Armor

Armor is any item worn over clothing. Typically, it offers some sort of protection against attacks, either physical or magical (or both). This article:
* Lists and describes the various categories of armor
* Shows the degree of protection offered by each category
* Shows armor restrictions by class and kit
* Provides a sortable list of every piece of armor, providing some critical information on each piece
== Armor Categories ==
Armor can be categorized as follows (from light to heavy):
* Robes: Since the age of Netheril, mages have learned to bestow a wide variety of magical properties upon the everyday objects that surround them. A favorite item of such enchantment is the common robe. It is lightweight, affordable, and holds its enchantment well, thereby making it ideal equipment for a mage. Due to their magical heritage, however, only single-, dual-, and multi-class mages may wear these enchanted robes.
* Leather armor: Basic armor made of thick, wax or water-hardened leather. It is sturdy protection, not supple like boots or a cloak. Soft garment leathers like that would offer no more protection than common clothing.
* Studded leather: Studded leather armor has little in common with normal leather armor. Instead of a hardened shell, studded leather offers hundreds of metal rivets affixed to a supple backing. The numerous studs form a flexible coat of metal that helps to turn aside slashing and cutting attacks, while the leather is little more than a means of securing the rivets in place.
* Hide armor - Hide armor is made from the thick hide of a very large animal (an elephant for example) or from many layers of normal leather from common animals, like cows. Hide armor is far too bulky, inflexible and heavy to be used much in advanced human cultures. However, among the barbaric humanoid masses throughout the dark forests and misty jungles of the world, hide armor is common. Even though it does offer more protection than leather armor, one must get by the offensive odor and shoddy appearance in order to wear it effectively. Even though Thieves can wear this armor, it has a negative effect on their abilities.
* Chain Mail: Chain mail is made of interlocking metal rings. It is always worn over a layer of padded fabric or soft leather to prevent chafing and lessen the impact of blows.
* Splint mail: Splint mail is a variant of banded mail in which the metal strips are applied vertically to the backing of chain, leather, or cloth rather than horizontally as in banded mail. Since the body does not swivel in mid-torso as much as it flexes back to front, splint mail is more restrictive in battle.
* Plate mail: Plate mail is a combination of chain armor with metal plates covering the vital areas such as the chest, abdomen, and groin. Similar in construction to bronze plate mail, true plate mail comprises chain and leather.
* Full plate: Full plate armor is the best armor a warrior can buy, both in appearance and protection. The perfectly fitted, interlocking plates are specially angled to deflect arrows and blows, and the entire suit is carefully adorned with rich engraving and embossed detail.
== Physical Damage Protection ==
The overall level of protection that a type of armor provides is known as its base armor class value. For example, leather armor has a base AC of 8 and studded leather has a base AC of 7 (lower numbers are better).  
Depending on the materials used to construct a type of armor (or how those materials are assembled) the degree of protection offered for certain types of physical damage may be better or worse than the base armor class. For example, on balance leather armor is easier to pierce than to slash or crush and chain mail is much harder to slash than it is to pierce or crush.  
In the game, you'll see variations in physical-damage protection reflected in two ways. The armor's description will report the base armor class and include any exceptions in parenthesis after it. For example, the description of leather armor shows:
 Armor Class: 8 (10 vs. piercing and missile)
The inventory screen and character record will report an overall AC of 8 and document the variations in the "Armor Class Modifiers" section:
 Armor Class Modifiers 
 Missile: +2
 Piercing: +2
Note that a character's overall AC and damage type modifiers can also be affected by other gear the character is wearing.  See the main Armor Class article for more details. Important: Armor class only lowers the chance for the enemy to hit. If a hit does connect, high AC does not lower the damage that is suffered. This would only be done by damage reduction, which is a percentile value and only given by very few special armor, items and abilities.
The table below shows the AC values for each category of armor across all the physical damage types.  By comparing the Base column to the individual damage columns, you can see what modifiers will be reported for the armor.  For example, Leather armor shows a base of 8, which means it will report a +2 modifier for piercing and missles. Robes have been omitted from the table since they offer no base protection from physical damage.
