of the head. A lot of event guides do now specifically state that players should refrain from head strikes, but the problem does remain.

From the Combat Safety Rules:

"In the interests of safety, all players should avoid targeting an opponent’s head, if possible, but if necessary, the head is a viable location. Common sense must also dictate that certain other delicate areas of the male and female anatomy should be avoided. Extra care should be taken in large combats with blows to the head, especially with polearms or other large weapons, as this can cause concussion, eye damage or other serious injuries."

As anyone with medical knowledge will tell you, there is no such thing as a "safe" blow to the head. There are only "less risky" blows. And yes, I do report unsafe fighting to the nearest ref/marshall. However, I feel this particular issue is becoming widespread - hence my voicing my concerns here.