healer with heavy armor -- does it work?

[Morbius]

hi,
im new to this great game; i have about 12,000 experience points and im a healer that also 'specializes' on bluedgeon (sp) weapons (maces, hammers and the like).
now i have a difficult choice to make. im not sure whether i should skill light or heavy armor.
i have 20 strength and intend to bring it up to 25 during the next 3 to 5 levels.
and some 25 perception and 17 wisdom (in case that matters).

what do you guys say?
been doing fine so far, btw.

thx alot in advance

[Viktoras]

Heavy Armor is AWESOME! However....it will require alot of strength as it weighs considerably more than the light armor. If your focus is on healer i'd stay Light Armor. Actually..if you focus pure caster Wisdom/Concentration with TONS of Perception....you hardly need gear.....you don't even need to get light armor .....as you can wear the hats and cloaks without having the skill....and nothing will get close enough to you that your armor will matter....well...from early to mid game at least.

[Morbius]

im trying to play either a paladin with rather strong divine spells or a cleric that focuses strongly on his awesome mace

in other words im 50:50 or perhaps 60:40 a fighter:healer.

my stats are str 20/ dex 15/end 25/sp 15/int 13/wis 17/perc25/conc 15
at level 7.

divination 5
bludgeoning 8

might it mayhap be better to raise shield to 10 instead of raising strength to be able to wear heavy armor?

edit: i know shield is a skill and strenght an attribute, but still.

[xolotl]

Heavy Armor rarely provides more actual protection that equivalent Light Armor, and requires far more Strength to use. IMO (and in at least a few other people's opinion too) Heavy Armor is a bit broken in that respect. If you find the book that will train you in Heavy Armor, it's nice to have the single point available, so that you can use the Strongman's Belt (whose Strength benefit more than offsets its weight) but in general I'd just stick with Light.

Note that you really don't need more than a single actual skill point in either. As you get more and more skilled I'm sure you start to see some more benefits, but IMO your points are better spent elsewhere (aside from that initial point).

[Viktoras]

In testing: (using a character editor) I don't prefer to play that way...but it's good to test things out...Heavy Armor does seem to provide considerably better Damage Reduction than does light armor as you get more skilled with it and as the quality of the armor increases. However...having said that...it will require a TON of Strength to handle the added weight. That being said it makes it IMO not worth developing if your a healer/warrior mix. It is a fun thing to try though....I myself have been playing a Paladin type build (as one of my many builds) and it is interesting though from what i can see definitely not as powerful as say a Barbarian type or a PURE caster.

[Randomizer]

As a healer you can cast ogre strength to help with the extra strength needed to carry the weight. Most light armor items are as good for base armor as heavy items. If you can find the books, then use both and use the items that provide the best protection for that piece.

[Antigrav]

at level 7.

divination 5
bludgeoning 8

Where are you putting the rest of your skill points? I find that in the early levels, focusing on your survival skills really makes a big difference (concentrate on weapon skill up to 20 or so, or divine/elemental if you're a priest/mage).

[Viktoras]

Just did a test to help you understand the current differences between Heavy and Light armor. For the purpose of this test I created a lvl one Character named Tester and gave him the following stats: Strength of 30 and all his other stats were 20. Skills: I gave him 20 ranks in Heavy and Light armor both.
Then equipped him with Head/Torso/Leg armor all of which had a defensive rating of 5 each (did this with both Heavy and Light armor).
In light armor this gave him an armor rating of: 23 with dmg reduction of 16.
In Heavy armor this gave him an amr rating of: 23 with dmg reduction of 26.

So as you can see....the ONLY differance between the two types of armor is Damage Reduction and WEIGHT. Anyway.....i hope this helps you with what you are trying to decide.

