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** Revised Armors & Shields **
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Contents:
--------

1) Main Effects
2) More detailed effects
3) Install time choices



                        1) Main effects
                        --------------

Is it possible to improve the game experience a lot, with "small" changes to some of
the most basic -and commonly accepted- rules?
It is, in our opinion, and some mods have proved it already.
Think about a world where wearing a full plate mail implies more things than merely
"raising your AC"... maybe, in such a world, a person wearing a full plate mail would
walk, in average, slower than an unarmored one. Probably he would feel uncomfortable
in many movements, and he'd lose something in agility.. and of course, he would be in
trouble if he wanted to do a supposedly quick and unnoticeable act like pick someone's
pocket...
Yet, he'd still consider the armor useful for combat situations, and he'd expect it to
prevent some hostile blows to reach their target, and maybe even to reduce the damage
they could inflict when they do hit.
Ok, you got the point. Of course it's just a game (already coded, too!), so one cannot
simulate the exact ways of reality, but the minimalistic ways of handling armors in the
original BG2 can be vastly improved, as you see.

With this component we introduce a new system for armors (and shields, to a less extent).
The use of armors imply, by default, the application of modifiers to several in-game
factors, like dexterity, thieving skills, movement rate, resistances about the various
types of weapons, and even spell casting failure chance (for Arcane spellcasters able
to *wear* armors in the first place).
The modifiers themselves depend on variables like base armor type, enchantment level,
specific enchantments placed on the item, unique features.
The final result is a system where you can no longer say "this armor is better than the
other one" just as long as your character is able to wear them (though it remains true
that "more powerful magic enchantments" *is* generally good): you'll have to tailor your
equipment to your specific situation, evaluating benefits and annoyances caused to your
characters depending on their own flaws and strong points.
In our humble opinion, this simply translates in "more fun" ;)



                        2) More detailed effects
                        --------------

-Wizardly spellcasting and Thieving abilities in armor is now permitted - with penalties, of course.

-Tables (all values are incremental in case there is already an effect modifying the statistic, so EG 
 in the shield section "AC Bonus: 0" means to leave unadultered the original SOA/TOB bonus, 1 would
 mean another point of AC):


ARMORS:
EN  - Enchantment level
DR  - Damage Resistance bonuses (Slashing/Piercing/Blunt/Missile) (%)
DEX - Dexterity penalty
Mov - Movement Rate penalty (%)
SF  - Wizardly Spellcasting Failure increase (%)
TS  - Thieving Skill penalty (PickP/OpenL/FindT/MoveS/Hide) (%)

Leather Armor
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+0   0/0/0/0      00    00    15    0/0/0/0/0
+1   5/0/0/0      00    00    10    0/0/0/0/0
+2   5/5/0/0      00    00    10    0/0/0/0/0
+3   5/5/5/0      00    00    05    0/0/0/0/0
+4   5/5/5/5      00    00    05    0/0/0/0/0
+5   10/5/5/5     00    00    00    0/0/0/0/0
+6   10/10/5/5    00    00    00    0/0/0/0/0

Studded Leather
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+0   5/0/0/0      02    00    20    15/10/10/10/5
+1   5/5/0/0      01    00    15    15/10/10/5/5
+2   5/5/5/0      01    00    15    15/5/10/5/5
+3   5/5/5/5      00    00    10    15/5/10/5/0
+4   10/5/5/5     00    00    10    15/5/5/5/0
+5   10/10/5/5    00    00    05    15/5/5/0/0
+6   10/10/10/5   00    00    05    10/5/5/0/0

Hide
(please note that, due to settings in the standard files, Hide armors add 10/10/10/20/0 to these values)
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+0   5/5/5/0      02    10    25    15/10/10/0/15
+1   5/5/5/5      01    00    20    15/10/10/0/10
+2   5/5/10/5     01    00    20    15/10/5/0/10
+3   10/5/10/5    00    00    15    15/5/5/0/10
+4   10/10/10/5   00    00    15    15/5/5/-5/10
+5   10/10/10/10  00    00    10    15/5/5/-5/5
+6   10/10/15/10  00    00    10    15/0/5/-5/5

Chain
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+0   10/10/0/5    03    10    35    35/20/20/40/30
+1   15/10/0/5    02    10    30    35/15/20/40/30
+2   15/10/0/10   02    10    30    35/15/15/40/30
+3   15/10/5/10   01    00    25    35/15/15/35/30
+4   15/15/5/10   01    00    25    35/15/15/35/25
+5   20/15/5/10   00    00    20    30/15/15/35/25
+6   20/15/5/15   00    00    20    30/15/15/30/25

Splint
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+0   15/10/0/5    04    20    40    50/20/20/55/40
+1   15/10/0/10   03    10    35    50/20/20/50/40
+2   15/10/5/10   03    10    35    50/15/20/50/40
+3   20/10/5/10   02    10    30    50/15/15/50/40
+4   20/10/10/10  02    10    30    45/15/15/50/40
+5   25/10/10/10  01    00    25    45/15/15/50/35
+6   25/15/10/10  01    00    25    45/15/15/45/35