Physical Protection
Catagory 	Base	Crushing	Slashing	Piercing	Missile
Leather armor 	8 	8 	8 	10 	10
Studded leather	7 	7 	5 	6 	6
Hide armor 	6 	6 	6 	8 	8
Chain Mail 	5 	7 	3 	5 	5
Splint mail 	4 	2 	4 	3 	3
Plate mail 	3 	3 	0 	3 	3
Full plate 	1 	1 	-3 	-2 	-2
If a piece of armor has a +1 enchantment, it means the AC values listed in the table are reduced by 1. For example, basic plate mail offers an AC of 3 (0 vs. slashing), and Plate Mail +1 offers an AC of 2 (-1 vs. slashing). When dealing with unique pieces of armor, the overall AC value will still adhere to this rule, but there may be variations in the bonuses. For example, Delver's Plate +2 retains the typical plate mail damage profile, offering an AC of 1 (-2 vs. slashing). Gorgon Plate +4, however, has the expected AC of -1, but its slashing protection is -7 instead of -4.
== Usage Restrictions ==
Each class has different needs and preferences when it comes to the types of armor its members wear.  Thieves for example, require armor that is quiet and flexible as it facilitates their stealth abilities. As members of the Priest class group, Druids could possibly wear metal armors but their ethos forbids it. 
A class kit may impose additional restrictions on what armor can be worn, but it is never more permissive. For example, like all Druids, Avengers cannot wear metal armor, but they take the restrictions much further and only permit the use of leather armor.
The following table summarizes which classes (by kit) can use which armors. The Armor Group column shows the highest category of armor a group can wear. For example, kitted rangers and shaman can wear leather, studded leather or hide armor so their group is called "Hide".  The Non-metallic group (for Druids) includes all armors up through to Hide, but only dragon scale armors and Ankheg Plate Mail from the higher categories.  If a kit is not listed, it inherits its parent class's armor group.
Usability Summary
ClassGroup	Class 	Kit 	Armor Group
Priest 	Cleric 	 	Full plate
Priest 	Druid 	 	Non-metallic
Priest 	Druid 	Avenger 	Leather armor
Priest 	Druid 	Shapeshifter	None
Priest 	Monk 	 	None
Priest 	Shaman 	 	Hide
Rogue 	Bard 	 	Chain mail
Rogue 	Thief 	 	Elven chain mail
Warrior 	Fighter	 	Full plate
Warrior 	Fighter	Barbarian 	Splint mail
Warrior 	Fighter	Kensai 	None
Warrior 	Ranger 	base class 	Full plate
Warrior 	Ranger 	all kits 	Hide armor
Wizard 	 	 	Robes
A class may permit its members to wear armor of a particular category, but that doesn't mean they can wear all pieces of armor in that category. This can happen for a few reasons:
* A piece of armor may have been specialized for use by a particular class. For example, Shadow Armor can only be used by thieves, even though Ranger Stalkers also have stealth abilities.
* A character's alignment may further restrict the armor available to them. Robe of the Evil Archmagi cannot be worn by characters of good or neutral alignments.
* Several companions wear armor that has been specifically designed for or fitted to them, preventing its use by anyone else.
Furthermore, the following restrictions apply while wearing armor, even when the character can wear it:
* Wearing any armor except for Robes or Elven Chain Mail will disable arcane spellcasting (the spellcasting for Sorcerers, Bards and Mages as well as mage multi- and dual-classes), this applies to memorized spells, not those cast from scrolls. Divine spellcasting for Priests is not affected.
* Stealth and Thieving are not possible in armors heavier than Hide Armor, except for Elven Chain Mail.
* Many armors also have a minimum strength requirement to wear (for the general categories; this value can differ for individual armors):
Armor type 	Requires strength
Leather Armor 	4
Studded Leather	6
Hide Armor 	9
Elven Chainmail	5
Chainmail 	8
Splint Mail 	8
Plate Mail 	12
Full Plate 	15
High-level Bards and Thieves (including multiclasses, and dual classes if their Thief class reaches 3 million XP) can learn to use any item and override their class restrictions as well as alignment and race restrictions. This does however not override the minimum required strength scores, nor the limits on spellcasting and thief skills.
Armor can not be changed during combat, this is disabled in the inventory screen.
== List of All Armors ==
The following table lists all the armors available to the party.
* The Stealth column indicates whether the item permits use of the hide in shadows ability. A value of "P" means the armor imposes stealth penalties.
* The Arcane Casting column indicate whether the casting of wizard spells is still permitted.
