Armour in the Wizarding World

[Tim the Enchanter]

The most effective armor for the modern wizard would be something like dragon and/or giant skin (I remember spells sliding off of Hagrid; correct me if I'm wrong) backed by ceramic plates and Kevlar. That takes things like Stunning/Binding/whatever minor combat spells out of the equation. The ceramic plates/Kevlar takes care of the physical stuff getting tossed around.

I disagree that armor would be useless. Kevlar can stop 9 mils and trauma plates can stop 7.62x39mms but do absolutely nothing against armor-piercing or .30-06 rounds. And yet ballistic vests are standard issue among police and military forces. Sure, magical armor probably couldn't stand up to Unforgivable caliber spells, but they do offer protection against lesser spells that tend to assist in the death of an opponent. The Body-Binding Curse for example. You take whatever protection you can get.

Besides, if your opponent is accurate enough to Transfigure the armor you're wearing, he's accurate enough to hit the unarmored torso with an equivalent spell. Say, throw a clot in your brain and cause you to stroke out of combat. Or, if we want to keep with the Transfiguration theme, he could transfigure the air in your lungs to sand. Or just a plain ol' Killin' Curse. Provided that the armor doesn't impede your movement and isn't too heavy (and let's face it, all that can be handwaved away with magic), then you might as well go with the extra peace of mind.

I think that cleverly designed armour can have a place in the modern wizarding world, but I doubt it would include Kevlar or ceramic plates. I'd imagine wizards would have no idea what Kevlar even is, and wouldn't see any reason to use dragon hide instead. Similarly, I don't think wizards would really grasp the protective potential of ceramics - they'd probably think it's a stupid idea to make armour out of hardened clay plates, essentially.

There was one armour suit I read about in some fanfic - it was dragon scale interwoven with Demiguise hair (same stuff invisibility cloaks are made of), so it offered good protection against mid-range curses and made the wearer harder to see by distorting (but not completely concealing) the parts of the body covered by the armour.

Tim the Enchanter

[OliveOil_Med]

My guesses also would that any armor wizards do have would be something form-fitting that could be hidden under their robes, just because we don't see any real descriptions of it in the books. Kind of like how we are pretty sure wizards wear underwear, even though it is never actually described in the series.

And Tim certainly seems to be putting a lot of thought into this concept. Could it be something we will be seeing in a story about 'the greater good'?

[Tim the Enchanter]

Kind of like how we are pretty sure wizards wear underwear, even though it is never actually described in the series.

Or DO THEY? As far as we know, only Severus Snape ever wore underpants!

And Tim certainly seems to be putting a lot of thought into this concept. Could it be something we will be seeing in a story about 'the greater good'?

Perhaps...

With what I'm planning, the German won't wear anything more complicated than vests made of dragon or Graphorn hide, with protective spells and such applied. However, I imagine the crucial edge Grindelwald's men have would be their mobility. I have them equipped with military-grade racing brooms to outpace and outmanoeuvre their enemies in fights, and have them extensively use Portkeys to appear inside areas normally protected against Apparation, and such.

Tim the Enchanter

[angelicxdiscord]

I think that cleverly designed armour can have a place in the modern wizarding world, but I doubt it would include Kevlar or ceramic plates. I'd imagine wizards would have no idea what Kevlar even is, and wouldn't see any reason to use dragon hide instead. Similarly, I don't think wizards would really grasp the protective potential of ceramics - they'd probably think it's a stupid idea to make armour out of hardened clay plates, essentially.
Tim the Enchanter

Sorry, you're correct; I'm still stuck thinking within the confines of my fic. But don't forget, armor comes in flavors besides plate; goblin-wrought chainmail would be a pretty good candidate when backed by giant/dragon skin.

I was wondering another thing on the subject of protection. Would carrying a shield be effective? I know physical objects stop the Killing Curse, but it seems like clothing/armor doesn't really have an effect. Sure, the AK would probably shatter the shields (or you could make it Unbreakable through magical means... don't know how feasible that is), so it would be a one time use thing, but blocking the Killing Curse even once would be more than worth the effort in lugging it around.

[leahsm2]

Well, related to the subject of magical armour, what about magical weapons like the Sword of Godric Gryffindor? Why would Gryffindor need a sword, considering that magic wands are exceptionally powerful and far more versatile?

Tim the Enchanter

Not to go too far off topic, but where'd all the headless, or nearly headless as the case may be, apparitions come from if swords aren't useful weapons against wizards? Especially since only the magical can become ghosts?

[Inverarity]

Not to go too far off topic, but where'd all the headless, or nearly headless as the case may be, apparitions come from if swords aren't useful weapons against wizards? Especially since only the magical can become ghosts?

Sir Nick was nearly-beheaded in a botched execution, not in combat.

I'm sure a wizard could be killed with a sword, but you'd have to sneak up on him.

(Or be Conan.)

[OliveOil_Med]

Sir Nick was nearly-beheaded in a botched execution, not in combat.

Yeah, I think J.K. talked about this in an interview. Nick was found out as a wizard, and somehow, they got his wand away from him and that was how he was able to be exicuted by Muggle means. Oh! And when it did try to cut off his head, they missed just a little bit of his neck, but obviously not enough for him to have survived.

[leahsm2]

Sir Nick was nearly-beheaded in a botched execution, not in combat.

I'm sure a wizard could be killed with a sword, but you'd have to sneak up on him.

(Or be Conan.)

I think they were all executed. That was my point. An execution is a planned death. A ghost is someone who didn't want to die. The fact that they were able to man teams of some macabre polo game or whatever with the unwillingly dead who were killed against their will with swords means that there was some significance to the deaths and the method chosen, I would think.

Yeah, I think J.K. talked about this in an interview. Nick was found out as a wizard, and somehow, they got his wand away from him and that was how he was able to be exicuted by Muggle means. Oh! And when it did try to cut off his head, they missed just a little bit of his neck, but obviously not enough for him to have survived.

I believe he botched a bit of cosmetic magic on a royal and was sentenced to death, and died, admittedly by an unpracticed hand.