Armor

Armor is how much of a blow your gear stops. The HIGHER your armor -- the better. Score shows it as a plain positive number, one each against pierce, bash, slash and exotic damage. Equipment and protective spells raise it. A naked character has 0.

Armor does not make you harder to hit, it softens the hits that land. Getting out of the way is dexterity and your level, sleeping or resting makes it much worse. Weapon blows meet the pierce, bash or slash column by their damage type. Force blows, like magic missile and ethereal fist, meet the exotic column in full. Fire, cold, lightning, acid and light meet it too, and it stops them less well. Holy, negative, mental, pain and suffering and all other damage ignores armor.

The attacker's accuracy pierces armor: the more skilled the attacker and the higher your level, the less your armor is worth against him. More armor stops more of a blow, but only up to a point, and never all of it.

Big pieces matter more than small ones: body armor, a shield or barding gives a lot, a helmet or greaves less, boots, gloves or a cloak a little. Rings, amulets, bracelets and earrings are jewelry: they carry no armor of their own, only some of them hold a magical bonus to it.

Armor is built differently, and identify names the build and what it is good and bad against. Plate turns blades and points but a mace dents it, mail stops a slash cold, padding soaks up clubs and lets points through. All builds of the same level are worth about the same in total.