I think an armorer system would be a perfect solution to extend clothing/armor variety exponentially(literally)!
Since armor takes longer to make and needs more skill, too, this should be the task of a NPC or a workshop.
My initial Idea was to implement a foreman feature for workshops which provides a skill value for product quantity and quality
(so it could work for any workshop type). This foreman could than be used to determine which parts could be used and how good the output will be(like the already implemented Smith skill)
For defensive values I would suggest to use two(three for body armor) slots to provide to most part and the other slots to give small boni between -1 and +3.
Helmets: Padding + helmet
Shoulders: Base + protective gear
Body: Padding + chainmail(doubled if no breastplate) + breatplate
Arms: base + arm protection
Legs: base + greaves
Armor class could simply determined by the amount of added parts.
And more details:
Helmet
Helmets could use 4 different parts:
- padding slot for underneath the actual helmet(open coif, coif which covers most parts of the face, arming cap, thicker padding, leather,...) which should always exist so you could order a dull arming cap if you want to.
- the helmet slot which gives the main part of style (Spangenhelm, kettle helm, cervelliere,....)
- slot for optional protection (Noseguard, cheek plates , noseguard+ cheek plates, vendel spectacles, full face mask,...)
- slot for decorations (Plumes, crest,...)
Shoulders
Shoulder armor could use 3 different parts:
- base/padding slot to carry more protective gear(simple gambeson padding, aventail, gorget, the battanian strap construction,...) which should always exist except for the cape slot, for when you want to have a simple cape or pelt
- cape slot for decorative parts( capes, shals, pelts, hoods,...) if there isn't anything in the base slot you can't add protective gear
- protective gear slot which gives the main part of armor stats( lamellar guards, splints, scales, small pauldrons, ailette, upper cannons,...)
Body
Body armor could use 5 different parts:
- base/padding (Gambeson, shirts, mantles, tunics,...) which should always exist
- chain mail slot (chainmail, ringmail,...) so you could choose to have a layer of mail beneath your lamellar or scales for example
- breast plate slot which gives the main part of armor stats (Lamellar plates, splints, scale, plates,...) and a tickbox for a back plate of the same material
- skirt/tassets slot(lamellar, scale, chainmail, gambeson, leather, linen,...) if you pick the same material as in the chainmail slot or base/padding slot you could choose to extend this for things like knee long chain mail and gambeson
- upper leg slot(simple pants, padded pants, chausses, cuises, splints, lamellar,...)
Hand/Arms
Arm armor could use 3 different parts:
- base/vambrace slot which determines if this will be gloves, mittens guarded vambraces or vambraces (Leather, padding, simple linen) which should always exist
- arm protection(Lamellar, scale, splints,...) so you could make a leather glove with vambraces
- hand protection(Chainmail, small plates of iron, bone,...)
Legs
Leg armor could use different parts:
- base/boots slot (this could be any form of leather or fabric shoe or boot in the game) which should always exist
- greaves slot for the lower leg(lamellar, splints, scales, chainmail, extra padding,...)
- sabaton slot \m/(sry) for foot protection(plates, chainmail,...)
This feature would extend the amounts of armor in the game by far, gives players a chance to give them and their companions a unique look, help smaller modding teams to get a basic armor pool way more quickly and could be a interesting feature to spice up multiplayer by unlocking parts via leveling
