Preventing Injuries

Armour, generally, is any item of equipment which protects the wearer from injury. It includes:

• Body armour or clothing
• Cloaks
• Shields
• Helms and other head armour
• Gloves and gauntlets
• Boots or shoes

Armour includes all items which can be placed in slots g-l of the equipment list. Only one item can be placed in each slot, and only the appropriate type (e.g. shields in slot i).

Armour has two functions: it reduces the chance that the wearer will be hit by a weapon, and it also absorbs some of the damage when a blow has hit. Note that armour does not protect the wearer from missile attacks. [This is due to the way monster attacks with missile weapons are coded]

Armour will display like this:

 a Metal Cap [3] - if unidentified
 a Metal Cap [3, +0] - if identified

The first number represents the base 'armour class' (also known as AC), that is to say the basic effectiveness of the armour at deflecting and/or absorbing damage from attacks. The second number shows any bonuses to the armour class; when positive, this is generally due to magical enchantment, but it can also have negative values due to curses or to damage from special attacks such as acid.

There is no distinction between the two values, so a Metal Cap [3, +2] is the same (in terms of AC) as an Iron Helm [5, +0]; but of course there are other differences such as weight. A character's total AC is the sum of all armour worn, so a character wearing a Metal Cap [3, +2] and Chain Mail [14, +0] would have an AC of 19.

In general, the heavier the armour, the more protection it offers, but the use of rare, strong materials, or better craftsmanship, can make armour which is lighter and stronger than normal equivalents. Heavier body armour can also encumber the wearer, giving a small penalty to the combat ability of the wearer; this is displayed in parentheses after the armour name, e.g.

 Chain Mail (-2) [14, +0]

Full list of Armour