Medvekoma

@NekkoREEEEE First of all, my status / the discussion here isn't about implementing Faraday suit lore and therefore remove all damage of electricity on armoured foes. Second, it wouldn't be meta because that's how physics works ;p

It's just an observation of a less-known fact that ruins one of the major fantasy clichés. Most games/worlds give electricity anti-armour capabilities where with RL physics it'd be less effective on chainmail/platemail than on any other non-metal armour.

Kind-of an observation like how nobody knew in the gun thread that flintlocks have to be primed. Or my observation of people walking around with stringed bows.

I'd recommend against testing it against a calldown. Super-heated air and stuff, nevermind that the sheer joules probably would be enough to cook you in that metal on its own.

@Murdervish If a lighning mage is capable of unleashing electricity equal to the output of Hoover Dam, it'd heat up a 5kg chestplate by 0.0014K.

If a lightning mage is capable of unleashing electricity equal to the power of two(!) lightning strikes, that could heat up a 5kg chestplate by 32K. And that in fact would be warm/hot, and could in theory cause damage.

But if you let a fire mage release the same energy in joules as it'd take for a lightning mage to strike with the strength of two lightning bolts, then the fire mage would be able to heat up a 30 cubic metres area of air (taken a mean 2kj/kg heat capacity) to the temperature of the sun's core and kickstart fusion mid-air, or mid-Oren.

No. Unless you specify, like previously mentioned, that lightning magic surpasses physics, you won't ever be able to heat up an armour enough to cause anything but uncomfortable warmth. That's the point of the whole Faraday cage thing.

If lightning could heat up metal that easily, how would lightning rods work? They transfer the energy of a lightning bolt for tens of metres without melting, and only heating up 10K-20K.

*** All calculations based on Joule heating, Faraday's resistance, Ohm resistance and thermodynamics of heat capacity, with data googled up.