Saw this bad boy on one of the History channels the other day. Its a silk, cloak-like garment worn by mounted samurai. When the samurai are riding, the silk billows out behind them, hopelessly entangling and deflecting arrows. When tested on the show, only a couple out of ten or so arrows, shot by an expert archer, even pierced the thing, and none did any harm to the rider!
Horo - 10gp
This light silk cloak is worn when mounted, and is often embroidered with the sigil of the wearer. It conveys to its wearer an AC of 2 vs. missile attacks from the rear.
What a brilliant item, way to bring it into the game Al. I wonder if it would slow the rider to any significant degree?
ReplyDeleteThat is really cool.
ReplyDeleteDomo arigato gozaimasu, Al.
@ze bulette - it didn't on the show, it seemed to have plenty of openings to reduce drag :)
ReplyDelete@Mr. Roper - Dō itashi mashite!
An amazing defense. So very asian, turning a soft item into an effective defense. I saw the same Discovery program and was amazed.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of it being used as a defense. I had always that that the defensive version was actually a piece of armor named after the banner it resembled.
A skilled archer would just shoot the horse !
ReplyDeleteAccording to John Keegan (The Face of Battle),
the reason the French lost the battle of Agincourt was the vulnerability of their mounts.
Unwilling to risk, their valuable steeds, the French knights dismounted and marched across the muddy field of Agincourt where they fell easy prey to the English longbow and light infantry.
That Welsh Longbow was probably the best weapon designed in Europe in that period. I bet you a good English Longbowman could pin a Samurai to his horse.
ReplyDeleteThe Welsh Longbow was an excellent weapon, BUT
ReplyDeleteit required years of training
(practicing 'on mark');
therefore,
the crossbow which had more power & less range,
was the preferred medieval ranged weapon because it required less time to obtain proficiency.
The crossbow was the preferred weapon of Richard the Lion-hearted.
The original Oriental Adventures book for AD&D had rules for the horo, I believe. You could also buy a frame to make it effective when the horse was not moving.
ReplyDeleteYou can find more information here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.printsofjapan.com/Index_Glossary_Hil_thru_Hor.htm
Just scroll down to the bottom of the page.
Saludos!
You know, I just realized that Mike Davison's (S&W compatible) Ruins & Ronin had this written up. He too gave it a cost of 10gp, but opted for +1/-1 AAC/AC respectively. Just wanted to give him some props here too. :)
ReplyDeleteHey, I get the same effect wearing too big floppy jacket on my motorcycle! Good to know that I no longer have to worry about arrows in the back.
ReplyDelete