Armor & Shields
Armor
Armor is useful in absorbing the damage done by various weapons. If you choose heavier armor without the armor skill to wear it effectively, your defense drops because you are hindered physically. The penalty is equal to the difference between your effective armor skill and the skill required to wear your current armor. Armor may also interfere with spellcaster's spells and unarmed attacks. Note that this applies even if you are wearing no armor at all — a character with a strength below 50 will suffer encumbrance penalties until they have enough armor skill to offset their negative strength bonus.
Using the appraise verb on armor will always reveal what type of armor it is. A successful appraisal will also reveal what type of protection it offers against varios forms of attacks. The degrees of specific protection, in order from least to greatest, are: minimal, very light, light, medium, high, very high, excellent, superb, incredible, massive, and epic.
The strength bonus is factored into effective skill per slot level. For example, if a character has armor skill 20 and a strength bonus of 10, that character's effective skill at wearing armor is 30; by contrast, a character with armor skill 20 and strength bonus -10 has an effective skill for wearing armor of 10.
There are 5 types of Armor in Unwritten Legends.
| Armor Type | Crushing
Resistance |
Puncture
Resistance |
Slashing
Resistance |
Skill Per
Slot |
Professions That Do Not
Suffer Spell Disruption |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloth | 12% | 12% | 12% | 4 | All |
| Leather | 20% | 20% | 20% | 12 | Bard, Cleric-Spiritual, Cleric-Martial, Empath, Mechanist-Arcanist, Mechanist-Scientist, Wilder-Martial, Wilder-Religious |
| Scale | 30% | 30% | 30% | 24 | Cleric-Spiritual, Cleric-Martial, Empath, Mechanist-Scientist |
| Chain | 20% | 40% | 35% | 38 | Cleric-Spiritual, Cleric-Martial |
| Plate | 40% | 35% | 40% | 54 | Cleric-Martial |
Separate armor for wings does not exist. Armor which protects the back also protects the wings automatically. These additional slots of protection do require additional skill, however.
There are 13 armor slots (+ 2 wing slots for nymphs and brambles) in Unwritten Legends. Wearing a full set of iron plate armor would require 702 skill points (810 for nymphs and brambles) with a neutral strength bonus.
Shields
Shields are used while in parry stance. The off-hand is prioritized for parrying and blocking, so it should be held in your off-hand if you're also holding a weapon. They are good for deflecting melee and especially ranged and spellbolt attacks. Shields require skill to use properly, and inflict penalties if you do not have sufficient shields skill.
The strength bonus is factored into effective skill level. For example, if a character has shields skill 20 and a strength bonus of 10, that character's effective skill is 30; by contrast, a character with shields skill 20 and strength bonus -10 has an effective skill of 10.
There are 4 types of shields in Unwritten Legends.
| Shield Type | Defensive Bonus | Required Skill |
|---|---|---|
| Buckler | 10 | 0 |
| Round Shield | 20 | 150 shield skill/strength bonus required to use without penalty |
| Kite Shield | 30 | 300 shield skill/strength bonus required to use without penalty |
| Tower Shield | 40 | 500 shield skill/strength bonus required to use without penalty |