Armor Question

[Dugoar]

I am just returning back to Gemstone after nearly 8 years of absence :) Had a few questions about armor.

I know full plate covers from head to toe. Does this mean I cannot wear a separate helmet?

If I can wear a helmet which is considered when I'm hit in the head, the one built into the full plate or the separate one?

If I was wearing Half Plate would I need protection for my head, feet, and hands to make it equal to full plate? If that is the case and I am wearing all of those items would it be equivalent of wearing Full Plate for Rt considerations, etc?

I am just trying to get a grasp on how armor coverage actually works.

[Kitsun]

If you are wearing full plate, you can still wear armor accessories over it for aesthetic purposes. If they're both normal armor then nothing happens. If you're wearing padded base armor and non-padded helm then it should take the padding into consideration. If you're wearing flaring armor and a non-flaring helm then get hit in the head, then it won't flare.

If you wear a partial armor class like Half plate; it covers everything but head/neck with plate coverage and the head/neck with the armor group below it (chain). If you wear half-plate with a helm, it will give plate coverage all over but you'll be missing the CvA.

[Gnomad]

If you wear half-plate with a helm, it will give plate coverage all over but you'll be missing the CvA.That doesn't mean go out and buy a new suit of armor - it's a 1 point CvA difference between half and full plate.

Just make sure your armor's enchanted. That will really affect the CvA; I think non-magic vs magic armor gets up to almost a 10 point difference by plate.

[Latrinsorm]

Magical armors of the plate armor group have a CvA 8 lower than mundane armors.

Half plate "covers" everything below the neck. Feet are not a body part that can be hit in GemStone, and half plate does cover the hands.

More broadly, this is how armor coverage works:

1) The armor group of the torsoworn armor determines the Damage Factor for all hits. Thus, wearing metal breastplate would generate the Plate DF for every hit, regardless of body part hit. The same is true for AvD, CvA, and armor base weight.
2) Hindrance (of all kinds) is determined in the worst possible way. What this means is that if a character wears a metal breastplate and a helm, he or she is considered to be hindered as if wearing full plate.
3) Crit divisor is determined in the following way:
a) An area "uncovered" by the torsoworn armor generates the crit divisor of the next lower armor group. For instance, wearing metal breastplate will generate Chain crit divisors for all body parts not on the torso.
b) Should an "uncovered" area be covered by an armor accessory (of any material), it will generate the crit divisor of the torsoworn armor. Returning to the example of a metal breastplate and a wooden helm, the character would have Plate crit divisors on the chest, abdomen, back, head, and neck (note that not all helms cover the neck as well as the head) and Chain crit divisors on the legs and arms.

The upshot of this is there is no mechanical armor benefit to wearing accessories over "full" coverage armor. One can derive some benefit by adding padded or flaring accessories to plain armor, but nothing that will affect basic armor mechanics.

[Dugoar]

So if my main concern was being able to remove my helm when outside of combat as an RP thing then going with full plate and just wearing a helm for looks would be my best bet?

If I chose to wear half plate with a helm the difference from wearing full plate would be negligable? Assuming the helm and the plate have the same flare/padding?

Also can helms be enchanted?

[Peanut Butter Jelly Time]

Helms/Bracers/Greaves/etc can be enchanted, as far as I know, or at least can be bought as such. On top of that, I believe if you have padded base armor, any armor pieces that you add on top of it will not degrade the padding, as the system only takes the highest source of padding for that area into account. Quite sure that if it's half plate that is padded, the padding wouldn't translate over to any helmet you put on, though. Either way, you're probably better off just getting full plate, and altering it down to something that doesn't infer head protection, if you just want to give the appearance of half plate. The best way I can think of to do that, is to simply elaborate on other parts of the armor, and leave nothing said about any head protection.

[Latrinsorm]

So if my main concern was being able to remove my helm when outside of combat as an RP thing then going with full plate and just wearing a helm for looks would be my best bet?Yes.
If I chose to wear half plate with a helm the difference from wearing full plate would be negligable?You will lose 6 AvD and 1 CvA and gain a tiny amount of Dodge DS and however much your helm weighs in encumbrance (which could eat up that Dodge DS you just got).

The enchant of a helm has 0 impact on DS.

Padded half plate will provide that padding to the head unless it is covered by a helm with a special ability that is not the same type of padding. Adding a vanilla helm will do nothing to any pre-existing padding.

[Dugoar]

another armor related question. Is there a list somewhere that shows how many armor ranks each type of armor requires? Also is there a point when training in armor use is no longer giving any benefit?

[Celephais]

http://www.krakiipedia.org/wiki/Armor_Use

[Dugoar]

thanks :) i looked all over the place and it was right on krak heh