Discussion Please stop complaining about plot armour

I'll never understand it. What do you want to happen? Do you want the MC to be perpetually weak and stagnate at whatever level he happens to be at forever? Do you want the MC to just die instead of something saving him? Do you want the novel to just end abruptly because of that, making it an incredibly dedicated shaggy dog story? What is it that you want?

The cold hard fact of the matter is without plot armour, there is no story. The main character dies, that's it. Game over. Nobody wins, and you'll probably complain about that just as much as the plot armour. If the author instead just has the character slowly, SLOWLY grow at a proper pace, you'll complain about the story being too slow paced. If there's a Chekov's gun, you'll complain about it just the same and call it an asspull.

Complaining about the author pushing the story forward with the growth or survival of a character is pure stupidity.

 

I think what people usually complain about is the plot armor that's too obvious, like OP cheat or OP teammate that would always save the day... There won't be any tension then

 

Plot armour shill identified.

 

Please, by all means, show me a single novel that has no plot armour, doesn't drag on for years and is well received.

 

Plot Armor: Sometimes referred to as "Script Immunity" or a "Character Shield", Plot Armor is when a main character's life and health are safeguarded by the fact that he's the one person who can't be removed from the story.

Basically means is that people that said they don't want a MC having no plot armor is basically saying they want the MC dead. End of story.

No, i'm not joking. It literally means what i said. I don't know why people would complain about the plot armor having to exist or not as once someone proclaims a character 'MC', he already has a plot armor the moment he becomes one. It last until either the end of a story or the MC has lost its purpose.

 

The authors can just stop placing the MC's in ludicrous situations that REQUIRE ludicrous levels of plot armour to save them though. You're correct that completely doing away with plot armour is neither feasible nor desirable, but it is entirely possible to maintain the plot armour at reasonable levels.

 

Nobody's complaining about plot armor, per se. Plot armour is like airbag- a necessary safety system to protect occupants in the event of a car crash. Doesn't mean the driver (the protag) should always be driving recklessly just cuz there's always plot armor protecting them from their stupidity.

What readers criticize is plot armor being too obvious or constantly kicking in. If it feels discreet, nobody complains. That simple.

 

if the mc dies in the end, can the plot armor be considered as not exist?

 

either the story is going to end, or the mc would somehow has a chance to be resurrected

 

I hate plot armour. i don't want an mc who survives because the plot demands it.
I want a plot that exists because the mc survived and achieved something.

I want to feel like the mc lived his life and did well, not that a random person is forced to do well because the plot demands it! an mc needs personality, needs to do what he wants, in whatever world he is, and deal with the circumstances.

otherwise, what's the point? if the story is just about him doing ridiculous, unlikely things and always managing because the author makes it so, then he might as well write "the mc was born, got rich, and became god. the end." Where's your sense for the flow of the story? the unexpected twists? the interesting tid-bits that make the mc who he is? the events that shape him, not just because he bulldozered thrugh them, but because he lived trough them?

I'll never understand what's so great about a story that relies only on plot armour. a few strokes of luck are okay, but a whole story of someone finding treasure after treasure unreasonably and with ease will never interest me.

 

This I absolutely agree with. However, the problem is, in my opinion, what makes a good novel is precisely these situations, although toned down. Recently I've started reading SCOG, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I've just passed through

Spoiler

the escape from the research lab, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Some will, and have, complained about the fact that MC could've contacted Kim Hannah, but this escape not only solidified the characters willpower, it helped him to grow as a character, and it reminds the reader that, although this is a fantasy novel at its core, it is very, very real.

, and I would consider this a type of plot armour.

But not only does it serve a purpose, it is a necessary part of a good narrative in this case.

 

I realise I didn't explain it well through my barely disguised ranting, but I don't agree with a novel entirely based on plot armour either. What I find annoying is people who see a character being developed, or, god forbid, surviving a deadly situation, and immediately screech about plot armour.

 

Subaru doesn't have plot armor. Hell, the plot itself kills him over and over. The only armor he has is his wits and inhumane mental fortitude after so many traumatizing ends.

People don't want a Mary Sue character. They want some high risks with high gains kinda of progression.

 

People complain about too obvious plot armor, not plot armor in general.
It’s pretty boring reading a story where the mc constantly creates trouble for him/herselfonly to get saved time after time again.
Once is fine, but some of these MCs get saved from death repeatedly in stupid ways.

Just try reading a CN cultivation story and you’ll see how the MC constantly has a breakthrough just before or even while fighting an enemy many levels stronger and BAM instant win for the MC... The MCs of CN stories constantly either seek trouble or have some arrogant prick who’s weaker seek trouble with them only to then get chased by their family and have a breakthrough.

If you don’t think that plot armor is too obvious, then ood for you I guess, apparently you can completely turn your brain off while “reading” then.

 

well its not about the armor itself
its about gaining anything, no matter how rare, effordlessly within 5 mins after they noticed they need the thing
no other reason involved just: MC needs it, MC gets it
and it gets boring after the 2nd/3rd time makes me see the author as lazy, uninspired or simply bad

 

Isn't his ability to return to life plot armour on its own?

 

Indeed, plot armour can actually be done quite well. A good example would be the Spring Autumn Cicada in Reverend Insanity. That Gu is the virtual embodiment of plot armour, and yet when it's used we don't get irked about it because it's only used when absolutely necessary. After all, it comes at very high risk for the user. Even though we know he's the mc and even if he used it as much as he wanted it would never fail, the fact that it's treated so seriously and yet it still a screamingly obvious form of plot armour just shows how it can be done in a non-irritating way.

 

No, because its Re:Zero. Him dying is considered him failing in that timeline. His plot armor to avoid death are the side characters around him. Plot armor shouldn't be confused with the protagonist role. Plot armor =/= plot device.

 

I love wuxia, xianxia, all that. I enjoy reading deeply into the story, rather than just taking it at face value. When I read these novels, it isn't simply skimming through the words, I thoroughly immerse myself in the novel itself. These sorts of novels are, by nature, slow paced, or rapidly paced, there is very rarely any semblance of a compromise.

Due to, again, the nature of cultivation itself, you have two choices; one, have 5000 chapters of the main character actually taking the 5 years to break through foundation establishment, or two, a fate changing encounter. Which would you prefer? Any other solution to this, other than a time skip, breaks the already established ground rules of cultivation. It takes a long time, unless you're lucky or you're talented.

 

But if he doesn't have that ability then the plot would end after his first death, so it is a plot armor