Magic-users, armor, and weapons

It is well known throughout the Sigg that magic-users are incapable of donning metallic armor. During their time studying and researching dark magics, they tainted themselves with the blood of fae. This causes them to receive significant rashes, burns, and contact scaring from wearing armor for more than a few minutes due to a reaction to True Iron. Furthermore their delicate and precise gesticulations would be far too inhibited by wearing even the lightest of leather armors.

A magic-user forgoes nearly all weapons. Those that they may carry are often weapons of convenience rather than those of war. The staff, being a weapon used to help channel specific spells (often made from black locust), or a dagger for letting blood, chopping reagents, or processing ingredients for various spell requirements. A magic-user who attempts to wield a weapon further will find them unwieldy. For a magic user to become proficient with such an implement would require training that leads them away from mastery of their spells resulting in the dual-class option.

"The people of Baza-ul call him the Blood Drinker. A strange hermit who lives the deep wood. High up in a tower of hewn granite. The villagers tell me he has lived there for many generations and keeps to himself, save for once a year when he calls on the elders to select the most able-bodied of the young men and deliver the candidate to the tower. The elders say he is ancient beyond comprehension, kept alive by dark arts. He shuns metal and weaponry, forcing the elders to leave their swords at the door. He claims the wicked substances within the swords cause him to break out in boils and blisters at the slightest touch." -- Excerpts from 'Witchery and its Ilk', in the Scripta Rota.