Sonic armor question

[Enuch]

So I was curious, I have a young bard up and am curious when I do begin using sonic armor what do bards do as it relates to their regular Armor. Do they wear nothing? Do they wear robes? I know if you are stunned and the song stops your up shits creek but I was curious from people who actually have and use the spell song as all my thoughts are speculative.

I have a piece of 3x Swcp spiked brig as well so is it even worth it for me I use sonic armor or should I just focus on using a sonic lance?

[MrMortimur]

You can't wear armor and then sing up sonic armor over the top of it. You could wear a chest worn shirt/tunic or some such and still manage to sing up sonic armor. So if the song drops because you are stunned...yes that is a danger of using it. I think you'll find real armor will be your preference until you have the mana to consider wearing sonic armor. Even once you have the mana to run sonic armor you might consider going with something real. I personally love my sonic augmented chain and use it exclusively now at cap and for the 45ish levels prior.

[Enuch]

good to know, I will probably ride out my brig then. I figured there was some mechanics to it but wanted to know a little prior to determine if I wanted to sell off some armor or not.

[MrMortimur]

Biggest pros to sonic armor is that it is
1. lighter than current max light armor. I believe it is 1/4 base weight rather than the 1/2 available to you via merchant lightening so you get improved carrying capacity.
2. free 7x assuming you have 40 bard song ranks which it doesn't sound like you would just yet.
3. elemental resistances at the expense of an impact vulnerability. This would only be a benefit in certain hunting areas of the game, yet always (almost?) having to deal with the penalty of the vuln. You likely also don't have the air lore to really notice or appreciate the improved elemental resistance.
4. Alteration. This is really the reason I always use my sonic armor over real armor...You can make some pretty amazing alterations with sonics that aren't allowed for conventional gear.

Honestly you'll enjoy the usage of the sonic weapon and the double flares more than you'll have any appreciation for sonic armor this early on.

[Ososis]

Interestingly sonic armor can be jiggered (armor supported). Haven't crunched the number to verify it is having an effect, just know it is not considered "not wearing armor you can work with" when I jigger it up. But I probably should as the numbers get strange

any base item weight at 1/4, then subtracting full armor support for the AG, leaves you with negative numbers. Guessing probably half lb minimum?

[kutter]

Maybe as I get closer to cap I will consider using it on my bard, but for now I have a set of max light aug chain that is being enchanted to 7 so I figure that will last as long as I want after 50 trains, maybe forever, who knows if I can get other goodies added to it. Obviously weight is the primary consideration for sung armor, but the extra benefits you can get added to real armor are something to be considered as well.

[Enuch]

good to know, Ill wait until my 50s-60s at least to really utilize it and just rampage with a sonic lance =).

As for sonic alterations, those are specifically merchant only correct, you can't do sonic alterations through premium points?

[MrMortimur]

Correct. You should go attend the one on Friday and either enter if you know that you'll be using a sonic lance for life. Or sit around and watch what the winner creates or look at the other bards and see what they've made prior.

[Whirlin]

Biggest pros to sonic armor is that it is
1. lighter than current max light armor. I believe it is 1/4 base weight rather than the 1/2 available to you via merchant lightening so you get improved carrying capacity.
2. free 7x assuming you have 40 bard song ranks which it doesn't sound like you would just yet.
3. elemental resistances at the expense of an impact vulnerability. This would only be a benefit in certain hunting areas of the game, yet always (almost?) having to deal with the penalty of the vuln. You likely also don't have the air lore to really notice or appreciate the improved elemental resistance.
4. Alteration. This is really the reason I always use my sonic armor over real armor...You can make some pretty amazing alterations with sonics that aren't allowed for conventional gear.

Honestly you'll enjoy the usage of the sonic weapon and the double flares more than you'll have any appreciation for sonic armor this early on.
It's also sonic armor that grants the lack of mana loss on spellsong failure due to hindrance / 0 spellsong RT upon hindrance.

Of all the sonic equipment, I always wore sonic armor, as it would allow me to quickly maximize the armor that I was wearing based on my armor use trains (while I was still working on it)... Mindlessly swapping from ASG 10 to 11 to 12 etc... means I was always maximizing the benefits of my training, maximizing the benefits of sonic armor, etc. Plus, the base enchant is better than sonic weapon/shield.

