Tailoring clothes with magic properties

KlepticBhaalspawn

So lets say I have a Thief/Mage that wants to wear mage robes- but because of their typical length, they're a bit difficult to sneak around in.
Would tailoring the robes for a more appropriate length mess with the magical properties of the robe at all?

For reference, this is a Robe of the Neutral Archmagi that she'd be getting tailored.

DJKajuru

Cool illustration!

Well, I didn't find anything about it but as a houserule I would consider that "normal" magic items could be tailored as as long as you used some thread that was inlaid with magic. Another possibility is to make ot only able to be done by a taylor who's also a magic user and knows how magic clothes are created. Superior robes such as the archmage robe seem to powerful for major interventions , perhaps it would require the same level of power of its original maker.

Tarlugn

Firstly I think such fitting would make the wearer more agile, then thought what if the pattern has to be in specific proportions to become the desired product, like Robe of Fire Resistance, for example. Thirdly, I thougt of all the wizards et al robe-wearing magic users in Faerun and came to conclusion that either the robes as such are one size fits all kind of magic uniforms, or then each one is modified to fit it´s wearer.

winters

Oh, that's the problem I myself ran into! This is a great topic, thank you. I have a tendency to create multi/dual-class/multiple classes characters, both in BG and all variants of Dungeons and Dragons, one of them almost always being an arcane spellcaster, so deciding what should they wear is a rollercoaster every time.

Settings evolve in terms of mechanics, and design evolves with them. Baldur's Gate mechanically belongs to AD&D era, but let's use Third Edition as point of origin (mostly because I prefer to pretend that Fourth doesn't exist, and Fifth is great, but doesn't fit chronologically at all).

So, let's look who do we have there.

Khelben in overly proper robes,


Simbul in ripped ballgown with crazy cleavage,


Elminster who apparently stole some peasant's pants (and boots too),


Sememmon being stylish as all Hells,


Gromph in what is at least partially armour,


and finally, Manshoon wearing what looks like less revealing version of Lady Gaga's raw meat dress.


I think it's safe to assume that each and every one of those individuals wears some variant of a mage robe, and they span from orthodox, to mad (Manshoon, I am looking at you). They're all more than less sweeping, more than less covering (depends which body part, though, but when it comes to general area, yeah) and rather fabric, but specific ratios, styles and materials vary a lot. There might be an advantage to wearing clothes that yell SPELLCASTER!, it has certain psychological effect (fake mages are a cool idea too), but on the other hand, some mages would prefer not to be very open about who they are, and at the same time wear clothes that allow them to cast spells... I know that this post doesn't answer any question, but I hope that the discussion will continue, so, have some food for thought :]

deltago

Here is my suggestion.

The robes are tailor made when you purchase them from High Hedge.

It explains why a gnome and human can both wear the same robes.

I am also a fan of magical attire "fitting" the wearer's taste the first time they put the item on with a magical mental mending spell. This allows loot to fit properly.

Tarlugn

Well, from just a game mechanical viewpoint, encountering mages usually ends in two ways: either you do something quickly and end the threat, or do nothing and fall under crowd control. Most basic countermove is to scatter the party in all directions, so that prefeably few, if any party members at all, suffer the effects of aoe with discernable radius. Just hearing magic words makes me agitated, and usually one can guess what spell is about to land. Now thinking of ninja mages which would totally do their thing succesfully without giving a warning signals in either clothing or incantation could very well be the next step in magic fashion.

abacus

What's the point of being a Wiz(z)ard if you don't advertise?

winters

Well, some wiz(z)ards prefer not to, especially if they have their fingers in too many pies.

And as for magic vs legality and social image matters, Forgotten Realms is much more complicated and rich than what's shown directly in Baldur's Gate saga, although some aspects of that seep through the simplifications the of computer game form. Magic is used for everything, from architecture to fashion, and in most areas mages aren't automatically seen as threat, that would be simply counterproductive. Adventurers, vagabonds and people who don't focus on magic entirely, despite being pretty experienced overall - that's what's suspicious, because who knows where their loyalties lie!

DrakeICN

I think weapons robes are made of velvet. No, not party dress velvet, but heavy curtain velvet. It's difficult to cut, because it isnt tense, so when the weapon hit the cloth is just kind moved back instead, and the weight provides a lot of inertia, reducing the speed of the incoming attack, so that it only grazes you, if even that, if it does hit. It would work also against slingshots, but it wont do shit against sharp projectiles, of course, since they will pierce the cloth even if it is not tense.

The robes also over-cover the wearer, so that it is difficult to discern exactly where under all of these layers the skinny mage actually is - and since arrows and bolts only have a tiny pointy impact area, this is why it also protects against missiles. You would stab/shoot the air plenty of the time, like a permanent blur spell or something. As can be seen in the pictures, some of these robes are also interlaced with armor plates. I would guess light material is used for those, like bone probably. (According to DnD lore explaining why armor interferes with spell-casting, you need to move very freely for the complex movements necessary to channel magic. However, I, me, personally have also always considered the magnetic properties of iron to interfere with magic, which is why mages likes staffs - no iron - and daggers - very little iron. Fighter/thief mages simply keep the blade pointing away while spellcasting, so that it is on a distance where it does not interfere significantly.)

Add to this magical threads, runes and whatnots used to support the tensile strength of the of the robes and hardness of interlaced plates, and yes, AC of 5 is really not unrealistic at all, considering how non-magical cured leather have AC 7.

The only robe I have a heard time imagining to do anything at all is the dirty shower curtain Simbul is wearing.

Now, tailoring the robe in the fashion you have proposed, you could move about any magical threads and runes, but it would remove the protection offered by the thick velvet - it is now tense - and it would remove the difficulties discerning the exact location of the mage - it no longer hangs and flows, confusing your exact position.

Thus, my guess is that you must add more bone plates*, like Gromph, to compensate. Note that (other than Simbul) he is the only mage whose robes do not hang and flow - obviously this is why he added plates!
Hope that was helpful!

*Or maybe silveroak, I think that is really hard but not very heavy, so that could also work. But the absolutely best would of course be sliced dragon scales (complete dragon scales would be to heavy for spellcasting), woven in a layer pattern, like splint mail. Or, I guess, sliced ankheg plates, because that is probably easier to come by.

winters

I totally support the idea that Gromph added some bone plates to his custom made robes! I'd theorise that he used giant beetle, or umber hulk parts for that. If I remember properly, they're an item you can pick in IWD, but none of the merchants crafts armour from them, but this might simply require magical skills (which Gromph obviously possesses) due to very unique umber hulk qualities. Another fact to support it - Malavon, who's also a drow wizard, wears (and later drops, ehehe) this:





It has pretty awesome AC and some very special anti-umber hulk qualities (AC 3, +10% magic resistance, +2 save versus spells, Non-detection, Immunity to Umber Hulk Gaze). Coincidentally, it's Umber Hulk-coloured too.