Plate armour
Name | Plate armour |
---|---|
Size to wear | Small, Medium |
Armour Class | 10 |
Encumbrance rating | 18 |
Maximum Enchantment | +10 |
Grants | nothing |
Time to Wear | 5 |
A full suit of solid metal plate: cuirass, pauldrons, vambraces, waist plate and greaves. It provides excellent protection. |
Plate armour is the heaviest common body armour, providing excellent defense in exchange for encumbrance (reducing ability to cast spells, evade attacks, and fire Ranged Weapons). Commonly found on monsters, you are virtually guaranteed to find at least one set by the time you've cleared the Orcish Mines.
Plate armour is one of two armour types capable of generating with the ponderousness ego.
Desirability
Plate armour is often the heaviest armour available, making it a good choice for high-strength melee characters. A well-enchanted plate armour with a useful ego (such as fire resistance) can serve for the entire 3-rune game. At the very least, heavy fighters won't have better alternatives for a long time.
Those who branch into a hybrid fighter/spellcaster role may eventually want to switch to a lighter suit of dragon scales. Pure-strength characters may eventually end up in gold dragon scales or crystal plate armour. In any case, both storm dragon scales and shadow dragon scales are direct upgrades to a plain +0 plate armour.
Compared to said options, plate armour has the time advantage, since you can find it earlier. Waiting for that better set of armour means waiting to use your scrolls of enchant armour, which means making your character weaker right now. As mentioned, if you find a plate armour with a good ego, it may be wise to stick with it for the entire game.
Note that, in shops, plate armour is 4x as expensive as chain mail. Grabbing a randart chain mail may be more cost-effective than getting a randart plate armour.
History
Image | |
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Mundane | |
Magical | |
Artifact | |
Unrandart Plate armour | |
Maxwell's Patent Armour |
Armour | |
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Body Armour | Leather armour • Ring mail • Scale mail • Chain mail • Plate armour • Crystal plate armour
Robe • Animal skin • Troll leather armour • Steam dragon scales • Acid dragon scales • |
Miscellaneous | Hat • Helmet • Cloak • Scarf • Gloves • Boots • Barding |
Shields | Buckler • Kite shield • Tower shield • Orb |