What's this thing with armor's, need some help

Stilgar · Post by **Stilgar** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 6:39 am

Like I posted before, I've lost the manual (stupid stupid

)

How do armors work?
You can choose unarmored, light, medium, and heavy.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of all these armorclasses.
And why do some pre-made classes have more then one armor class type?

speedball · Post by **speedball** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 9:35 am

Some thoughts on armors in the game. Please note that I'm not touching on the roleplaying aspects of selecting a certain armor type. In my opinions on the armor types, I'm assuming that you would focus on one type and build up your skill in that.

General Guidelines for Armors

Armor in the game affects the following areas, either directly or indirectly:

- Overall armor rating for your character
- Chance to successfully sneak (heavier armors add a penalty to your chance to sneak)
- Overall speed and jumping ability. This is both direct (heavier armors restrict your speed and jumping somewhat) and indirect (speed and jumping is affected by how encumbered you are. Characters wearing heavier armors - for the most part - will be closer to their max carrying weight than characters with lighter armors)

Things to Consider When Choosing Your Armor Type

- How much overall protection will this type offer?
- How durable is it?
- How easy are the common versions to buy/steal/find? How easy are the best versions to buy/steal/find?

Advantages and Disadvantages of Different Armor Types

Unarmored - Focusing on this will mean you free up a lot more carrying weight, generally move somewhat faster and jump somewhat farther (due to lower overall inventory weight), and sneak a little better. You will also never have to spend money or armorers hammers to repair your armor. However, I believe Unarmored has the lowest maximum armor rating of all the armor types.

Light Armor - Light armor is cheap and easy to find. However, most types don't add too much to your overall armor rating and can't take a lot of abuse before falling apart, so you will have to repair most light armors more frequently than the heavier ones. The top-of-the-line light armor, glass, is light years beyond all the other light armors. It is more durable and provides a much better jump in armor rating. It can be either easy or hard to acquire at the beginning of the game, depending on how you like to play.

Medium Armor - Common medium armors are a little more expensive than common lights, but are just about as easy to find. They can take a little more abuse than lights, so you won't have to repair them as often. However, the best medium armors generally don't compare to the best light or heavy armors. In fact, you need an official plug-in from Bethesda to get the best medium in the game.

Heavy Armor - Wonderful protection, but they all weigh a ton. Common heavy armors are generally a little more expensive than mediums, but are pretty easy to find. They can take a lot of abuse, so you can stay in the fight just a little longer if you need to. The best heavy armors offer the best overall protection in the game, but can be very hard/dangerous to get.

Stilgar · Post by **Stilgar** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 9:45 am

Thanks for the info.
What would you suggest to choose?
It's my first run in the game,
and I want to create a character with
- markmanship
- conjuration
- security
- alchemy
- spear (or sword)
- acrobatics
- atletics

and maybe sneak.

What would be a good armor for him? (i have no idea how usefull the sneak ability is, so some advice on that point, and maybe on some of the skills i've chosen (or haven't chosen) is also more then welcome)

speedball · Post by **speedball** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 11:42 am

First, if I were you, I wouldn't choose Athletics or Acrobatics as Major or Minor skills. Both will go up at a decent rate just by running and jumping everywhere you go. You should generally put skills that are harder to level up in Major/Minor slots.

The other skills you listed aren't bad. You might want to consider Long or Short sword over Spear for your first go-through. There are a lot more cool swords than spears.

From the skills you listed, it seems like you are envisioning this character as a thief or maybe a fighter/thief with a splash of magic. I would swap Athletics and Acrobatics for Sneak and Light Armor.