[Morbius]

it sure helps, thx
all of those comments helped a lot.

is it possible to wear a mixture of light and heavy armor?
lets say a heavy belt, heavy torso plate and the rest only light armor?
are there disadvantages?

well, my skills (without enchanted clothing) are:

level 1: heavy armor, mercantile, foraging, spot hidden
level 2: alchemy
level 3: meditation, repair
level 4: cartography
level 5: medicine, divination
level 7: bludgeoning weapons

ive read that medcine is not effective to increase, is that correct?

i intend to increase divination, bludgeoning, foraging, and cartography the next coupla levels.
does it make any sense?

edit: and i intend to get one point in light armor.
2nd edit: and i wanted to increase meditation, too.

[Antigrav]

it sure helps, thx
all of those comments helped a lot.

is it possible to wear a mixture of light and heavy armor?
lets say a heavy belt, heavy torso plate and the rest only light armor?
are there disadvantages?

well, my skills (without enchanted clothing) are:

level 1: heavy armor, mercantile, foraging, spot hidden
level 2: alchemy
level 3: meditation, repair
level 4: cartography
level 5: medicine, divination
level 7: bludgeoning weapons

ive read that medcine is not effective to increase, is that correct?

i intend to increase divination, bludgeoning, foraging, and cartography the next coupla levels.
does it make any sense?

edit: and i intend to get one point in light armor.
2nd edit: and i wanted to increase meditation, too.

Not to sound like a rigid min/maxer, it really does make everything go much more smoothly to concentrate on a couple of abilities, then flesh out the rest when you find the appropriate trainer or book. I would recommend focusing on the bludgeoning for the next 3 or 4 levels, or divination if you're going to rely on offensive spells.

Certain skills are a way to compensate for a low attribute. Lore is helpful for everyone but mages, who have high intelligence. A non-fighter character with low endurance would benefit from medicine, and you probably don't need spot hidden because as a spellcaster your perception will be high enough to notice traps and things already.

[SpottedShroom]

Light armor doesn't go up to as high armor ratings as heavy armor, so if you want to max out your armor you need to go with heavy. Also, it's true that heavy armor gives more DR, but DR probably isn't what you think it is. Rather than a constant amount that's removed from the damage you take, DR is a percent chance that any given attack will miss you completely.

Honestly, I would recommend (only) one point in each, especially if you can find the skill books rather than spending 3 skill points on each.

[Morbius]

i understand; fortunately i did find those two books.
so ... are there any penalties in combining the two armor types?
sorry to ask this again, but im facing spiders and drowned zombies and its tough.

[Kreador Freeaxe]

i understand; fortunately i did find those two books.
so ... are there any penalties in combining the two armor types?
sorry to ask this again, but im facing spiders and drowned zombies and its tough.

As long as you have one point in each skill, there is no penalty in wearing whatever armor is handy.

[Viktoras]

Light armor doesn't go up to as high armor ratings as heavy armor, so if you want to max out your armor you need to go with heavy. Also, it's true that heavy armor gives more DR, but DR probably isn't what you think it is. Rather than a constant amount that's removed from the damage you take, DR is a percent chance that any given attack will miss you completely.

Honestly, I would recommend (only) one point in each, especially if you can find the skill books rather than spending 3 skill points on each.

Okay...so to test out this I performed another TEST on my character named TESTER:
I bumped both his Heavy Armor & Light Armor skills to 40 and increased the armor ratings to 10 on each of his head/torso/leg pieces for light/heavy armor and these were the results:
Heavy Armor Rating: 38 Damage Reduction: 52
Light Armor Rating : 38 Damage Reduction: 32

Now EVERYTHING was equal about the armors other than ONE set was light and ONE set was Heavy.....Now...I screwed up the edit 3 times (i haven't slept in like 29 hours...insomnia from my meds....) but finally got it right...so as u can see they do scale correctly and Heavy Armor does scale the same in armor rating as light armor does with increased skill and armor quality. The only differance REMAINS DR and Weight.

[Mod.]

I thought heavy armor was stronger itself, as in it doesn't break as easily. Or am I mistaken?

Anyway, I myself always stick with light armor, heavy armor is just too heavy for any additional bonus it may give you.