Armor Skill?

[I Have Steel]

Okay, I'm going to somewhat rip off AD&D here with a suggestion that's came to mind after a bit of play.

There's some places that you join up with, that have a set dress code, and in some of these places, certain types of armor are required.

For those warriors with a low strength, this is not good. As i've experienced this, my character once a great warrior, has really diminished due to the effects of encumbrance of this armor that is now required.

I've thought that perhaps one option might be roleplaying some intense working out over a long period of time, logging, and petitioning for a stat increase to be able to hold the weight, but the I figured there has to be another way that wouldn't have the Imm's bugged with the 'do it for one, we hafta do it for all' concept that floats around in places...

What if warriors had a skill that made them a little more well versed in the wearing of armor than the other guilds, thus making it easier to heft, and making them just as deadly when wielding it?

Perhaps something along the lines with the longer your character occupies a piece of armor, the more they learn to maneuver within it, and carry themselves, thus discounting a bit of the weight for encumberance purposes -while wearing- it?

It could perhaps make for some good rp as well, when the warrior's who never touched armor in his life finds himself at a disadvantage in it as opposed to his partner/foe who has been an armor wearing psycho for years on end.

Am I rambling here, or actually making any sense? lol.

[Rindan]

I personally like things as they are.  If anything, I would like to see more penalties for being over weight then there is now.  Zalanthas is a place where light armor and light fighters rule the sands, if for no other reason then that heavy armor and hot weather is a bad mix.

There are two very distinctive fighting styles in Armageddon.  In the South, people are generally extremely lightweight, armed with a couple of light weapons, and have leather or nothing more then sandcloth for armor.  If you are very light weight, the code has a few effects that simulate your increased movement.  I would personally rather see it more dramatic, but at least it is there.

In the North people tend to dress heavier and wear heavier armor.  They rely on their armor far more.  They might take more hits, but the ones they do take are more likely to slide off their armor.  Getting better at getting hits to slide off your armor is also something the code takes into account.  As you get better defensively, you will find, especially if you wear armor, hits won't hurt as much when they land.  The flip side to this extra protection is that you are going to weigh more and thus be an easier target to hit.  

Ideally, two traditional Allanaki fighting should kill each other in a handful of blows and have nearly every hit be a critical hit.  Two traditional Northerners fighting should result in a long drawn out battle where both sides are apt to take many hits that are deflected, but fewer critical ones.

So, in your case, simply RP it out.  Clearly you are much more adapt as a light weight fighter.  You have a few options open to you.  First, you can dump weight.  If you have extra stuff on you, it might be worthwhile to simply trim it down to only what you absolutely need.  If you can't cut enough weight this way, then simply try talking to your employer.  Explain to them that your armor is inhibiting and ask if perhaps you could be made an exception.  Perhaps you can convince them that it is okay if you dump that heavy plate on your chest that no one ever sees because of your cloak anyways.

If that fails, then consider your character.  Is he more worried about impressing his boss with his obedience, or is he more worried about being effect and not above doing something a little underhanded.  If you are willing to be a little underhanded, then you might want to secretly lighten your armor.  So, let's say the armor has a shell with a heavy carru hide lining.  Carru hide as far as leathers go is very heavy.  RP out carefully tearing out the lining.  Sand down the shell so it is much thinner.  Cut anything off your armor you think you can get away with.  You can do it with or without your employer's permission.  How often are they going to carefully check your armor and notice that unlike everyone else, you just have sandcloth for a lining instead of a heavy carru hide?  It is a subtle change that wouldn't need change in its short description, but in the main description it could be put in for the observant to notice.  True, you might get busted, but you might also live because you had a chance to dodge a gith spear.  If you e-mailed the imms you might be able to work out getting your armor swapped out with your own modified armor.  Of course, you would have to RP doing the modifications, preferably in secret if your employer is not fond of the idea.  Hell, get a Salarri to do it and get it professionally done.  In fact, you could even opt to get a new set of forged armor that looks basically the same, but is of a much lighter material.

There are a lot of options.  If you do opt to do something that requires an item swap, you should take the liberty of redoing the description of the item yourself to increase your chances of getting a favorable response to it, instead of making them do it.

[John]

If you e-mailed the imms you might be able to work out getting your armor swapped out with your own modified armor.  Of course, you would have to RP doing the modifications, preferably in secret if your employer is not fond of the idea.

Also, don't forget to send in the log. Imms in the past have said "I'd be happy to load up a leaf painted with a red spot if someone RP'd it and wished up" but tempering with armour is a lot more work. For instance the Imms might be able to code it so it's a lot easier to break which would be important to do

Just wondering are there fighting skills that complement the North's fighting style and the South's fighting style? All that I know about fighting skills, is that there are the basic skills you get (parry, flee, etc) and as you play you can branch skills in weapon-types. Is there actually more skills then the basic ones that helps with the different fighting styles?

[Rindan]

There are no real skills other then duel wielding and shield use but there are 'weak mechanics' that will show a small difference.  It is possibly to play a heavily armored tank that takes a lot of hits but those hits don't hurt as much simply by wearing a lot of protective and heavy armor.  Weight affects how you fight in combat.  On the flip side, you can go very light and not take weight penalties.  So, if you try to fight while holding a log across your back, you are going to notice in a very bad way.

As far as I have seen though, the mechanics are very weak.  Two experienced fighters in sandcloth are not going to disappear in a cloud of dust and have one of them emerge dead in a few seconds.  Two heavily armored warriors are not going to notice their combat terribly hampered until they start getting very overweight.  If I could have on wish surrounding the combat code, it would be to make the differences more pronounced, or even better, add styles to dramatically effect combat.  So, if you want to fight like a crazy Allanaki wearing nothing but sandcloth, the code will actually support you, instead of kicking you in the nuts for leaving your armor at home.

[JollyGreenGiant]

I'd like to add, at this point, that I'd really like to see combat drain your stamina.  The more you're encumbered, the faster it drains.  And when you're out of stamina, your fighting skills go to crap.

[Angela Christine]

Another option is to check out if your clan has lighter "scout armor" as well as heavy armor.  You might even try asking your clan imm in an email first, so that they can consider it before someone tells you IC that they don't exist, since your character wouldn't want to make his boss look silly.

On the other hand, the armor he wears around the city is like a dress uniform.  Looking right is more importantant than comfort or effectiveness in a dress uniform, that's why real soldiers wear battle fatigues not dress uniforms when they are out in the world working.  You aren't really expecting an attack when you are guarding someone in a tavern, so looking fierce to discourage attackers may be more important than being effective.  Wearing heavy armor while sparring isn't bad either, even if it makes you feel like your buddies are showing you up, because theoretically it would make you that much faster when you have to fight without it (I remember a 'byn sergeant that made us spar while wearing our packs full off all our worldy possessions, for similar reasons).  So the only time it is a -real- problem is when you are on a mission.

AC

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

I agree with both Rindan's style idea, and JollyGreenGiant's idea regarding stamina. These are both valid ideas.