A bit about armor!

[DrukenHammer]

I was starting to work a bit on this last night. In my mock battles, I may have to make weapons a bit stronger... So, um here's what I've got.

Armor: Because you know you need protection…

Okay, so now that we have the most basic of melee weapons ready for your imaginary people to smack other imaginary people with. Now they need to be protected. Of course, the most basic form is stuff that will blunt the force or impact of said smacking mechanisms. That would be armor. Armor can be made in various ways, and out of various materials. However, generally the more protective of armor will cost you elsewhere.

What? What do you mean that’s not fair… It’s called maintaining a balance!

Generally speaking, the heavier the material, the better it will protect you. However, it will also make it much harder to move around. While it will protect you from getting bashed by a club (Vitality Boost), it will make it much harder to get out of the way of such a shot, or to adjust to another position (Dexterity Penalty). Some armor may even be too heavy for your character to wear!

Also, if you’re working on cost, the heavier the armor (…or rarer!) the more expensive it is! Why? Because those kinds of armor cost more to make. Heavier metals are generally rarer to find and harder to work.

Again, just like the weapons section, there are exceptions. “Special” armor can exist in your game world. There may be a magical armor that allows to you to take more punishment in battle and not penalize your movement. But again, a responsible TaleSpinner isn’t going to hand out these kind of things all willy-nilly! You need to have a very, let me emphasize…

VVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

…good reason for having it! If you’re just starting out, responsible TSs will say no eleven times out of ten. (I have seen this done!) Again, that’s just being a big, dumb, jerky-jerky that no one’s going to want to play with. Get it, Junior? Good!

Let’s get into some of the various kinds of armor.

Leather:

Leather is a light material, usually doesn’t add much benefit as far as being able to soak much. However, it is tough and allows for freedom of movement. So, while a clubbing or piercing weapon (i.e.: a thrown dagger or an arrow.) will not be affected by a character wearing it, it will benefit those that will be going up against cutting weapons, like swords.

CL: VIT+0
PI: VIT+0
CU: VIT+1
-----------------
DEX: no penalty.

Lighter Metal:

Lighter metals, like a copper or carbon or graphite or simple chain mail, allow a little more protection than what leather does. However, because it’s much more rigid, it may create a bit of difficulty in trying to do things like dodging attacks. Where it will protect from weapons like swords and arrows, it’s still able to be crushed easier, like a can of Mountain Dew. And if an ogre is swinging around what used to be a stalactite around, your character’s internal organs may be like that citrus tasting goodness sprayed all over the parking lot!

CL: VIT+0
PI: VIT+1
CU: VIT+1
-----------------
DEX: -1, stealth will require an extra ability slot.

Medium Metals:

These are a bit heavier than the lighter metals. They are what people typically imagine when talking about armor. Your Iron Plate Mail can be in here, as well as your typical shield. They can take a bit more abuse, but also further restrict your ability to move quickly!

CL: VIT+1
PI: VIT+2
CU: VIT+2
------------------
DEX: -2, cancels stealth completely.

Heavy Metals:

Okay, put all those death metal CDs away. Because that’s not what we’re talking about! These are extremely protective wears. So… This is like golden armor. Again, if you’re planning on starting out with this, there best be a very…

VVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

…good reason.

CL: VIT+2
PI: VIT+4
CU: VIT+4
-------------------
DEX: -4

Cloth, Rock, Wood are other things I'm working on... so... is it snappy enough?

[Eow]

I really like the sound of it. Can't say I've play Kalarsys enough to tell you much though...

I don't think cloth should be considered an armor though.. Unless it's very..quilted I guess, it won't really help much with anything. Unless it'd be used for absorbing blunt hits? Or possibly used under heavier metals, to keep your armor from injuring you when it gets hit. Again I'm thinking more like quilted cloth, not silky silk or even cotton. It'd be unrealistic to think a cotton shirt would stop that sword at all, unless it was one of them magical armors.

I won't go on too much, I'll leave it to people who've played the game.

[DrukenHammer]

Thought of that too... The only thing that I could really see is that if their were certain cloth materials that had inhanced abilities for magic users only. Adding boosts to concentration or accuracy scores, while moving something else down.

But really, unless our characters are running around entirely in the buff, they already have cloth on...

And things like wood or stone are probably special occasion things. I don't see many beginning characters using stone armor, and wood would be better for sparring than anything.

[DrukenHammer]

Like one of these.

[Eow]

I like that shirt...

But yeah, you could argue that a mage could magically enhance cloth. I imagine just a strengthening spell getting intertwined with the fibers in the shirt. That'd be pretty neat, but more or less up to the Tale Spinner...

As for rock and wood, yeah, special occasion. Since it's special occasion I'd guess the tale spinner would just make up the stats then? Or at least have some base stats I guess. I'll leave stats and stuff up to anyone else who posts, though.

[Zain Winters]

cant say id know much about the stats but it all really sounds good, a much better improvement over our random sheet of misc stuff too, keep at it !, and with cloth it could be a 0 and without could cause negatives to stats?

[Lurid Sorcerer]

Sounds good! Will probably work a bit better than the hacked-up, ad-hoc armour chart that we're currently using just as it is already.