Defenses and enhancements

Armor

A wise adventurer dons armor whenever he or she is in a place with the potential for danger. The amount of armor one wears generally varies by profession: Wizards and Sorcerers will often wear lighter armors like robes and simpler leathers, so as to not hinder their spellcasting, whereas Warriors and Rogues often wear full sets of plate armor with numerous accessories. Generally, only the chest piece of an armor set will enhance a character's defensive strength if it carries a bonus. All other accessories, such as coifs, bracers, and greaves, are intended to protect specific areas of the body.

Remember that armor will not prevent a character from being hit, but it can drastically reduce wound severity and the damage incurred from being hit.

Shields

Shields come in four sizes: small, medium, large, and tower. While a shield can block attacks, its heaviness may hinder one's ability to dodge them. Smaller shields are better used in combination with dodging, while larger shields eschew evasion more completely in favor of blocking. Shields also provide a defensive bonus that can be increased by enchanting them.

Enhancement Spells

Spells are often used to augment defenses or offenses. Strength, a Major Elemental spell, will allow for stronger physical attacks, and the Paladin spell, Divine Shield, will increase one's ability to block enemy attacks. Some enhancement spells have a balancing negative effect. For example, Spirit Barrier, a Minor Spiritual spell, will increase defense but make it more difficult for its target to score physical hits against foes.

Defense Bonus Items

Some seemingly innocuous items, generally sold or found only in extremely rare circumstances, have the magical ability to bolster the defenses of their wearer. These Defense Bonus items are highly coveted and generally owned only by the very wealthy.

Critical Padding

This padding type reduces the severity of wounds inflicted upon the wearer. Opportunities to add such padding to armor are offered by merchants and sometimes the WPS Smithy. Armor can receive both critical and damage padding.

See also: Critical Padding

Damage Padding

This padding type reduces the wearer's loss of health points by an attack while the critical severity remains the same. Opportunities to add such padding to armor are offered by merchants and sometimes the WPS Smithy. Armor can receive both critical and damage padding.

See also: Damage Padding

Enchanting

Enchanting is a process used by Wizards and some merchants for lending extra strength to a weapon, shield, or piece of armor. This will cause a weapon to hit harder (by increasing Attack Strength bonus) or a shield or armor piece to protect more effectively (by increasing Defense Strength bonus). Equipment made of magical metals generally carry an innate bonus similar to enchantment. Each successful enchantment by a Wizard adds +1 to an item's enchant bonus. There is an enchant bonus limit of +50 between innate and added enchants.

Resistance

Some armor can be treated by Rangers or merchants to resist various forms of elemental damage. The process requires potions crafted from special plants, each unique to a resistance type. Resistance can only be added to leather and cloth armors, as sturdier armors are immune to the magics involved. Resistance is not permanent and eventually fails.

Flares

Flaring weapons occasionally release a potent, damaging charge on impact. Many flares are elemental, but many other, more unusual flares exist, such as a poisonous substance, void magic, and plasma. Some metals, such as drakar, gornar, and rhimar, have innate flares, but other metals may also be imbued with a flaring ability. Feras and drake weapons, for example, hold no magical bonuses but are known to possess innate flaring abilities.

Blessings

As the undead are immune to standard forms of attack, it is necessary to purify worldly weapons with a blessing that will allow them to harm these foes. Several methods of blessing exist, generally stemming from the Arkati: Voln members can use their Symbols to instill holy power into a weapon, and Clerics have the Bless spell.

Sanctification

Sanctified weapons are attuned to the faithful and remain permanently blessed in the hands of a Cleric or Paladin. Rarer still, there are weapons of such power that they remain permanently blessed no matter the hand that holds them.

Critical Weighting

This weighting type increases the severity of wounds inflicted upon the target. Opportunities to add such weighting to weapons are offered by merchants and sometimes the WPS Smithy. Weapons can receive both critical and damage weighting.

See also: Critical Weighting

Damage Weighting

This weighting type increases the loss of health points for the target while the critical severity remains the same. Opportunities to add such weighting to weapons are offered by merchants and sometimes the WPS Smithy. Weapons can receive both critical and damage weighting.

See also: Damage Weighting

Enhancives

Some items are charmed so as to enhance certain attributes, skills, and other abilities of their bearers. For example, a fighter reaping the benefits of a Strength enhancive will, for example, swing harder, whereas a character with a Shield Use enhancive will defend better with a shield.