5x DCP vs 7x

[SashaFierce]

I'm not sure how to calculate this correctly: Basically, I want to know which provides better protection in general. 5x DCP armor or 7x armor (Full leather)

[Nephelem]

Very hard to precisely answer. What ASG do you wear? What type of attacks are hitting you? For AS attacks you could come up with a direct equivalency between the two against a specific DF but you would still have no way to value crit paddings effect on maneuvers vs no effect at all from 10 DS. TLDR for me I would take the padding no questions asked at 50th + level.

[SashaFierce]

Very hard to precisely answer. What ASG do you wear? What type of attacks are hitting you? For AS attacks you could come up with a direct equivalency between the two against a specific DF but you would still have no way to value crit paddings effect on maneuvers vs no effect at all from 10 DS. TLDR for me I would take the padding no questions asked at 50th + level.

I'm wearing full leather, at level 72. I think Wyneb has Supplicants with flamberges, Dogmatists with kaskaras (broadswords?) and hierophants with espadons. In the landing, the minotaurs swing greataxes. I guess I really just want to better understand how padding effects an endroll.

[Androidpk]

Padding also helps with manuevers. Against something like minos I'd definitely take the padding.

[Maerit]

If you're in fulls, I assume pure? Are you being caught by physical attacks much?

As a 70 sorcerer, I wear 5x DCP (doubles though) for the protection against maneuvers. Basically nothing can get passed my DS unless I'm hunting bandits who first prone me and stance me after my WoF wears off. If DS is an issue, then you can easily get an extra spell or two from a scroll to get that extra +10 DS. No scroll will give you the DCP protection.

If you're hunting in swarms, then I can see FoF taking effect and pushing your DS down somewhere more dangerous, I suppose. Find yourself a skilled warrior to add Puncture protection to your armor (the most deadly, IMO, and will help vs mino's charge maneuver). After that, if there is a particular element being tossed around, you can also have Ranger resistance at the same time. These two options stack and last a very long time for pures.

[Fallen]

If sasha is a sorcerer, she should be using Scroll Infusion to make up for any lack of DS. Spells that help against maneuvers are fairly rare. Better to go with the padding. DS is crazy easy to generate via scrolls.

[Riltus]

I'm wearing full leather, at level 72. I think Wyneb has Supplicants with flamberges, Dogmatists with kaskaras (broadswords?) and hierophants with espadons. In the landing, the minotaurs swing greataxes. I guess I really just want to better understand how padding effects an endroll.

With AS-based attacks, padding reduces the damage used to calculate the maximum critical rank; it doesn't directly affect the endroll or raw damage taken. It also cannot reduce what would have been a rank 1 critical to no critical.

Example:

You are hit in the head by a broadsword (DF .300 vs leather armor group) with an endroll of 160 while wearing 5x DCP fulls. The raw damage formula is (endroll - 100) * DF, therefore, raw damage taken is .300 * 60 = 18. Padding will not reduce this. You've already lost 18 HP but you will also receive a critical injury. This is where the padding helps.

The armor critical divisor for a headshot in fulls is 5. Therefore, the maximum critical rank possible is a rank 3 [trunc (18/5) before the critical padding is factored into the attack. DCP will reduce the 18 damage by an average of 7 but only for calculating the maximum critical rank. In this scenario the maximum critical rank is now trunc((18 -7)/5 = 2. Padding reduced the maximum critical rank from 3 to 2. After randomization you have a 50/50 chance of a rank 1 or 2 head critical. Without the padding you would have had a 50/50 chance of a rank 2 or 3 head crit.

Assume that the damage type is puncture

Rank 1 head: 5 damage, no stun with a minor head injury (possible outcome only with padding)
Rank 2 head: 8 damage, 2 round stun with a level 2 head injury (possible outcome with or w/o padding)
Rank 3 head: 10 damage, 5 round stun with a level 2 head injury (not possible with padding)

Compare the 5x DCP scenario with 7x non-padded fulls.

In this case the extra DS from the enchant bonus would have reduced the ER from 160 to 150. Raw damage taken is reduced to 15 (.300 * 50). However, the maximum critical rank is still 3 (15/5) with a possible R2 or R3 head critical after randomization.

TLDR:

Scenario 1 (5x DCP fulls): 18 raw damage with a 50/50 chance of a rank 1 or 2 head critical
Scenario 2 (7x fulls): 15 raw damage with a 50/50 chance of a rank 2 or 3 head critical

Raw damage + crit damage = total damage taken

Mark

[Goat]

Anyone have any links to either GM statements or research showing how much padding matters for maneuvers? I've always wanted to know more about that.