* The special abilities column summarizes special features of the armor. Bonuses are prefixed with "+", even if they decrease the related score (e.g., +1 saves actually improves saving throws by 1 by reducing the required ST score).
All Armor
Item 	Category 	AC 	Stealth	ArcaneCasting	Special Abilities
Adventurer's Robe 	Robe 	 	Y 	Y 	+1 AC vs crushing; +1 save vs petrification/polymorph
Aeger's Hide 	Hide 	3 	Y 	 	+15% resistance to fire, cold, and acid; Immune to confusion
Ankheg Plate Mail 	Plate Mail 	1 	 	 	
Armor of Deep Night 	Studded Leather	3 	Y 	 	
Armor of Faith +3 	Chain Mail 	1 	 	 	+1 save bonus
Armor of Missile Attraction 	Studded Leather	5 	Y 	 	Cursed: 15 AC vs missiles
Armor of the Hart 	Full Plate 	-2 	 	 	
Armor of the Viper 	Studded Leather	2 	Y 	 	-2 save poison/paralyzation penalty
Ashen Scales 	Splint Mail 	2 	 	 	
Aslyferund Elven Chain 	Chain Mail 	0 	P 	Y 	Immune to normal weapons
Big Metal Unit 	Full Plate 	-10	 	 	Immunity to backstab; +5% magic resistance
Bladesinger Chain 	Chain Mail 	1 	P 	Y 	
Blue Dragon Plate 	Full Plate 	-1 	 	 	+90% electricity resistance
Chain Mail +1 	Chain Mail 	4 	 	 	
Chain Mail +2 	Chain Mail 	3 	 	 	
Chain Mail +3 	Chain Mail 	2 	 	 	
Chain Mail 	Chain Mail 	5 	 	 	
Commander's Chain Mail 	Chain Mail 	2 	 	 	+1 Charisma ; immune to fear and morale failure for the wearer and any allies within visual radius
Crimson Chain 	Chain Mail 	0 	 	 	
Daeros's Full Plate 	Full Plate 	0 	 	 	+40% resistance to fire ; Save vs. Breath: +2
Darkmail 	Chain Mail 	2 	 	 	+20% resistance to fire
Delver's Plate 	Plate Mail 	1 	 	 	
Doomplate 	Plate Mail 	0 	 	 	
Dragonscale Armor 	Studded Leather	4 	 	 	Stackable with protection ring/cloak/amulet ; Immune to poison
Drow Adamantine Chain 	Chain Mail 	0 	P 	Y 	Adamantine
Drow Elven Chain 	Chain Mail 	2 	P 	Y 	Adamantine; +5% magic resistance; -1 casting time
Drow Full Plate 	Full Plate 	-4 	 	 	Adamantine
Elven Chain +1 	Chain Mail 	4 	P 	Y 	
Elven Chain Mail 	Chain Mail 	5 	P 	Y 	
Enkidu's Full Plate 	Full Plate 	-2 	 	 	+5% magic resistance
Fallorain's Plate 	Plate Mail 	2 	 	 	
Full Plate Mail 	Full Plate 	1 	 	 	
Full Plate Mail +1 	Full Plate 	0 	 	 	
Full Plate Mail +2 	Full Plate 	-1 	 	 	
Gorgon Plate 	Plate Mail 	-1 	 	 	15% resistance to fire and acid
Grandmaster's Armor 	Studded Leather	1 	Y 	 	Doubles movement rate
Hide Armor 	Hide 	6 	P 	 	
Human Flesh 	Leather 	7 	Y 	Y 	
Human Flesh +5 	Leather 	3 	Y 	 	+4 save bonus; +20% magic resistance; +20% move silently
Jester's Chain 	Chain Mail 	1 	 	 	
Karajah's Life and Death 	Leather 	5 	Y 	 	
Knave's Robe 	Robe 	 	Y 	Y 	+1 AC vs slashing weapons; +1 save vs death
Leather Armor 	Leather 	8 	Y 	 	
Leather Armor +1 	Leather 	7 	Y 	 	
Leather Armor +2 	Leather 	6 	Y 	 	
Leather Armor +3 	Leather 	5 	Y 	 	
Mage Robe of Cold Resistance 	Robe 	 	Y 	Y 	+20% cold resistance
Mage Robe of Electric Resistance	Robe 	 	Y 	Y 	+20% electricity resistance
