No Love For Armour?

[Shostak]

Compare TFT armor, which always stops at least some damage, to D&D armor, which stops all or nothing. That difference was a major selling point to my pals back in the late '70s/early '80s when we started playing TFT.

[hcobb]

Would you rather stop 2 hits with leather armor (-2 DX) or with an expert small shield (the other guy is at -1 DX)? Combine with an expert dagger and the other guy is at -2 DX. Finally combine expert defend with occult strike to negate his Fine Plate.

[Chris Rice]

Originally Posted by hcobb

Would you rather stop 2 hits with leather armor (-2 DX) or with an expert small shield (the other guy is at -1 DX)? Combine with an expert dagger and the other guy is at -2 DX. Finally combine expert defend with occult strike to negate his Fine Plate.

I'd far rather have the armour. The "expert" shield and dagger combo only work if you're ready; they don't protect you from the side or flanks, they don't protect from above, they don't protect you from a fall, or a swarm of bees or a multitude of other things. The armour is always "on", like those stone flesh rings you're so keen on.

[larsdangly]

There are good things about using the talents artfully to gain defensive bonuses in melee. But most characters I've seen with that sort of 'build' would have a high probability of getting wiped out in 1 turn by a garden variety archer (say, ST 10, DX 13(16), IQ 9, missile weapons III, horse bow). That archer would have little chance of doing a single point of damage to a figure in fine plate or with leather or mail and a large shield.

[hcobb]

Yes if you want to play at range you take a dumb hero and if you want to fight toe to toe you take a smart wizard.

ST 12, DX 11, IQ 9
Light Crossbow(2d+2 because your Goblin Pythoness branded your bolts; adjDX 14 for a shot per turn)
Broadsword(2d), Small Shield(1), Dagger(1d-1)
Crossbow, Knife, Missile Weapons III, Shield, Sword, Toughness I

[Skarg]

I sort of wish I didn't feel somewhat morally obliged to keep responding to every time Henry mentions "Branded" crossbow bolts that surely they aren't intended to do the +1 damage he thinks they do, and the ability to even brand a bolt is also questionable.

Low-ST wizards who try to fight on the front lines tend to get shot, it seems to me. If only 1 in 300 of your population is a wizard, I'd hope almost none of them choose to become front-line warriors just to try to cheese the admittedly munchkiny staff abilities.

[larsdangly]

Agreed, but he's on his own journey with that one.

[FireHorse]

Something else to consider… maybe it's not always true that a failed attack roll literally "missed". If the target was wearing armor, maybe it did connect, but just skittered off and failed to cause any damage.

[hcobb]

Originally Posted by FireHorse

Something else to consider… maybe it's not always true that a failed attack roll literally "missed". If the target was wearing armor, maybe it did connect, but just skittered off and failed to cause any damage.

That's what the damage roll does. Note that some weapons are a lot more variable than others.

[FireHorse]

Originally Posted by hcobb

That's what the damage roll does. Note that some weapons are a lot more variable than others.

Excellent point. The Thrown Rock's 1d-4 damage is, in a way, the same as saying that it does 1d, but even bare skin protects against 4 hits of Thrown Rock damage.