UO Second Age

After reading a discussion in another thread about what types of armor people buy from vendors, I thought perhaps it would be interesting to see if there's any desire for other types of armor.

Light: ringmail arms, ringmail gloves
Heavy: platemail arms, platemail gloves

Define "light" and "heavy"?

I feel like there's two types of people - those who are willing to suffer dex loss, and those who aren't.

Mikel123 wrote:Define "light" and "heavy"?

I feel like there's two types of people - those who are willing to suffer dex loss, and those who aren't.

Edited to clarify. Sorry about that.

Good discussion to start....

To define the suits, my memory of the era is that most labeled dexxer suits as "light archer" or "heavy archer" though I'm sure different smiths had other names for these.

The light archer being a suit consisting of chainmail legs, and tunic, ring gloves and arms, a helm (usually nose or closed), and either a plate or studded gorget. This was minimal ar but with the advantage of having 0 to -1 dex loss.

The heavy archer suit was a mix of plate and chain. Again chainmail legs and tunic, but with plate gloves, arms, gorget, and helm. This suit offered far better protection than the light but with slightly more dex loss, however still minimal compared to the full plate that was more popular pre-t2a.

Here, on UOSA, I'll admit I was always a nut for dex. I wanted as much speed as possible and would even go so far as to request custom orders from crafters who had tailors in order to get the dex suit w/ studded gorget.....I didn't even want that one measly -1 dex loss.

However, with some new information about weapon speeds (I believe Faust first pointed this out), it seems melee has a maximum rate of 1.25. Meaning with a fast wep and high end dexterity, you'll meet your maximum rate of swing speed without having to have maximum stamina. For example, I believe a katana with 100 stam swings at the same rate as a kryss with even 120 stam (please correct me if I'm wrong with this example).

At any rate, a knowledgeable dexxer could easily benefit from going with one of the heavier sets of armor and still be swinging at full speed. Be worth doing the math for your particular weapon...

Many people have never used their brains: T2A suit combinations present a perfect example.

Consider,

• the so-called "light archer": if you can't stand -2 Dex on a piece that gets hit 14% of the time, neither can you tolerate -1 Dex on a piece that gets hit 7% of the time; thus, Ringmail Sleeves + Studded Gorget, or Plate Sleeves + Plate Gorget; one or the other; if you really, really need more Dex, drop the Plate Gorget to Studded, rather than Plate Sleeves to Ringmail; of course, these combinations require the Blacksmith to also be a Tailor;
  Plate Gloves on anything other than full-plate is just mega-dumb: -3 Dex on a 7% hit; the only thing worse is the "true" plate helm: -1 Dex for the exact same protection as a Closed/Norse/Open helm; runner-up is plate legs.

I still assemble armor pieces into the following "suits" (and my in-era GM Blacksmith used to sell them as such):

• Battle Plate: All pieces Plate, except for Helm: Closed/Norse/Open;
  Halberdier: C/N/O Helm, Plate Breast, Sleeves, Gorget, Chain legs, Ringmail Gloves;
  Swordsman: C/N/O Helm, Plate Sleeves & Gorget, Chain Tunic & Legs, Ringmail Gloves;
  Archer: C/N/O Helm, Chain Tunic & Legs, Ringmail Sleeves & Gloves, Studded Gorget;
  Ranger: C/N/O Helm, all other pieces Studded;
  Druid: All pieces Leather;
  Mage: Magical Wizard Hat (that shopkeepers sell), Robe/Jester Suit, Fancy Shirt, Thighboots;
  "Loose items" I also made available: Plate Breasts, C/N/O Helms, Robes & Jester Suits, Fancy Shirts, Thighboots.

A Dexxer chugging Gr. Agility potions and Refreshing his Stamina performs optimally even in Battle Plate; dex-reduced hybrids using really fast weapons also perform comparably.

SS

norse helm
studded leather gorget
chain tunic
chain legs
ring sleeves
ring hands

all invul + protect jewlery is about 55 AR I believe with no dex loss

Idk depends how you play i reckon when i played a dexxer i wore full invu plate cause i fought lots of hally mages and it made there hally hit for about the same as a magic missile and i just chugged agility pots to keep my dex up but im also good at surviving ask stranger the whole time i am pvping he said and i quote "It seems like all you ever do is non stop explode"

Kabal wrote:norse helm
studded leather gorget
chain tunic
chain legs
ring sleeves
ring hands

all invul + protect jewlery is about 55 AR I believe with no dex loss

I use this. And, you have a few choices as to the helm (I personally think Close Helm looks the coolest).

Whatever looks the best.

i always use some combination of magic studded leather, magic chain, and magic ring armor.

I think I will just remove the heavy sets altogether, and instead just sell the light sets. I wasn't aware that a studded gorget was preferable to a plate gorget, so I will change my sets to reflect that.

Thanks to everyone who replied.