You have to be able to Sneak well if you want to really be a great thief in the game. Sneak in Morrowind is just like Hide In Shadows/Move Silently from the Baldur's Gate games and D&D, if you are familiar with either. The higher your skill in Sneak, the easier it is to get close enough to steal an item without being noticed by a guard/merchant/whatever. To try to sneak, you hold down the Control key. If a little icon of a hand reaching towards a sack comes up, then you are successfully hidden. If it goes away, someone has noticed you.

koz-ivan · Post by **koz-ivan** » Thu Apr 03, 2003 1:31 pm

Originally posted by Stilgar
Like I posted before, I've lost the manual (stupid stupid )

How do armors work?
You can choose unarmored, light, medium, and heavy.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of all these armorclasses.
And why do some pre-made classes have more then one armor class type?

well all armour comes in pieces, so you can mix & match as required, i'm just starting out too, but so far i've had the most luck w/ light armour, since you can still carry a lot of loot. the heavier suits don't don't give you much "extra" carring capacity.

Scayde · Post by **Scayde** » Thu Apr 17, 2003 4:46 pm

Originally posted by Stilgar
Thanks for the info.
What would you suggest to choose?
It's my first run in the game,
and I want to create a character with
- markmanship
- conjuration
- security
- alchemy
- spear (or sword)
- acrobatics
- atletics

and maybe sneak.

What would be a good armor for him? (i have no idea how usefull the sneak ability is, so some advice on that point, and maybe on some of the skills i've chosen (or haven't chosen) is also more then welcome)

I always custome class my characters and one thing they all have in common is a 3 way mix of fighter, thief, magic user class. For myself, I find light armor th be the best choice. You can carry more, you can sneek better, and move faster. One thing I do is mix in some heavy and medium so I can also be upping those stats too while I play. I also leave my forearms unarmored, so I cna build my unarmored stats. My typical thing is to wear glass armor and switch out with one of the artifact cuirasses or Orc, and to use ebony pauldrons. No gauntlets. You build up all three armor classes that way, with out being weighed down too heavily early on in the game.

Bound itims are very nice too, since they weigh nothing and give you great AC points.

BTW, sneak is one of the most important skills in the game, if you don't want to kill everything in sight and are planning on being a thief, or if you want to be an assasin

Moonshadow101 · Post by **Moonshadow101** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 3:20 pm

conjuration seems a bit out of place in there. u look like a thief/assassin, but conjuration will probably only waste your time without being complemented by other magics. but all-in-all, if u need a magic conjuratiuon prolly is the best way to go, since u can simply summon a unit to soak up hits while u throw in arrows or sneak a few dagger stabs. And I would go with shortswords. They do less damage, but in the early game an enchanted shortsword in as common as dirt, and if u have a good amount af gold when u start go right into the mages of fighters guild to get an enchanted dwarfed shorsword. and ive probably talked to much by now.

j0ckser · Post by **j0ckser** » Mon Apr 28, 2003 6:50 pm

I have a spreadsheet that mirrors (for the most part, anyway) the calculations the program goes through when you create your character. Yours for the asking.

Note that you required to choose 10 of the 26 skills to fill out your majors and minors. There are 7+1 attributes (luck doesn't count). As suggested, don't include athletics and acrobatics among your majors and minors.

THEREFORE you have 10 of 24 representing 7. I would recommend at least 1 skill from each of the 7 attributes plus 3 others that you feel might fit your character.

Note that Major skills increases affect your overall character leveling much more than your Minor skills, and your Misc. skills have no affect at all.

I would generally agree with light armour - start with chitin and beg, borrow, steal glass ASAP. In the end I have a mixture, because of the various enchanted pieces I acquired.

My character is a wood elf (check bonus for marksman, light armour, short blade); majors - block, security, short blade, axe, and destruction; minors - marksman, light & heavy armour, speech and long blade. I added bonus for strength and endurance to make up for slight stature and chose main focus as stealth. I started with 7 skills with 30 or 35. I had completed the game once (with 2 prior practice runs) so I knew what I wanted and what weapons and armour I would acquire during the game, and what the most usefull personal skills would be.

Many people get stuck on their character and want to change but don't want to restart. I forget whay my second went awry, but starting the 3rd and now 4th were not gut wrenching affairs. If you don't like it, start again.

GOOD LUCK.