Wizards: Dress Sense

[Doubtful]

OK, seeing as the great Dwarves v Elves battle is now pretty much over I thought it might be nice to take a look at a different section of our fantasy land.

The Robe Issue.

There are some situations where Robes are a given; ceremonial usage, cultural attire, a desire to look important or powerful and for children.

Buut.. When it comes to adventuring and life away from the office I've always seen traditional mage/clerical attire as impractical, if not outright dangerous.

But what's your opinion?

Do you see mages robes as childish throwbacks wearing dresses so they don't make to much of a mess when they soil themselves in a fight, or is it an all important symbol of the power of magedom?

Should clerics keep to vestments, cassocks and gowns, or is heavy armour how you see your ideal cleric, or perhaps there's some middle ground?

As before, feel free to post pictures, stories and whatever in order to inspire and sway people to your point of view - What does your ideal mage and cleric wear?!

[thaelis]

By the Gods, thank you!

Super powerful magical robes of awesomeness? Yes please. Looking like Cinderalla on her way to the ball? No thanks!

Normal clothing models for some of the robes would be splendorific.

[Cornuto]

Pants. Must have pants.

[[DM] Grinning Death]

But you can't beat the breeze, you know?

[KingArthur]

Real men wear robes. Only weaker people would need armor to hide behind when you have arcane magic. Wearing armor as a wizard is saying you have no faith in magic to protect you.

[Fezzik]

Robes make more sense in my mind not just for the hey! You must be a Mage but also for the shear practicality of them. Robes are comfortable and easy to maneuver in. They ate warm when they need to be an are cool when they need to be. You can hide things in them like reagents and potions. Even a good set o lf cargo pants can't hold as much as a huge cloth bucket with pockets and pockets and more pockets on top of pockets (unless the pants are made by a wizard named Tilley)

[Gamling]

When I play my cleric he wears robes when attending court, or any other kind of formal occasion. When he gives sermons or attends church he is robed. But when he is headed into battle he is armored up.

[Gamling]

To elaborate I feel that buff-and-kill clerics who wear armor are all fine and dandy as long as you do not ignore your priestly duties to your god such as converting followers, inspiring the ones who already follow your god and generally tending to the flock in any way they can.

[Intrepid42]

Traditionally IRL in days gone past pants were very much avoided by folks of a certain station as they were held to be the clothing of the "commonfolk". For specialised activities requiring a certain degree of ruggedness, unnecessarily complicated (and expensive) options, such as breeches for horse-riding, saw favor.

Robes, and all your non-pants clothing options such as dresses and stockings, presumedly looked very fine by the standards of the day. However, you can't beat pants (aka trousers) for their practicality and hard-wearing qualities.

What do the mages want to wear? Well, they could be boring and sensible and go for trousers, and lose all that panache and heritage.

Or, they could take a leaf from history and go for something overly-complex and expensive. Use a pants model, but pretend it's a special "expeditionary robe", with tie-down straps and side gussets. Put something in the item description and use gaudy models with bits hanging off the sides (belt pouches perhaps) to make it clear these Red Wizards may be out climbing mountains, but they're doing it in STYLE.

[Cornuto]

Srsly, put some pants on 'em.

First one is a nice robes/pants compromise.

[thaelis]

Srsly, put some pants on 'em.

.

Whilst in most scenarios I'd be voting pants off, in this case I'm 100% with Corny. Pants for the win!

[Sparkie]

First off, fuck pants. Robes provide not only more freedom, but they also never cut off circulation to your joy department. Seeing as wizards also use their robes as wearable filing cabinets, they have great use for any who have things they need stored or hidden. A thief could make great use of robes, a cleric for cerimonial purposes has a use for robes, and if that cleric is also a wizard, those usages sky-rocket, making them invaluable. Almost any class that would find they need to hide stuff or just keep a lot of crap with them at all times would find that robes are probably the most utalitarian clothing you can find that is also comfortable. Not only that, but guys in robes are a bit more courageous in my opinion, with them free balling in the middle of a fight. Well, that's my opinion, feel free to try to tell me why I'm wrong.

[thaelis]

Almost any class that would find they need to hide stuff or just keep a lot of crap with them at all times would find that robes are probably the most utalitarian clothing you can find that is also comfortable.

You know what, you're right. Robes should be standard issue for all military units in the world!

I mean, aside from those "utilitarian" benefits like increased air circulation and many pockets, how freaked out would you be seeing a squad of these guys running at you?



Unless their robes got caught on something or got under their own feat of course, thus sending them sprawling on the floor. Minor detail.

[Maevan2]

Robes win. Period

[Cornuto]

"Hi, I'm Manshoon, the supreme leader of Bane's armies. Aren't I extra oppressive and intimidating with my jewelry, jazz hands, and Liberace robes?"

"... why are you laughing?!"




Hurr durr, robes.