Magic attack and armour

[English_Knight]

I read that armour affects magic attack. What is it about armour which does this? I've imported a few pieces from other mods for personal use and I wondered how much the defence value affects the magic attack value (or is it something completely different?)

 

[SmurfInHell]

Under the beginner's guide I have this information in a spoiler under "Enhance Magic". The link to the guide is here: http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.php/topic,276440.0.html

But I'll go ahead and post the question's answer right here for a quick look. You might want to keep the guide open as you start playing the mod as it should be able to answer most of your questions . Have fun and good luck out there!

Armor Magic Power Bonuses:
  Twilight Armor = 0.5
  Novice Robe = 1
  Elven Mail Shirt= 1
  Mithril Maille = 1
  Apprentice Robe = 2
  Vedmak Armor = 2
  Journeyman Robe & Dark Robe= 4
  Djanni Mail Shirt= 5
  Adept Robe & Night Robe= 6
  Balrog Body= 6
  Expert Robe & Dread Robe = 8
  Master Robe & Roid Robe = 12
  Archmage Robe= 16

Hats and Helmets
  Novice Hat, Novice Hood, Twilight Helm, Death Knight Helm = 0.5
  Apprentice Hat = 1
  Journeyman Hat, Dark Hood = 3
  Adept hat, Balrog head, Night hood = 6
  Expert Hat, Expert Hood, Dread Hood = 9
  Master Hat, Master Hood, Void Hood = 12
  Archmage Hat, Archmage Hood = 15

Staff Bonuses
    Gnarled Staff= 0.5
    Journeyman Staff= 1
    Adept Staff, Shaman Staff = 2
    Expert Staff = 3
    Necromancer's Staff, Master Staff = 4
    Archmage Staff = 6 

Each of these numbers adds itself proportionately to the magic power skill score on every spell formula.
If any other armor and helmets are worn (ones that are not enhance magic) the score, to either the robe factor or the hat factor, will become 0.
If by adding both robe and hat factor the result is 0, there will be a -5 penalty to the multiplier *Multiplier being one of the numbers that helps determine your spell damage by "amplifying" the power of the spell*, so in theory you could wear metal armor and a wizard's hat or a wizard's robe and a metal helmet, but the bonuses you'll get will be significantly lower. If you get the -5 penalty, the spell's total magic power will be seriously lowered and could make some spells nearly useless.
For the time being there are no magic enhancing boots or gauntlets, but that could change in the near future. Currently these do not factor into the magic damage multiplier mentioned before.

So to Answer quickly:

Try to get at least a hat or robe. Even one of the lower tier ones will at least stop you from getting the -5 penalty. You only need to have ONE enhance magic piece to avoid the penalties, but always keep in mind that if you were to use two pieces of enhance magic gear you could be dealing quite a bit more in terms of damage, especially with AoE's. Even one or two extra damage on an AoE spell can translate to +80 overall because of the amount of people you hit. Higher level enhance magic gear pieces can make the difference between night and die when it comes to magic power.

 

[English_Knight]

So if I were to import any other armour (such a bronze cuirass or some nice mail from a different mod) to use for my character, whether it gives +20 or +50 armour, I would get no bonuses for my magic unless I had a wizard hat etc?

Just checking I understand armour value itself shouldn't change anything?

 

[SmurfInHell]

So if I were to import any other armour (such a bronze cuirass or some nice mail from a different mod) to use for my character, whether it gives +20 or +50 armour, I would get no bonuses for my magic unless I had a wizard hat etc?

Just checking I understand armour value itself shouldn't change anything?

Armor rating does not change. You would not get any bonuses to magic unless you have at least one piece of "Enhance Magic" gear. If you have no pieces of enhance magic gear you are getting a -5 penalty to magic power which can severely weaken your damage with spells. What happens is the formula checks both your hat and your main body piece. If you have no enhance magic gear in your head slot it gets turned to a value of 0; then it checks your main body piece. If both your main body piece and your hat have no enhance magic (0+0) then their is a -5 penalty to the magic power. In your case you are not getting any less armor than normal, but you are taking a huge hit to the amount of damage you can do with spells. The best way to combat the penalty is to get some enhance magic hat or hood. For example just the novice hood would make the formula (0 for main body piece + .5 for novice hood) which equals greater than 0. This means you would not get the -5 penalty to magic power and would be getting a small boost to your magic damage.

If you're not using magic then you don't need to worry about anything. Cleric Skills (N) use the faith modifier and don't need to worry about the "Enhance Magic". Only if you plan on using spells do you need to take into account the "Enhance Magic" properties on gear.

 

[English_Knight]

Ok, got it. Thank you for the explanation

 

[SmurfInHell]

Of course