Armor vs Stealth?

[Shang Tsung]

Is there any armor penalty to hiding, stalking or sniping that would make heavier armors less viable for a stealth archer build? I'm wondering if there would be any benefit to staying in lower asg's that would make it worth it to give up that extra df/crit protection heavier armors would provide? Appreciate any thoughts.

[AestheticDeath]

Been a while since I played, but I am pretty sure there is a penalty of some sort when you wear higher AsG armors.

Really going to depend on what you are hunting though, whether one type of armor is better than another.

[AestheticDeath]

Really don't recall how much of the action penalty is reduced by proper armor training, and how much is left over.

edit -
Overtraining in the Armor Use skill will reduce the experienced Action Penalty of the armor. Every 50 ranks acquired above the minimum ranks required to train off Roundtime penalties will result in an Action Penalty reduction of (Armor Group - 1).

"For example, an augmented breastplate requires 90 ranks of Armor Use to train away its RT adder. It has an Armor Group (AG) value of 5 (skin = AG 0, robes = AG 1, soft leather = AG 2, hard leather/scale = AG 3, chain = AG 4, plate = AG 5). Its base action penalty is 25. So, if it is worn by a player with 140 ranks of Armor Use, the action penalty will drop to 21, to 17 at 190 ranks, and to a minimum value of 13 at 240 ranks." - GM Coase

But you can use the Armored Stealth, from armor specialization.

[Palcron]

I know there's a penalty to vanish, but I never have issues with it except for around highly perceptive critters and I've been in plate for years. Mechanically speaking, plate beats all, even for hidden ambushers. At cap, I'm fully 3x in S&H in a MBP and have zero issues sniping with a bow.

Edited to add that until I was around 90, I was in full plate and only 2x S&H and had no real issues with hiding or staying hidden.

[rolfard]

Did mbp on my rogue asap but waited on full plate training until i had caught up other skills and had a good set of plate.

[DaCapn]

Armor-based penalties/bonuses to hiding do not exist where you do not see them listed on the wiki. Vanish and armored stealth explicitly describe the role of armor AsG. Instances where armor is not mentioned are instances where armor plays no role.

There is a temptation to look at GS mechanics from the "logical" standpoint of how you might think things should work. Following this, people often seek out explicit mentions of things being non-factors in various mechanics. Or, conversely, seek out benefits that don't exist by implication, speculation, rumor, or by any other kind vague musing. Our individual logic has no place in game mechanics. Sometimes for the worse, sometimes for the better. Just a point to keep in mind when exploring mechanics in general.

[Shang Tsung]

Thank you all for the great answers. It would appear that wearing anything less than mbp would be simply for rp reasons, or maybe so you don't have to remove your plate to cast 403/404, or maybe encumbrance reasons, or just wanting to use those points elsewhere, etc., as mechanically, you guys have experience that says plate is best and not a significant detriment to vanish. Much appreciated for the help.

[Jeril]

You get better encumbrance for wearing heavier armor that is lighter then standard, especially max light. Outside of that, one armor is equal to another as far as encumbrance goes because worn armor doesn't count against it(Unless you have some weird stuff or glaes that weighs more then normal). Mechanically there isn't a better place to put those points so it would then become an RP choice to put them else where. In terms of peoples hiding experience there shouldn't be a difference in fullplate compared to mbp.

Fullplate has better AvDs, CvA, better over all coverage, and 25 pounds of extra encumbrance when max light. MBP has a much lower action penalty, which is nothing to sneeze at when it factors into so many things.

[DaCapn]

I decide armor according to spell casting. If you don't want to cast spells in combat, wear as heavy as you can (MBP and FP being the milestones) and train in the evasion armor specialization. If you do want to cast spells, decide how much failure you'll can tolerate (double leather, brig, chain shirt, or super-trained for hauberk are the only use cases I'd entertain, personally).