Lannis
You've yeed your last haw
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It, eh, still sorta/kinda depends with crossbows vs. armor. For one, you'll see varying crossbow strengths, from lighter hunting crossbows to the heavy, windlass-and-two-minute-reload crossbows designed for warfare. More importantly, armor effectiveness varied dramatically across the middle ages as armor technology and metalworking techniques improved. As Gregor has sniped, quality armors were a very solid defense against bows and crossbows.Okay, this
is wrong. The sword blows bit is 100% correct, as swords would slide over the plates if hit too hard, giving a good defense. Crossbow bolts, however, tore through almost /any/ armor due to the strength with which the bolt was propelled and the best metal it would of been made of is thin-ish sheets of steel, which crossbow bolts would of torn /straight/ through. However, people don't seem to understand crossbows either. They are slow to load, with a maximum of 2 bolts being fired per minute, as they were /very/ stiff. They were easy to handle, meaning you didn't need much training to use them, but the sights were not the most accurate and they had about the same kick as a small handgun hitting you in the shoulder. It would also of taken time to get the crossbow aimed unless you had been trained and knew the correct methods to bring it up quickly and fire accurately. However, they do lose power at a range. They are basically the bow equivalent of a shotgun
...Segue/Rant
"Quality armors"are just that- The best of the best, the 1% of medieval armory. Such are a massive pain to make, requiring advanced knowledge of metallurgy and craftsmanship in addition to top-notch resources and an absolute ton of funding. Armor capable of rendering projectiles mostly irrelevant would be, as Greg said, the equivalent of purchasing a tank in modern times. Yer average Joe is going to have a snowball's chance in hell of even getting his hands on a set, much less one that's properly fitted. The highest armor tiers are pretty much reserved for lords and their very-small cadre of elite knights, those that they like enough to spend a fortune on. Shameless plug here, but preferably, if y'want this stuff IC you should find a smith to do it who actually knows what they're doing OOC, as it bothers me to no end when smiths pull the, "*Clang clang, full plate popped out from this steel ingot 'cause I'm an expert*" card.
If you say you have full plate of the highest caliber from yer backstory, unbridled rage comes a'flowin', and I will find some excuse to take a trip to yer town and pummel you to back to an appropriate tech level. Don't do that.
Cheers~