****************************** ** Revised Armors & Shields ** ****************************** Contents: -------- 1) Main Effects 2) More detailed effects 3) Install time choices 1) Main effects -------------- Is it possible to improve the game experience a lot, with "small" changes to some of the most basic -and commonly accepted- rules? It is, in our opinion, and some mods have proved it already. Think about a world where wearing a full plate mail implies more things than merely "raising your AC"... maybe, in such a world, a person wearing a full plate mail would walk, in average, slower than an unarmored one. Probably he would feel uncomfortable in many movements, and he'd lose something in agility.. and of course, he would be in trouble if he wanted to do a supposedly quick and unnoticeable act like pick someone's pocket... Yet, he'd still consider the armor useful for combat situations, and he'd expect it to prevent some hostile blows to reach their target, and maybe even to reduce the damage they could inflict when they do hit. Ok, you got the point. Of course it's just a game (already coded, too!), so one cannot simulate the exact ways of reality, but the minimalistic ways of handling armors in the original BG2 can be vastly improved, as you see. With this component we introduce a new system for armors (and shields, to a less extent). The use of armors imply, by default, the application of modifiers to several in-game factors, like dexterity, thieving skills, movement rate, resistances about the various types of weapons, and even spell casting failure chance (for Arcane spellcasters able to *wear* armors in the first place). The modifiers themselves depend on variables like base armor type, enchantment level, specific enchantments placed on the item, unique features. The final result is a system where you can no longer say "this armor is better than the other one" just as long as your character is able to wear them (though it remains true that "more powerful magic enchantments" *is* generally good): you'll have to tailor your equipment to your specific situation, evaluating benefits and annoyances caused to your characters depending on their own flaws and strong points. In our humble opinion, this simply translates in "more fun" ;) 2) More detailed effects -------------- -Wizardly spellcasting and Thieving abilities in armor is now permitted - with penalties, of course. -Tables (all values are incremental in case there is already an effect modifying the statistic, so EG in the shield section "AC Bonus: 0" means to leave unadultered the original SOA/TOB bonus, 1 would mean another point of AC): ARMORS: EN - Enchantment level DR - Damage Resistance bonuses (Slashing/Piercing/Blunt/Missile) (%) DEX - Dexterity penalty Mov - Movement Rate penalty (%) SF - Wizardly Spellcasting Failure increase (%) TS - Thieving Skill penalty (PickP/OpenL/FindT/MoveS/Hide) (%) Leather Armor EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +0 0/0/0/0 00 00 15 0/0/0/0/0 +1 5/0/0/0 00 00 10 0/0/0/0/0 +2 5/5/0/0 00 00 10 0/0/0/0/0 +3 5/5/5/0 00 00 05 0/0/0/0/0 +4 5/5/5/5 00 00 05 0/0/0/0/0 +5 10/5/5/5 00 00 00 0/0/0/0/0 +6 10/10/5/5 00 00 00 0/0/0/0/0 Studded Leather EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +0 5/0/0/0 02 00 20 15/10/10/10/5 +1 5/5/0/0 01 00 15 15/10/10/5/5 +2 5/5/5/0 01 00 15 15/5/10/5/5 +3 5/5/5/5 00 00 10 15/5/10/5/0 +4 10/5/5/5 00 00 10 15/5/5/5/0 +5 10/10/5/5 00 00 05 15/5/5/0/0 +6 10/10/10/5 00 00 05 10/5/5/0/0 Hide (please note that, due to settings in the standard files, Hide armors add 10/10/10/20/0 to these values) EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +0 5/5/5/0 02 10 25 15/10/10/0/15 +1 5/5/5/5 01 00 20 15/10/10/0/10 +2 5/5/10/5 01 00 20 15/10/5/0/10 +3 10/5/10/5 00 00 15 15/5/5/0/10 +4 10/10/10/5 00 00 15 15/5/5/-5/10 +5 10/10/10/10 00 00 10 15/5/5/-5/5 +6 10/10/15/10 00 00 10 15/0/5/-5/5 Chain EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +0 10/10/0/5 03 10 35 35/20/20/40/30 +1 15/10/0/5 02 10 30 35/15/20/40/30 +2 15/10/0/10 02 10 30 35/15/15/40/30 +3 15/10/5/10 01 00 25 35/15/15/35/30 +4 15/15/5/10 01 00 25 35/15/15/35/25 +5 20/15/5/10 00 00 20 30/15/15/35/25 +6 20/15/5/15 00 00 20 30/15/15/30/25 Splint EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +0 15/10/0/5 04 20 40 50/20/20/55/40 +1 15/10/0/10 03 10 35 50/20/20/50/40 +2 15/10/5/10 03 10 35 50/15/20/50/40 +3 20/10/5/10 02 10 30 50/15/15/50/40 +4 20/10/10/10 02 10 30 45/15/15/50/40 +5 25/10/10/10 01 00 25 45/15/15/50/35 +6 25/15/10/10 01 00 25 45/15/15/45/35 Plate EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +0 20/10/5/15 05 20 50 75/45/45/80/70 +1 20/15/5/15 04 20 45 70/45/45/80/70 +2 25/15/5/15 04 20 45 70/40/45/80/70 +3 25/15/5/20 03 10 40 70/40/40/80/70 +4 25/20/5/20 03 10 40 70/40/40/80/65 +5 30/20/5/20 02 10 35 70/40/40/75/65 +6 30/20/5/25 02 10 35 70/40/40/75/60 Full Plate EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +0 30/10/5/30 06 30 50 95/65/65/95/90 +1 30/15/5/30 05 20 45 90/65/65/95/90 +2 30/15/5/35 05 20 45 90/60/65/95/90 +3 30/15/5/40 04 20 40 90/60/60/95/90 +4 30/20/5/40 04 20 40 90/60/60/95/85 +5 35/20/5/40 03 10 35 90/60/60/90/85 +6 35/25/5/40 03 10 35 90/60/60/90/80 Elven Chain EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +0 10/10/5/5 01 00 00 10/5/5/0/0 +1 15/10/5/5 00 00 00 5/5/5/0/0 +2 15/10/5/10 00 00 00 5/0/5/0/0 +3 15/10/10/10 00 00 00 5/0/0/0/0 +4 15/15/10/10 00 00 00 0/0/0/0/0 +5 20/15/10/10 00 00 00 0/0/0/0/0 +6 20/15/10/15 00 00 00 0/0/0/0/0 Special armors (all values are incremental as well, and override (*not* add) to the ones in the base category. Ankheg Plate Mail EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +2 25/15/5/15 02 10 45 70/40/45/80/70 Blue Dragon Scale EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +2 35/20/10/40 04 25 45 90/60/65/95/90 Drow Adamantite Chain +5 EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +5 30/20/15/15 00 00 00 0/0/0/0/0 Drow Elven Chain +3 EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +3 20/15/15/15 00 00 00 5/0/0/0/0 Drow Full Plate EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +5 40/30/10/40 01 05 35 80/50/50/80/70 Missile Attraction +2 EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +2 5/5/5/-25 01 00 15 15/5/10/5/5 Mithral Chain Mail +4 EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +4 20/20/5/15 01 05 25 35/15/15/35/25 Mithral Field Plate +2 (Bruennor's) EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +2 30/20/5/20 04 20 45 70/40/45/80/70 Red Dragon Scale EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +2 25/15/10/15 02 15 35 50/15/20/50/40 Shadow Dragon Scale EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +2 10/10/10/5 00 00 15 15/5/10/5/5 White Dragon Scale Mail EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +2 20/15/10/15 02 15 35 50/15/20/50/40 Shuruppak's Plate EN DR DEX Mov SF TS +3 30/15/5/40 02 10 40 90/60/60/95/90 SHIELDS: Bucklers: AC bonus: 0 No bonus at all versus Missile and Blunt (original game was: Missile and Piercing) Movement penalty: 0 DEX penalty: 0 Small Shields: AC bonus: 0 Extra AC bonus vs. missiles: 0 (original game was: no bonus at all vs. Missile) Movement penalty: 0 DEX penalty: 0 Medium Shields: AC bonus: 0 Extra AC bonus vs. missiles: 1 Movement penalty: 0 DEX penalty: 0 Large Shields: AC bonus: 1 Extra AC bonus vs. missiles: 1 Movement penalty: -10% DEX penalty: -1 Shield of the Falling Stars +1, +4 vs. Missiles: Becomes called +1, +3 (same effects as standard Large Shields) Large Shield +2 (no unique name) (SHLD19 and SHLD30) AC bonus: 1 Extra AC bonus vs. missiles: 1 Movement penalty: 0 DEX penalty: 0 Fortress Shield +3 AC bonus: 1 Extra AC bonus vs. missiles: 0 Movement penalty: 10% DEX penalty: -1 Darksteel Shield AC bonus: 1 Extra AC bonus vs. missiles: 2 Movement penalty: 0 DEX penalty: -1 -To prevent possible abuse, the slashing, piercing, crushing and missile resistances are capped at 75% (except barbarians, whose cap is 85%). The implementation is not perfect, and you might notice that the real statistic value might fluctuate a bit when changing damage resistance via spells or items (it's not major, however). -For balance reasons, if you have installed Ghreyfain's Ashes of Embers (the Sensible Weapon Restriction component), the dexterity requirements from that mod are reduced by three points. 3) Install time choices -------------- -Differently from nearly all mods (at least by the time of the first 'public' release of this component, AKA late 2005), you are asked whether you would like to change the descriptions of the items before installing the mod. If you're a non-English player you can also choose wether you prefer to install descriptions in English, in case it's missing in your language, or to go for a 100% unadulterated \(French\|Italian\|...\) game (even though some descriptions may not be accurated this way). -After this, you'll be asked whether you do actually want to install the component. Please say yes :D (note that installing the Description Patcher without the Armor Revision component won't actually alter your in-game descriptions).