Please note that new user registrations disabled at this time.

Armor +3 (say Doomshade or Armor of the Heart) - What does +3 mean?

This forum is to be used for all discussions pertaining to BioWare's Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn.
Post Reply
User avatar
ranger101
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2002 10:17 pm
Contact:

Armor +3 (say Doomshade or Armor of the Heart) - What does +3 mean?

Post by ranger101 »

Manual indicates it improves saving throws by +3, but I take the armor off and the numbers don't improve.

Thanks in advance for you reply.
User avatar
Alson
Posts: 301
Joined: Fri Dec 07, 2001 11:00 pm
Location: Israel
Contact:

Post by Alson »

It's not the saves - it's the Armor Class that improves.
The Armor of the Heart is a full plate mail with a +3 modifier.
The AC of a full plate mail is 1 - and with the +3 modifier, it becomes -2.
Simple, eh? :)
I cannot be caged.
I cannot be controlled.
(I probably cannot be contained either) :p ;)

Understand this as you die,
ever pathetic, ever fools.
User avatar
ranger101
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2002 10:17 pm
Contact:

Post by ranger101 »

I am not sure about this.

Gorgon Plate is +4 but results in lower AC than +3 Armor of Hart. Armor of Hart sets base AC to -2 while Gorgon Plate sets base AC to -1. (Full Plate +1 sets base AC to -1 while Full Plate sets it to zero. )

On a related note, Armor of Hart has quite different missile/piercing/slashing modifiers in total than Gorgon Plate - I posted a question as to the meaning of the modifers in another thread.
User avatar
UserUnfriendly
Posts: 4109
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2001 10:00 pm
Location: Sluggy Zone
Contact:

Post by UserUnfriendly »

ranger, the lower the ac, the HARDER it is to hit...

so armor of the hart offers more protection than gorgon...but a lot of people, like myself prefer gorgon, since it offers very nice elemental protection....

any armor +2, +3 or what ever DROPS the base protection of the armor type, plate, chain or whatever, however this is not the sole factor....

a lot of people, i have tried it, but not often, swear by this trick...get unenchanted armor, like full plate, then have the tank put on ring of protection +2 or higher... or gax ring, which protects +2,

teh game engine will NOT allow you to use ring or amulet of protection stacked with enchanted armor, so what you did was to make the armor +2 or +3, the bonuses added by the ring of protection...this has quite a few advantages, as the +2 ring of protection will decrease ac, giving you better protection, but also drop (thus youre more likely to make ) your saving throw...

complicated, yes???
They call me Darth...

Darth Gizka!

Muwahahahahhahahha!!!
User avatar
Hesperus
Posts: 128
Joined: Sun Jul 07, 2002 11:07 am
Location: corn central, USA
Contact:

Post by Hesperus »

To Ranger 101,

The difference in AC between the Gorgon and the Armor of the Heart is that Gorgon is plate mail while Armor of the Heart is full plate. Hence, (a) even though the Gorgon is more heavily enchanted, armor of the Heart gives a better AC, and (b) the modifiers are different between the two suits.
Tired of working here wanted a holiday was thinking of retiring probably going to die. Time to move on under down... down down.
User avatar
UserUnfriendly
Posts: 4109
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2001 10:00 pm
Location: Sluggy Zone
Contact:

Post by UserUnfriendly »

even worse, the bracers of dexterity will improve ac, but only help missile accuracy...

so while minsc the big lug should have bracers of dex, keldy should have bracers of defence ac3, if your mage is a kensai mage dual, and thus you cannot use bracers...

but a kensia thief can, due to use any item...

but a kensai straight should not get any rings of protection or whatever since the kit offers tremendous bonuses at high levels, almost far beyond what a high dex will give you, to the point you can spread out your rings and amulets...

also, ac will NOT protect you from spells, just missiles and meelee, for spell protection you only need 3 spells...

mirror image, due to glitch in implementation this is best defence for area effect spells...

mislead+spell immunity...

cast mislead, and spell immunity divination, and no one can cast a save or else spell on you, so you are immune to all spellls...

mirror image will protect you from just about every area effect spell, including abu dahzim....

now stone skin works totally differently....

it actually puts up layers of defences, and while it does not change ac, each hit will be absorbed by layers of stone skin, thus offering total immunity to meelee until all layers are gone...blur actually does improve ac, so does mirror image, but they also improves saves...

ok, my job is done. now poor ranger is totally confused and even more annoyed than before...

giggle.... :rolleyes:
They call me Darth...

Darth Gizka!

Muwahahahahhahahha!!!
User avatar
ranger101
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri Mar 01, 2002 10:17 pm
Contact:

Post by ranger101 »

Thanks Hesperus - I probably should have read the lengthy description of the armor and I likely would have noticed one is "full plate" while the other is merely "plate".

Userunfriendly, I had noticed that I could achieve a similar AC effect by going with non-magical plate and then adding ring of protection +2. Your description of the armor effects validates my theory.

The thing now to do it is to analyze the piercing/slashing/missile modifiers.
Post Reply