@Djinn I hear all that, but the fact remains full plate is not something you go adventuring in. It is something specifically and temporarily used for jousts and that sort of thing. More important than RL history is the role the armor plays in the game. Just like how in the real world a "long sword" was a gigantic two-handed affair but in BG it's the standard medium-sized sword. Within the world of BG, full plate is big, bulky, expensive, and very protective.
The weight of a set of plate armor is roughly equivalent to the gear modern soldiers carry into battle. Plate armor would weigh 45-55 lbs, while modern US soldiers carry at least 60 lbs of gear (sometimes over 100 lbs). So, the idea that plate armor is too heavy to wear for extended periods is not logical.
Jousting armor *was* heavy (up to 100 lbs) with limited mobility, but it was very specialized armor. It was designed for use in tournaments, not to be worn in open combat. You can't equate plate armor with jousting armor for discussion of the mobility of a plate armor harness.
Would it be possible to create a ui mod that displays additional information in the inventory screen Such as damage resistance by damage type and dex penalty?
I guess it might be possible. The present problem is still limited compatibility among UI mods though.
Nevertheless, Baldur's Gate is not a historical simulation. Weapons don't work the way they do in real life, magic doesn't work the way it does in real life (duh) and armor doesn't either. The armors exist on a spectrum of various stats, and they are balanced particularly for gameplay, not realism. It's good to have gameplay mechanisms grounded in sensible, semi-realistic concepts, but that's as far as we need take it.
My next magic mod is going to be "Realistic Magic;" this mod is going to remove all spells, magical abilities, fantastic creatures, and references to magic of any form from the game. Wouldn't that be fun?
On a serious note, I think this is a cool system but I think that you're trying to so finely balance it that it's become just as convoluted as the existing system. Why is the +X bonus only weakly correlated with the magnitude of the bonus is received? This isn't to say you can't make it as complex as you want, but realize that putting on plate armor and having your AC get worse is gonna get confusing.
I like ( something like) a combination between b and c. I like the way you put it: once a piercing weapon gets through, it does it's damage. But, what if it's less likely to 'get through'?
A trade off between blunt and piercing could be that the latter is less likely to hit at all, but when it does, it does more damage. On the other hand, it's easier to land a damaging blow with a blunt weapon, but the armor will absorb some of the impact.
So,
Option D : option B + all armors get an ac bonus vs piercing, and +1ac penalty vs blunt.
So, with slashing:
Armor AC Armor DR Blunt +x(penalty) +x% (bonus) Slash. - - Pierce. -x (bonus) -x% ( penalty)
I think this is something that sounds cool in theory (which is why FPPS does it), but doesn't add much gameplay value in practice.
There is only one armor slot (not multiple slots like with weapons), and you can't change it during combat, so keeping around multiple armors for each character and switching between them based on the enemies you fight would simply be too much of a hassle to be fun (and would usually depend on meta-knowledge).
There can still be a little tactical value to it, in the sense that if I have two melee characters specializing in different damage reductions, I might choose which one to send to the front line based on the enemies I see approaching. But in practice I don't even bother with that, because usually I end up having one character who outclasses all other party members in tankiness, regardless of damage type, so I'd always send in that character first.
It does add a little "strategic" value, in the sense that if you find a magical amulet or something that gives a Damage Reduction bonus against a specific damage type, you might decide to give it to a character whose armor is vulnerable to that damage type (in order to make up for it), or you might decide to let a character wear it who already has a good score in that DR type, in order to make that character really really good at fending off a specific type of monsters. But again, in practice I didn't end up worrying much about that, and in any case the Infinity Engine games don't have enough equipment that gives specific DR bonuses, to make that really relevant.
It also gives certain classes incentive to stick with their ' standard' weapons. Clerics have a lower thac0, and so use blunt to ensure they do something with their attacks. Thieves have this lovely backstab, and want to maximize that sticking with something more slashy or stabby
Comments
Jousting armor *was* heavy (up to 100 lbs) with limited mobility, but it was very specialized armor. It was designed for use in tournaments, not to be worn in open combat. You can't equate plate armor with jousting armor for discussion of the mobility of a plate armor harness.
On a serious note, I think this is a cool system but I think that you're trying to so finely balance it that it's become just as convoluted as the existing system. Why is the +X bonus only weakly correlated with the magnitude of the bonus is received? This isn't to say you can't make it as complex as you want, but realize that putting on plate armor and having your AC get worse is gonna get confusing.
A trade off between blunt and piercing could be that the latter is less likely to hit at all, but when it does, it does more damage. On the other hand, it's easier to land a damaging blow with a blunt weapon, but the armor will absorb some of the impact.
So,
Option D : option B + all armors get an ac bonus vs piercing, and +1ac penalty vs blunt.
So, with slashing:
Basically, blunt weapons are more likely to hit, but do less damage. Pierce is less likely to hit, but does more damage. Slashing is in between
There is only one armor slot (not multiple slots like with weapons), and you can't change it during combat, so keeping around multiple armors for each character and switching between them based on the enemies you fight would simply be too much of a hassle to be fun (and would usually depend on meta-knowledge).
My point of reference here is Pillars of Eternity, which does give different damage reduction types to different types of armor. In practice, this doesn't affect tactical decisions very much though. I simply get a good armor for each character, and stick with it.
There can still be a little tactical value to it, in the sense that if I have two melee characters specializing in different damage reductions, I might choose which one to send to the front line based on the enemies I see approaching. But in practice I don't even bother with that, because usually I end up having one character who outclasses all other party members in tankiness, regardless of damage type, so I'd always send in that character first.
It does add a little "strategic" value, in the sense that if you find a magical amulet or something that gives a Damage Reduction bonus against a specific damage type, you might decide to give it to a character whose armor is vulnerable to that damage type (in order to make up for it), or you might decide to let a character wear it who already has a good score in that DR type, in order to make that character really really good at fending off a specific type of monsters.
But again, in practice I didn't end up worrying much about that, and in any case the Infinity Engine games don't have enough equipment that gives specific DR bonuses, to make that really relevant.
So there's no point in downloading the Dropbox link from this thread anymore?
Just asking to make sure, because you haven't updated this thread.