reg said:

They above is a very good example of what-not-to-do. Punishing a player for taking a perfectly legitimate career will only breed resentment.

macd21 said:

On the other hand, the premise could make for a fun one night socially inclined adventure, where the PCs have to debunk some scam artist laying claim to his armor, or figure out who in town was stealing expensive suits of armor and reselling them to adventurers and the like.

I agree, however, that actually taking away a character's belongings for more than a night is the worst kind of thing you can do to a player whom has done nothing to deserve it. I had a GM for a time who make frequent use of this scheme to rid us of powerful items and years later the thought of it still frustrates me. Anytime a scenario begins with "I'll take something away from the player here", stop and rethink your approach.

If the character's armor is actually bringing down the enjoyment of the game in some way - and you can't come up with good way around it - then take the player aside and talk to him about it. Tell him you'd like to come up with an in-game reason to reduce his armor's efficacy until higher level, such as having it damaged in an epic battle, and offer him something rp related in exchange. (ex. In that epic battle he saves a merchant who henceforth gives him discounts on anything he sells, or an innkeep who gives him free room and board for saving his inn, a bard who sings songs about his exploits and spreads his fame, etc.)

He's a dwarf ... and he's wearing "strange" full plate armor.

Those are two built in big negatives IMO to nearly every social situation the PCs will encounter. He's got a plus in combat, sure, but when he's got like 4 misfortune dice to social interactions with most humans while wearing the armor, it all balances out in the end.

As mentioned, though, feel free to use Pierce weapons or actions that are able to ignore armor. Give some enemies Trollfeller Strike to use against the IB, for example.

Just one last thought about plate armour and gromril armour.

WFRP is set in a premodern renaissance setting, right when the pike and handgun were coming into their own, but before the demise of plate armoured cavalry. The sweet spot in history where gunpowder meets chivalry. Of course, this being the Old World, maybe because of magic, runes or whatnot, the knight will never become obsolete and the gun will forever remain fickle, unstable and a force as any other on a battlefield.

My point is: the rules make historical fact come alive pretty well in WFRP. When plate became the norm, two-handed swords, halberds and pikes also became the norm. The shield became less common. A fully armoured man-at-arm wielding a 2H sword and using the Thunderous Blow action is capable of hurting the Ironbreaker. And that is exactly what the battlefields looked like, men-at-arms wilding 2h swords, 2h warhammers, picks and such. Just try it in the game and see what happens. I think the rules will deliver what you are looking for.

Another great thing about having a heavy-tank-dude in the party is that I (as a GM) can throw my most awsome attacks from the big bad monsters in the game just to show the players: "Hey, look how much damage this one can do to you!" When everyone else starts thinking "Oh, I'd be dead if that attack had hit me." they get nervous and cautious, and that's exactly what I want. Big, bad, evil monsters should be frightening, and hitting the tank with the best attack (and of cause using agression dice secretly) creates this fear in the players. It also gives them a sense of acomplishment and victory when/if they win.

dvang said:

...or he gets a couple of extra fortune dice to represent that he's a dwarf and clearly an important one. An Empire human is as likely to be in awe of a dwarf as he is to dislike him. Those humans who have little or no contact with dwarfs (village peasants) probably only know of them from religious stories about Sigmar - which paint the stout folk in a very positive light.

It's not like he's an elf.