Plate
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+0   20/10/5/15   05    20    50    75/45/45/80/70
+1   20/15/5/15   04    20    45    70/45/45/80/70
+2   25/15/5/15   04    20    45    70/40/45/80/70
+3   25/15/5/20   03    10    40    70/40/40/80/70
+4   25/20/5/20   03    10    40    70/40/40/80/65
+5   30/20/5/20   02    10    35    70/40/40/75/65
+6   30/20/5/25   02    10    35    70/40/40/75/60

Full Plate
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+0   30/10/5/30   06    30    50    95/65/65/95/90
+1   30/15/5/30   05    20    45    90/65/65/95/90
+2   30/15/5/35   05    20    45    90/60/65/95/90
+3   30/15/5/40   04    20    40    90/60/60/95/90
+4   30/20/5/40   04    20    40    90/60/60/95/85
+5   35/20/5/40   03    10    35    90/60/60/90/85
+6   35/25/5/40   03    10    35    90/60/60/90/80

Elven Chain
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+0   10/10/5/5    01    00    00    10/5/5/0/0
+1   15/10/5/5    00    00    00    5/5/5/0/0
+2   15/10/5/10   00    00    00    5/0/5/0/0
+3   15/10/10/10  00    00    00    5/0/0/0/0
+4   15/15/10/10  00    00    00    0/0/0/0/0
+5   20/15/10/10  00    00    00    0/0/0/0/0
+6   20/15/10/15  00    00    00    0/0/0/0/0

Special armors (all values are incremental as well, and override (*not* add) to the ones in the base category.

Ankheg Plate Mail
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+2   25/15/5/15   02    10    45    70/40/45/80/70

Blue Dragon Scale
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+2   35/20/10/40  04    25    45    90/60/65/95/90

Drow Adamantite Chain +5
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+5   30/20/15/15  00    00    00    0/0/0/0/0

Drow Elven Chain +3
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+3   20/15/15/15  00    00    00    5/0/0/0/0

Drow Full Plate
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+5   40/30/10/40  01    05    35    80/50/50/80/70

Missile Attraction +2
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+2   5/5/5/-25    01    00    15    15/5/10/5/5

Mithral Chain Mail +4
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+4   20/20/5/15   01    05    25    35/15/15/35/25

Mithral Field Plate +2 (Bruennor's)
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+2   30/20/5/20   04    20    45    70/40/45/80/70

Red Dragon Scale
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+2   25/15/10/15  02    15    35    50/15/20/50/40

Shadow Dragon Scale
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+2   10/10/10/5   00    00    15    15/5/10/5/5

White Dragon Scale Mail
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+2   20/15/10/15  02    15    35    50/15/20/50/40

Shuruppak's Plate
EN   DR           DEX   Mov   SF    TS
+3   30/15/5/40   02    10    40    90/60/60/95/90


SHIELDS:

Bucklers:
AC bonus: 0
No bonus at all versus Missile and Blunt (original game was: Missile and Piercing)
Movement penalty: 0
DEX penalty: 0

Small Shields:
AC bonus: 0
Extra AC bonus vs. missiles: 0 (original game was: no bonus at all vs. Missile)
Movement penalty: 0
DEX penalty: 0

Medium Shields:
AC bonus: 0
Extra AC bonus vs. missiles: 1
Movement penalty: 0
DEX penalty: 0

Large Shields:
AC bonus: 1
Extra AC bonus vs. missiles: 1
Movement penalty: -10%
DEX penalty: -1

Shield of the Falling Stars +1, +4 vs. Missiles:
Becomes called +1, +3 (same effects as standard Large Shields)

Large Shield +2 (no unique name) (SHLD19 and SHLD30)
AC bonus: 1
Extra AC bonus vs. missiles: 1
Movement penalty: 0
DEX penalty: 0

Fortress Shield +3
AC bonus: 1
Extra AC bonus vs. missiles: 0
Movement penalty: 10%
DEX penalty: -1

Darksteel Shield
AC bonus: 1
Extra AC bonus vs. missiles: 2
Movement penalty: 0
DEX penalty: -1


-To prevent possible abuse, the slashing, piercing, crushing and missile resistances are capped at 75%
 (except barbarians, whose cap is 85%). The implementation is not perfect, and you might notice that the
 real statistic value might fluctuate a bit when changing damage resistance via spells or items (it's not
 major, however).
 
-For balance reasons, if you have installed Ghreyfain's Ashes of Embers (the Sensible Weapon Restriction
 component), the dexterity requirements from that mod are reduced by three points.



                        3) Install time choices
                        --------------

-Differently from nearly all mods (at least by the time of the first 'public' release of
 this component, AKA late 2005), you are asked whether you would like to change the descriptions
 of the items at the same time you installi the mod. If you're a non-English player you can also 
 choose wether you prefer to install descriptions in English, in case it's missing in your language, 
 or to go for a 100% unadulterated \(French\|Italian\|...\) game (even though some descriptions may not
  be accurated this way).