I actually think waiting on the sonic weapon is a better idea than waiting on sonic armor for this reason... If you're following spell research optimization and going for 1020 then 430, halting at 1020 is equivelent of having a 4x weapon... you could very easily pick up a 4x+ perfect lance, and resell it later on for net 0 monetary impact on the long term, plus, if you're not worrying about air lore training, those TPs can be dedicated towards obtaining a few spell ranks early to get 1020/430 before level 50... After that, you can work on air lore, and more bard ranks, and once that nets out a little bit, time to whip out a sonic weapon, and it'll likely be +30 by then!

[Enuch]

Handy tidbits, yeah I'm not pimping air lore at the moment I'm pumping into telepathy for 25 ranks but I may actually wind it back and save up and get a spell every 2-3 levels and pick up a 4x lance.

[Enuch]

Yup hoping to get to the sonic alteration but will probably miss it because of work, doubt I will make it home in time.

[gilchristr]

Good for group hunting. Also, I can verify that armor support works normaly on it. (you get the full negative 25 pounds of encumbrance for say brig, stacked on top of the negative encumbrance associated with the armor's light weight)

[Ososis]

Good god man!

[Nephelem]

I think for the smaller races who struggle with encumbrance it is a pretty great ability. Having said that, once I crossed over into heavy or better critical padding I never use it anymore. Padding, fusion, Ithzir, etc just becomes too useful at a certain point. My sonic shield will never be replaced though.

[Whirlin]

I think for the smaller races who struggle with encumbrance it is a pretty great ability. Having said that, once I crossed over into heavy or better critical padding I never use it anymore. Padding, fusion, Ithzir, etc just becomes too useful at a certain point. My sonic shield will never be replaced though.

100% agree with you for a swinging bard... Pure bards, the spellsong implications of sonic are just too good to overlook. But even then, that's a good 10m investment to get something truly better. Great if your bard is your only character, but if you have multiple characters, I'd invest elsewhere (like a +13 spell aiming greathelm I picked up for Whirlin instead of upgrading sonic armor!)

I also agree with you that sonic shield is the most powerful of the sonic equipment... The size reduction, paired with bard's naturally high reliance on dodge, is a ridiculously powerful combination. That being said, I have way too much fun with a lance to want to use a sonic shield, but I recognize the power associated with it.

[Whirlin]

I think for the smaller races who struggle with encumbrance it is a pretty great ability. Having said that, once I crossed over into heavy or better critical padding I never use it anymore. Padding, fusion, Ithzir, etc just becomes too useful at a certain point. My sonic shield will never be replaced though.
Yes and no... smaller races have a different modifier for armor encumbrance... Halflings have a .5 worn armor weight modifier... What that means is that the second that the armor is worn, the weight influence is 50%.

So, I know Nephelem already knows this, and it was already referenced in the thread, but lightening on armor is fucking weird. So I'll just explain it again for comprehensiveness' sake.
When armor is worn, if it is at base weight, it is technically weightless for all encumbrance purposes.
But, if armor gets lightened, that lightening grants additional pounds of gear that are ignored for the purposes of encumbrance. But how much is ignored if influenced by a racial modifier.
Halflings have a .5 modifier... So, if I got some half plate lightened from 50 to 40 pounds, that is then modified by a .5 halfling modifier, and would only grant 5 encumbrance reduction, instead of the 10. That being said, yay 5 pounds as a halfling... it may not seem like much, but every little bit helps! But I'm sure everyone thinks that way.

[Nephelem]

With 1030 I have always found hindrance to be the least important of any caster I have played since there is no time lost at all. I guess I should say no RT, there is a slight delay spamming the incant macro I suppose.

[Luxelle]

Remember the one *big* disadvantage to sonic armor is that when you get stunned, your songs won't renew. That will leave you stunned, hurt, AND without sonic armor/shield/whatever you're using. Maybe at higher levels this becomes a non-issue. But I haven't found that level yet...

... from the Bardess who gets stunned a lot. Still.

[Whirlin]

Remember the one *big* disadvantage to sonic armor is that when you get stunned, your songs won't renew. That will leave you stunned, hurt, AND without sonic armor/shield/whatever you're using. Maybe at higher levels this becomes a non-issue. But I haven't found that level yet...

... from the Bardess who gets stunned a lot. Still.
That situation should only occur while also in RT... SHOUT 1040