Armor and blacksmiths

[jrawlings]

I looked at the stickies and did a search for "armor" and came up with 574 hits, so sorry if this has been brought up before!

I think it would be neat instead of just going to your local blacksmith to buy prefabricated armor that magically fits everyone, you should commission a blacksmith to MAKE armor specifically for you. Obviously the type of armor would dictate the price and time it takes to make.

Realistically, you shouldn't be able to pick up any suit of platemail off the battlefield and expect it to fit you. Surely, you can sell looted armor to a blacksmith who could melt it down and reforge it into one that does fit perhaps.

I don't think this suggestion would apply to all armor types... cloth (and even some chainmail) armors for example have some give in them so you could feasibly fit yourself into those (maybe at an armor or movement penalty?).

So what I see is that you go to your local blacksmith and tell them you want them to make you a set of black armor. The smith tells you it's gonna cost 5000 denars. You pay him/her and he tells you to come back in 1week/month or whatever to pick up your suit of armor. You could then add a small % chance that the armor will turn out to be "reinforced" or "thick."

During battle, if you take a beating, your armor could become "tattered" just as a horse may get crippled... make it a % chance if you get knocked out. If that happens, you can take your armor to the smith and for a modest fee and some time, the smith can repair it.

EDIT: I just found this thread that talks about general item degradation:
http://forums.taleworlds.com/viewtopic.php?t=1268&highlight=repair+armor+armour

I'm not suggesting that this be a constant thing as proposed there. I'm suggesting that we use the current system of armor ratings (thick, reinforced, tattered etc) somewhat realistically. Also that thread does not address buying armor.

 

[Ingolifs]

I agree. The lower quality wepons in the game (padded cloth, leather jerkin, linen tunic, pitchfork, spear, fighting axe, maul) should all be buyable from the merchants, but if you want a higher quality weapon, you go to the blacksmiths and order one, and check back a few days later.

 

[Mablung]

That's definately plausable. I was thinking about something along (nearly) the same lines - your armour can loose traits like horses (just like Ingolifs said). However, if it was originally reinforced/thick then the armourer should be able to repair it to this standard (costly of course). If you find tattered armour etc. then it could be repaired to normal status.

 

[Galahad]

On the same topic, but on a slightly different track - I think it would be a good idea if you could take broken weapons and armour to a blacksmith (e.g. battered helmet or chipped sword), and they fix it for you for a price, so it for example you had a chipped bastard sword, you could take it to the Blacksmith, pay him some cash and then you would get a normal bastard sword back.

 

[dirtbag]

I agree with you idea. But should the player be able to choose his size or will it be randomly generated?

 

[captain_bloodloss]

i'd say a player should be able to choose at the beginning, kinda like in def jam fight for new york, if you make your character, you choose a weight and that lets you choose a body type and you can also choose height, (body type like small, medium, large, xl)