Comprehensive armor revamp with the goal of creating meaningful and diverse gear choices.

This change tries to provide the followin improvements:
- make armor attributes less random and more consistent, logical, balanced and well rounded.
- make gear choices meaningful and allow different optimal gear sets for different builds and situations, instead of having one overpowered setup that fits all.
- allow players to read the description of an item in order to find out what it does, so that they can make informed choices about their gear, knowing its strengths and weaknesses.

In order to achieve this, the following changes have been made:

Armor and shields are now classified in two different ways, 1) Light vs Heavy and 2) Antimelee vs Antiranged. Headpieces have been made more meaningful and their relative power has been increased.

Armor: Light armor provides less mitigation than heavy armor, but comes without SP penalty and better avoidance (+100). Leather and chain armor are light armor pieces. Heavy armor provides a lot more mitigation, but has a penalty to SP (-20) and avoidance (-100). Scale and plate armor are heavy armor pieces.

Antimelee armor provides resistance against melee attacks, but increases fire damage taken. Leather and scale armor are antimelee armor. Antiranged armor provides resistance against ranged attacks, but increases shock damage taken. Chain and plate are antiranged armor.

Nerudite armor is inbetween the rest. It provides somewhat decent mitigation against all sources of damage, however, not as much as heavy armor. Nerudite also doesn't amplify magic damage, but carries the same SP penalty as heavy armor and does not provide any avoidance bonus or penalty. 


Shields: They follow the same pattern, but only have about half the impact of their armor counterparts: Small round shields are light antimelee protection, gold shields are heavy antimelee protection, herald shields are light antiranged protection and knight shields are heavy antiranged protection.

The orc shield has been buffed significantly. It now provides decent protection against all weapon damage (combining the strengths of both light shields) and keeps it 15 SP bonus for Qor spells. On the minus side, orc shields are weak (-20) to holy attacks.


Helmets: These are more powerful now and each provide boni that make them stand out:

The regular helm is the clear defense choice. It provides a small FDR as before, but now also comes with a resistance of 10 against all weapon damage. However, it also comes with a SP penalty of 10.

The circlet is the clear caster choice. It does not come with any kind of defensive bonus, but provides mana at the cost of health as before and even up to 10 SP based on the amount of health lost.

As a counterpart to the orc shield, the Ivy circlet has been adjusted to match its power. The ivy circlet now comes with a slight resistance to all weapon damage of 5, keeps its 15SP for Shal'ille and grants up to 20 mana based on karma. It has a -20 weakness to unholy attacks.

Magic spirit helmets are basically similar to helmets, but don't carry a SP penalty. They no longer grant magic resistance. This is consistent with the design of magic bows.


Weights, values and durability have also been adjusted. Armor weight has generally went down a little, values have gone up throughout to match the value to weight ratio of weapons and durability has also been increased a fair bit, especially across the former lower tier of equipment.

Finally, the description of all the gear mentioned above has been updated to combine flavor text with hard information on the items attributes.

Example 1) Orc Shield
Fearsome to behold, the infamous orc shields strike terror in the enemy's heart, while also proving highly useful in combat.  Remarkably light yet sturdy, this particular one promises some light protection in any battle.  As you hold the shield in your hand, you are amazed to find that it does not obstruct your spellcasting in the least - on the contrary, it almost feels as if the shield tries to feed your darker arcane powers.  Is it just you, or does the sun seem even more repulsive than usual?

Example 2) Chain Armor
This chain armor consists of a myriad of tiny steel links, intricately joined together to offer its wearer some light protection in battle - especially against incoming projectiles.  Light and smooth, the chain armor does not hinder spell casting in the least and allows for great mobility in battle, yet you can't help but notice that the material seems to be a great conductor.

Example 3) Gold Round Shield
Finely made, this hefty gold round shield offers heavy protection in battle.  Its compact form makes it especially suited to block strikes in melee.  Unfortunately, its weight might be hindering your ability to cast spells.  You can't help but notice that the material seems to be highly flammable.

Example 4) Helmet
Steel and chain links give some light protection to the wearer of this padded helmet - both against regular attacks and projectiles.  While useful in battle, the helmet is fairly uncomfortable to wear, making it harder for its wearer to focus on spellcasting.

Example 5) Ivy Circlet
Healthy, green leaves of ivy are wrapped around a wooden wreath.  Curiously, the ivy circlet seems to have a life of its own as its leaves gently rustle in your hands.  As you put it on, a wave of compassion washes over you and you feel as if your mind has become deeper.  With the ivy circlet gracing your head, the day seems brighter and you feel as if nothing could stop you from spreading good wherever you go!  Be careful though - your newfound empathy might leave you more vulnerable to the wicked ways of the world."