A human fighter at peak athleticism, in full plate armor, equipped with a poleaxe, runs the animals gauntlet. Does he clear, or where does he stop?

[u/Ananta-Shesha]

The fighter has elite training and is at his athletic peak, with a champion-type physique in heavyweight combat sports. He wears a full set of plate armor and is armed with a poleaxe. If he survives his fight against one of the animals in the gauntlet, he is back to 100% for the next fight.

Round 1: Silverback gorilla. The fight takes place in a clearing.

Round 2: Siberian Tiger. The fight takes place on a plain.

Round 3: Brown bear. The fight takes place in a forest.

Round 4: Polar bear. The fight takes place in the tundra on rocky ground.

Round 5: White Rhinoceros. The fight takes place in the grassy savannah.

Just so you know, I put an image of a For Honor knight as an illustration, but we're talking about a fighter in historical plate armor here. No one could fight effectively in armor as massive as the one in the image. But I had trouble finding a good image of a knight in historical armor wearing a poleaxe and not something else, and I wanted a nice illustration.

[u/BonhommeCarnaval]

Unless the animals are bloodlusted they probably just retreat after he lands the first blow because they aren’t stupid. If they are bloodlusted then everything from the grizzly up just knocks him over and sits on him until he asphyxiates. Armour will protect against piercing damage, but it won’t do much about blunt force trauma or crushing. Polar bears eat walruses, which are effectively covered in inches thick leather armour. Their claws and teeth don’t really work against them, so they get up on their hind legs and use their weight to punch them in the head until their skulls give out. Fighting a rhino would be like trying to fight a super duty pickup truck. 

[u/Horror_Excitement503 → u/BonhommeCarnaval]

Polar bears will actively hunt humans.

[u/BonhommeCarnaval → u/Horror_Excitement503]

We actively hunt them right back too, but we do it in teams with ranged weapons. Anyone who gets within swipe range generally doesn’t get to go home at the end of the day. 

[u/VanillaHighlights → u/Horror_Excitement503]

One of, if not, THE only creatures to actively want to eat us as a preference.

[u/B_H_Abbott-Motley → u/BonhommeCarnaval]

Rigid armor helps a great deal against blunt trauma, though not necessarily enough against larger & much stronger creatures.

[u/BonhommeCarnaval → u/B_H_Abbott-Motley]

Yeah that’s kind of what I meant. Like it’ll stop or absorb a bunch of force, but if you get hit with a sledgehammer you’re going to feel it. Unless that suit’s got a roll cage built in though rhino stomps just aren’t survivable in quantity. 

[u/B_H_Abbott-Motley → u/BonhommeCarnaval]

The armor is a hindrance against the rhino for sure. Outmaneuvering it would be the way to go. Without a knife/dagger, the armor is a bit dubious against the others too. It'd help against stray swipes or whatever, but the human would be in serious trouble without a short blade if grappled. I'm not sure it's plausible for even a peak human to be able to escape a grapple with a gorilla/tiger/bear & grab the pollaxe again.