Shardplate

Shardplate is a suit of magical full-body armor that grants its wearer immense strength, protection, and endurance, and which together with the Shardblade forms the panoply of a Shardbearer -- the most powerful warriors on Roshar. Shardplate is among the most prized possessions in the world of The Stormlight Archive.

Description

Shardplate is a suit of plate armor that glows faintly along the seams when active. It vastly enhances the wearer's strength, allowing them to perform feats impossible for an ordinary person -- shattering stone, leaping great distances, and trading blows that would kill an unarmored man. The Plate protects against Shardblades, one of the few defenses that can. When struck hard enough, sections of Plate crack and leak light, and a sufficiently damaged suit will shatter.

Mechanics

Shardplate is powered by Stormlight stored in gemstones set into the armor. As the Plate takes damage and exerts force, it consumes this Stormlight, and the gems must be recharged in the highstorms. Damaged Plate regrows and repairs itself over time when supplied with Stormlight, slowly knitting cracks closed.

Origin

Like Shardblades, the Shardplate scattered across Roshar dates to the age of the Knights Radiant before the Recreance. The deeper nature of Plate is tied to the Spren and the bonds of the Radiants, and the reborn orders of Radiants are able to manifest living Plate of their own, distinct from the inherited "dead" suits passed down as heirlooms of war.

Significance

Shardplate, with the Shardblade, makes its bearer worth an army and turns the possession of these relics into a matter of national power and intrigue across Roshar.