Mage Robe of Fire Resistance 	Robe 	 	Y 	Y 	+20% fire resistance
Mail of the Dead 	Chain Mail 	3 	 	 	
Melodic Chain 	Chain Mail 	2 	P 	Y 	
Mithral Chain Mail 	Chain Mail 	1 	Y 	 	
Orc Leather 	Studded Leather	4 	Y 	 	+10% missile resistance; -1 charisma
Plate Mail 	Plate Mail 	3 	 	 	
Plate Mail +1 	Plate Mail 	2 	 	 	
Plate of Balduran 	Full Plate 	-1 	 	 	+1 charisma; +4 max HP
Plate of the Dark 	Full Plate 	0 	 	 	
Pride of the Legion 	Full Plate 	-1 	 	 	
Protector of the Second 	Leather 	6 	Y 	 	
Red Dragon Scale 	Full Plate 	-1 	 	 	+50% fire resistance
Robe of Goodman Hayes 	Robe 	 	Y 	Y 	-1 AC penalty; chaos shield on equip
Robe of Invocation 	Robe 	 	Y 	Y 	+20% resistance to elemental damage
Robe of Red Flames 	Robe 	 	Y 	Y 	+30% fire resistance; fire spells do +10% fire damage
Robe of the Apprenti 	Robe 	3 	Y 	Y 	
Robe of the Evil Archmagi 	Robe 	5 	Y 	Y 	+1 saves, 5% magic resistance
Robe of the Good Archmagi 	Robe 	5 	Y 	Y 	+1 saves, 5% magic resistance
Robe of the Neutral Archmagi 	Robe 	5 	Y 	Y 	+1 saves, 5% magic resistance
Robe of Vecna 	Robe 	5 	Y 	Y 	-4 casting time
Shadow Armor 	Studded Leather	4 	Y 	 	+15% hide in shadows
Shadow Dragon Scale 	Studded Leather	1 	Y 	 	+50% acid resistance
Shuruppak's Plate 	Full Plate 	-2 	 	 	+1 dexterity; +20% fire resistance
Silver Dragon Scale 	Full Plate 	-2 	 	 	-2 charisma; +15% magic resistance; movement rate increased by 3; incoming damage heals 2HP
Skin of the Ghoul 	Leather 	4 	Y 	 	+3 save vs paralyzation/poison
Splint Mail 	Splint Mail 	4 	 	 	
Splint Mail +1 	Splint Mail 	3 	 	 	
Studded Leather Armor 	Studded Leather	7 	Y 	 	
Studded Leather Armor +1 	Studded Leather	6 	Y 	 	
Studded Leather Armor +2 	Studded Leather	5 	Y 	 	
Studded Leather of Thorns 	Studded Leather	1 	Y 	 	attackers receive 1d4 retributve fire damage
Sylvan Chain 	Chain Mail 	3 	P 	Y 	
T'rachie's Plate 	Plate Mail 	-2 	 	 	Cursed: -5 charisma; -2 constitution
The Night's Gift 	Leather 	3 	Y 	 	+20% hide in shadows
Traveler's Robe 	Robe 	 	Y 	Y 	+1 AC bonus vs missiles; +4 saves vs breath
Tunic of Blindeye 	Robe 	 	Y 	Y 	+25% magic resistance; +2 movement speed bonus; Wildzone once/day
White Dragon Scale 	Splint Mail 	-2 	Y 	 	+50% cold resistance, Cone of Cold once/day
Corthala Family Armor 	Chain Mail 	2 	Y 	 	+25% resistance to acid, fire, magical damage; Immune to charm
Dark Elven Chain 	Chain Mail 	4 	P 	Y 	
Firecam Full-Plate Armor 	Full Plate 	0 	 	 	+1 saves, free action
Jansen AdventureWear 	Leather 	9 	Y 	Y 	+25% resistance to crushing, slashing, piercing, missile; +5 AC bonus vs missiles
==See also==
*Shields
*:Category:Armor
*Armor Class
==Mod content==
The Full Plate & Packing Steel mod can make several changes to how armor works in the BG Games. The biggest change will be the ability of armor to provide variable Physical damage resistance to blows, depending on the armor type. See the link for details.
uk:Обладунки
 
Category:Lists