Re: Odyssey Melee Combat

From: dman@p-o.widomaker.com (dman)

Date: Wed, 06 Mar 1996 00:00:00 +0000

In article <4hi73f$4n7@GRAPEVINE.LCS.MIT.EDU>, quixote@rigel.lcs.mit.edu says...
>
>In article <DnsHn0.JDC.0.-s@cs.vu.nl>,
>Sjoerd Schreuder <sjoerd@cs.vu.nl> wrote:
>>dman@p-o.widomaker.com (dman) writes:
>>
>
>Not true; as Sjoerd points out, the defensive ability allows the
>character to "avoid being hit" - it doesn't reduce the damage done
>by a single attack.

Perhaps I wasn't very clear here.  The rulebook clearly states that (regarding muting
damage) "The amount absorbed is a random amount from 0% to the square of the
defender's melee efectiveness defense."  Perhaps I should have said that heavier armor
increases the melee defense score more than lighter armor, so that it is possible to
mute several percent more damage from an attack.

>Basically, the only possible use that I see for heavy armor is
>equipping mages with melee spells with high-powered (Radiant or
>better) heavy equipment to boost their non-existant defense
>rating.  For real fighters with even a little bit of defense,
>it's almost never worth wearing at all, let alone over similar
>light armor...

Chris is correct in stating that any armor heavier than leather will dock your attack
ability.  I still don't think that I'd give mages heavy armor unless it overcame the
hit in initiative they would take from wearing it.

-John

References

Odyssey Melee Combat
dman@p-o.widomaker.com (dman)
Tue, 05 Mar 1996 00:00:00 +0000