angkeg armor & thieves
Starlily
Member Posts: 97
I have a fighter/thief character and have discovered that if I want to do thiefly skills (other than looking for traps) I have to take the dang armor off! Is this because thieves can't wear the armor? A bug? It's annoying and a time waster as far as I'm concerned. 
Sorry if this has been discussed, I couldn't find anything other than a bug report on the armor. Thanks.
Sorry if this has been discussed, I couldn't find anything other than a bug report on the armor. Thanks.
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Look at it a different way, this isn't magical invisibility, it is a skill. You don't magically summon up the ability to silence all of the creaks and clinking and other noises that heavy armor makes. You are also not as easily able to hide behind something in full bulky armor. And you also don't have the full range of movement that you would otherwise have in leather or lighter armor. At the end of the day, you should't be able to hide in bulky plate.
And for a fighter to be able to sneak around in full plate mail would be a bit OP in my opinion. You are sneaking and thus shouldn't need the extra protection. If you kill them on round one, you are fine. Otherwise strike and run away like any normal thief. To be able to do both is just OP.
The group isn't that hard if you're around level 3 with 4 or 5 people.
Exit the south of Naskel, and once you get to the next area, head a little right, and down for an easy Studded Leather + 2.
Oh, and carpal tunnel is nothing to shake a stick at. i don't blame you at all for being concerned. But there is a LOT of clicking in this game, particularly when you get to combats that you need to micro-manage. Just so you are aware. I personally go with a Trackball instead of a mouse. It actually helps once you get over the HUGE muscle learning curve. You move the ball with your fingers instead of the mouse with your wrist. I can't tell you how much of an improvement it has made any wrist related issues I have.
Using my magical powers, I can say that your party had a reputation of 10 or 11 before killing Drizzt
Am I right ?
I think that a lot of this has to do with the level of abstraction used by most DnD-based equipment systems. Honestly, if it were done completely realistically, it would make the game much harder and less fun for most players.
How much does the Shadow Armor cost? I've seen it listed but forgot the amount as it was very high from my recollection.
Mmm, shiny armour.
I think having 2 thieves is great for BG1 due to wanting multiple skills maxed out so always want 1 in shadow armour and 1 in mithral chain+4. Incidently the Mithral Chain +4 has 0 penalties to thief skills (unlike elven chain).
It's just really tough insect hide. Insect leather. Why can't a thief use it?
If it were Ankheg *leather* armor it would be different, because of how it's made, how the parts fit together, how thick it is, etc.
This is plate armor we're talking about. Ever try sneaking around wearing the equivalent of 5 suitcases? :P
http://www.gibberlings3.net/readmes/spoilers-fullplate.html
Bah, I know what plate armor is. Ankheg armor is different, and thieves (as long as they're strong enough) should be able to wear it!
The Monster Manual says the ankheg has a chitinous exoskeleton. Chitin by definition is very tough but also pliable and leathery.
Sounds like regular leather armor. That thief-friendly armor is "not soft and supple...", it's a hard leather shell. Another similarity is both are light with low encumbrance: leather armor weighs 15 pounds, ankheg armor weighs 25 pounds.
Moreover, ankheg armor is made from "chitinous scales." Plate mail, on the other hand, at a staggering 50 pounds, is made of "metal plates."
I'll concede the game says it is plate mail and only fighter & cleric classes can wear it (at least until thieves get Use Any Item), so that's that. I just think it's a rule without much sense.
Also, understand that suppleness is not the only qualification for leather armor. It is also maneuverability and bulkiness. Since this is built off of the same mechanics as Plate Armor, it will have the same shape and maneuverability issues as heavy armor. And the Ankheg itself is a LARGE creature. So one can extrapolate that it's shells are not necessarily designed (size, shape or thickness) to fit a human. It has to be cut down to size. This does not necessarily lend itself to small pieces. And understand that the defense that heavy (class, not weight) armor gives is due to overlapping plates. those plates do not allow for maneuverability the way leather armor does.
In reality, taking a hit while wearing Plate armor, the metal plates should absorb most of the damage. Taking the same hit while wearing leather (although boiled and toughened) you would still take most of the damage yourself. This is translated in game terms by making you harder to hit rather than absorbing damage, but it 'Should' net out to the same. Wearing Ankheg plate armor would function the same way and be just as bulky as plate armor.
Take a look at it from the game mechanics/balance perspective. Since DEX isn't capped due to armor bulkiness, 'IF' a thief could wear it, they would immediately have the best armor in the game, hands down because they would almost be guaranteed to have a DEX bonus. This would be worlds better than most fighters. Talk about Over Powered!!!
finally, again, remember that baked into the negatives for armor and stealth are your maneuverability, the bulk that you are wearing and any noise. In that, by virtue of Ankheg armor being made in the plate armor mold, you lose out on two of those three areas. Since it doesn't exist in reality, we don't know but that sound might also be a component. Certainly it is much easier to keep leather oiled than it is to keep big thick and bulky plates regardless of what they are made of.
Since the game defines it as plate, it obeys the same rules as plate. Straightforward and simple.
Also, think about how ***thick*** the chitin would have to be to form a serviceable exoskeleton for a creature that ranges between 10-20 ft long. I'm thinking each scale would have to be **at least** 2-3 inches thick to hold all that bulk together (since there is no endoskeleton)--that doesn't sound like leather, at all.
As the sage Boromir advises: