YARAS (Yet Another Revised Armor System)

I was just thinking about how it is a shame that FPPS is not updated for SoD, and doesn't work perfectly on IWDEE, and seems very complicated and hard to update. And it occurred to me: at this point, why not just roll my own?

Fact is, I'm not entirely happy with IR's handling of this (no offense @Demivrgvs) because the .ini options let me change everything EXCEPT the actual AC value of any given armor. And it only lets me give DEX penalties as a percentage, not in points.

And I'm not entirely happy with FPPS, because it's a crufty old codebase, and it only allows spellcasting with a chance of spell failure, not with casting speed penalties.

SO: I think I can write up a relatively simple batch of Weidu that will apply the changes I desire. It's a PITA because the various types of armor are not well-differentiated in the .ITM files, but I think I can tease out enough information from the file structure that I won't have to rely on a big list of items, the way IR and FPPS do. That means if it works, it would work with all the games and all the mods.

Here is a beta version:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/86011511/YARAS.zip

Here's the 'to-do' list to track until release:
- code basic AC/DR/casting speed changes............ done!
- code description changes to reflect new stats........ done!
- code specific armors (elven/dragon/ankheg).......... done!
- casting speed penalties for arcane casters only...... done!
- edit Dex bonuses for AC/ranged/thieving skills....... done!
- edit usability flags for wider armor use.................... done!
- changes to spells & items (AoF, DoE, etc.)................done!
- add .ini file for end-user configuration...................... look for it in v2!

Here are the principles underlying my proposed system:

- Armor both deflects and absorbs damage. The AC bonus from armor represents the idea that some blows that might otherwise have caused damage to an unprotected body part, instead glance off some piece of armor. Of course, no matter how good the armor, some blows will still manage to cause damage to the victim. In this case, heavier armors are able to absorb some of the force of the blow. What this translates to is, heavier armors will have better AC than light armors (but not to the same extent as in vanilla) and heavier armors will have some modest amount of DR as well.

- Enchantments on armor mostly help avoid damage, not absorb it. When magical protections are laid down on armor, it makes it more likely that blows will not land - it makes the armor supernaturally able to turn aside attacks. Thus, enchantment bonuses = AC bonuses and only very slight increases in DR. (Behind the scenes, the reason for this is that SCS AI will detect DR over 40% and just not attack that character. Which ruins the fun of tanking. So my DR in full plate maxes out at 39%.)

- Armor restricts dexterity and dodging ability. This is simple: there should be some kind of penalty for putting on a big honking set of full plate. Various mods represent this in various ways, but often it ends up more of an unfun inconvenience than a proper penalty affecting you tactics (e.g. movement rate penalties). So I'm making it simple: heavy armor = reduced DEX. Generally this will mean you lose the AC benefit provided by the heavier armor... but, you will still get the DR benefit. So the "light & nimble vs. heavy & tanky" question becomes a bit more interesting, even for fighters and clerics etc. Plus, this makes shields a more interesting choice.

- No differences for certain damage types. In AC, at least. Implementing this at all would mean re-thinking the whole idea of which armor types are better against which damage types, and it would just be a morass of debate we would never escape. Plus it's less work to ignore it. EDIT I have an idea to employ this, described below: all armor has better DR against blunt attacks, and worse DR against piercing attacks.

- You can cast any spells in any armor. With big honking casting time penalties, for arcane magic. You can still manipulate the Weave of Faerun's magical energy, but all that metal makes the energy hard to gather and control, and slower to direct. Divine spells being granted by a deity, they are not subject to this magical friction.

Here is the proposed system:

Armor:
leather: 	AC 8 	-1 Dex 	6% DR 	+1 casting time
studded:	AC 7 	-2 Dex 	12% DR 	+2 casting time
hide armor: 	AC 6 	-3 Dex 	21% DR	+3 casting time
chain mail: 	AC 6 	-3 Dex 	18% DR	+3 casting time
scale armor: 	AC 5 	-3 Dex 	12% DR	+3 casting time
splint mail: 	AC 5 	-4 Dex 	21% DR	+4 casting time
plate mail: 	AC 4 	-4 Dex 	25% DR	+4 casting time
full plate*: 	(AC 3 	-5 Dex	30% DR	+5 casting time)

Enchantment:
+1:	 	-1 AC	+1 Dex	 +1% DR
+2: 		-2 AC 	+2 Dex	+2% DR	
+3:		-3 AC 	    "	+3% DR
+4:		-4 AC 	    "	+4% DR
+5:		-5 AC 	    "	+5% DR
+6:		-6 AC 	    "	+6% DR

*Full plate: acts like one level of enchantment higher than indicated
*Bardic armor:	-2 casting time
*Elven armor: +1 DEX, -2 casting time, acts like one level of enchantment higher than indicated

Notes:

Each step toward the heavier/better end of the spectrum gets you some benefit, as well as some lesser penalty. (Two steps forward, one step back.) You can think of leather and studded as the first 'category' and the trade-off between them is clear: the DEX penalty of studded will mostly cancel out the AC bonus, but you get some extra resistance in exchange. Archers and casters might decide the DEX/casting speed is more important, and just stick with light leather.

The second category is hide/chain/scale, and here I took chain mail as the baseline (two steps better than studded, with extra AC and DR, but one step worse, with DEX). From chain, hide armor is worse for AC but has better DR, and scale has better AC but doesn't absorb as much damage.

The third category is plate armors... here, equivalence isn't as important; plate mail is just a straight-up better product than splint. Full plate is better again: slower and clumsier in theory, but full plate is so well-made that even normal sets get the benefit of a magical suit of armor.

(Note: those 'categories' are totally arbitrary. I put hide in the chainmail category, but it could just as easily compare with studded leather: worse AC, but better DR. And splint could easily go head-to-head with scale mail the same way, hampering DEX while providing better resistance.)

For enchantment levels, the prices of +1 gear are pretty low, so I want it to be low-power. Figure it is better-made stuff, so the DEX penalty is reduced by 1, and it comes with a +1 AC bonus. For high-DEX characters, the total difference might be 2 points of AC, but for low-DEX characters or PCs wearing heavy plate armors, the difference will only be 1 point.

Going to +2 mean you're talking about a higher class of enchantment. These armors will really protect you to a supernatural degree, adding an additional -1 bonus to AC and even less Dex penalty. And a very slight increase in DR.

More enchanted armors get additional AC and DR bonuses.

Comments and suggestions welcome. And as you think about it, chew on this somewhat radical idea: ALL animal-based armors - ankheg, rhino beetle, dragonscale, etc. - would be either considered scale mail. Great AC, but not a ton of DR.

Another perhaps radical proposal: there will be no AC differences against different damage types. Instead, ALL armors will have slightly less DR against piercing damage, and slightly more DR against blunt damage. The idea being, once a dagger or spear get through your armor, it's going to do its work. Whereas, the shock of crushing blows can be absorbed by good armor even when the attacker lands a direct hit. What do you think?