Linothorax

YouTube disagrees with GURPS.

It happens.

I've watched several videos where cloth and linen armor does better than expected.

There's a bit of an explanation in an optional rule...  I'll get to that.

But one claim that comes up, over and over, is that the linothorax was lighter than a similar level of protection from bronze.

In GURPS a linothorax is either reinforced medium layered cloth, DR 3 with DR 4 vs cutting; G$437.50, 25 lb. or reinforced heavy layered cloth, DR 4 with DR 5 vs cutting; G$750, 35 lb.

DR 4 bronze is medium segmented plate for G$3,600, 24 lb.  Very similar in protection and weight with the medium reinforced cloth!

DR 3 bronze light plate is G$4,000, 8 lb.  No bonus against cutting, but MUCH lighter than reinforced medium cloth.

DR 6 bronze medium plate for G$10,000, 20 lb.  Lighter and better protection than reinforced heavy cloth.

Linothorax is much CHEAPER than bronze armor and probably a lot more comfortable.

Now, that optional rule:  On Low Tech p.102 under Blunt Trauma and Edged Weapons you need to get a hit that punches more than twice the DR to get the bonus from cutting weapons.

So reinforced medium cloth would need a hit of 9 or better to cause actual cutting damage.  A hit of 5-8 is just crushing; it will also fail to reach the skin so no effects from poison and the like.

This optional rule helps explain why cloth armors are performing better in youtube tests than we expected.

DR 2 light layered cloth prevents a cut from up to 4 points of damage, even if the wearer took 2 points of crushing damage from it.  The testing media almost never has a way to measure the impact under the armor and would rule that a no-penetration hit is complete protection.

A ST 12 person swinging a short-sword will do 1d+2 cutting damage and that averages 5 points of damage, so most of the time they're penetrating the light layered cloth and getting the cutting bonus and doing 4 points of damage.  That same hit against reinforced medium cloth will just get one point of crushing damage through (and be ruled as didn't hurt on YouTube).