The Drunken Lizard Pub

Only head/torso/legs count for calculating damage reduction - says so in the manual - so wearing light armor elsewhere shouldn't have an effect.

Not sure on the exact math, though.

One thought I had was that it doesn't make much sense that if you can wear heavy armor, you can't automatically wear light armor.

A more logical system in my mind would link the two skills, such that your heavy armor skill cannot exceed your light armor skill. I would then rebalance the armors so that heavy gave more damage resistance than it does now, and light less than it does now.

This would mean that heavy fighters would need to invest twice as much into their armor as they do now; perhaps a way around this would be to make it cheaper for them to buy the two skills in tandem, representing their background and training. If a healer or mage tried to wear heavy armor, they would get stung with paying the extra cost to wear heavy.

Maybe you could imbue the 'to hit' to +3 (if you were a good enough alchemist) but you'd never be able to improve on the +5 damage. Curious that they are considered a weapon, not an armour though ..

Actually they're +5 ToHit +2 Damage, but the thing is I was trying to imbue it with +3 armour...

Having played the game a lot more. In my opinion, You should have both the light and heavy armor skill. I just found a survivor +5 cloak which is light armor and I coupled that with steel armor which is heavy. The combination works nicely. I have not found a heavy cloak that is survivor +5. There is a pair of gauntlets that is swords + 2 which are light armor. Having both light and heavy armor skill allows you to mix and match

You should certainly have both at level1 .. however that is easily achieved by the literate. ALWAYS check the shops for new books!

I do not think the two skills should be linked. You would think that if you can wear heavy armor then wearing light armor would be easy. It is not. If you train first with heavy armor you become very familiar with what you can and cannot do in the heavy armor. If you now switch to light armor your mind will try to use the skills it learned for heavy armor. Example swinging a sword in heavy armor you can only extend and swing so far. But in light armor your swing and extension can be greater. If you use a buckler as a shield it is very different from using a tower shield. The skills do not always translate.

realmzmaster wrote:I do not think the two skills should be linked. You would think that if you can wear heavy armor then wearing light armor would be easy. It is not. If you train first with heavy armor you become very familiar with what you can and cannot do in the heavy armor. If you now switch to light armor your mind will try to use the skills it learned for heavy armor. Example swinging a sword in heavy armor you can only extend and swing so far. But in light armor your swing and extension can be greater. If you use a buckler as a shield it is very different from using a tower shield. The skills do not always translate.

Ok, let me put it like this - in real life, would anyone learn to use heavy armor without having learnt light armor first? Also, there is a lot of misunderstanding about 'heavy' armor from the medieval period. Iirc, all this stuff about heavy armor being clumsy and limiting is a Hollywood stereotype; in reality, heavy armors were custom fitted to the wearer and afforded good mobility. The one area where heavy armor could cause problems was the helmet, which often limited visibility substantially.

Similarly, weapon techniques are more specific than just 'swinging a sword around' - one of the best examples I can remember is watching a video of two guys doing a mock fight using german zwei-handers - the way they were using the weapons, it was almost like they were using the sword like a staff at points. This means to my mind that, as the less limiting armor type, light armor should present no weapon skill penalties to a heavy armor user who's never used light armor before (if this is possible), whereas there could well be a penalty the other way around.

Hello,

I know quite well that heavy armor is custom fitted. You are still far more mobile in light armor no matter how well the heavy armor fits. Even if your learned light armor skills first and then heavy armor, if you only use heavy armor for an extended period of time and go back to light armor your timing and weapon usage is going to be off. You will have to re-acquaint yourself with the use of it and vice versa. The wearing of light or heavy armor uses the muscles in different ways. Let me give a real world example, Michael Jordan retired from basketball and played baseball. Baseball and basketball do not use the muscles in the same way. Michael Jordan came back to basketball, his timing was off, his leaping ability was off. It took quite a few games for him to get back his timing and re-acquaint his muscles for basketball. No, you do not forget the skills you learn mentally, physically is a whole different matter. A person who is use to heavy armor does not forget the light armor skills but getting his body to use light armor the way he use to will take practice. If I learn to use a muzzle loader and get very good at it and then go and use a repeating rifle for an extended period of time. I come back to the muzzle loader. I know how to use it but my timing and speed will not be the same.