Spell hindrance

Armor Navigation
Armor
Armor Use
Spell hindrance
Specializations
Warrior	Rogue	Paladin
Reinforce	Evasion	Blessing
Support	Stealth	Casting
Crush	Support	Fluidity
Puncture
Slash

Spell hindrance is a system that imparts a chance for heavier armors to prevent spells from being successfully cast.

Robes, light leather, and full leather armors allow spells from all circles to be cast with no hindrance. Reinforced leather and double leather cause hindrance for some elemental and mental spell circles. Characters wearing leather breastplate or heavier armor will incur at least some hindrance for spells cast from any spell circle.

Casters wearing heavier armors will experience a random chance of spell failure. A base mana cost will be taken, stance will be forced down from defensive, and the standard 3 second cast roundtime takes place, but there is no further effect:

You trace a sign while beseeching the spirits to empower you with the Bind spell...
Your spell is ready.
You gesture at a skeletal lord.
[Spell Hindrance for some marbled pink mithril armor is 9% with current Armor Use skill, d100= 7]
Your armor prevents the spell from working correctly.
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
(Forcing stance down to guarded)

The percentage of chance is variable based on the type of spell and type of armor.

Reducing Hindrance

Base hindrance is the minimum hindrance that can be attained with enough Armor Use (i.e., ((20 bonus * Base Hindrance) - 10).

Undertraining penalty formula (total will not exceed the armor's Max hindrance in the table's rightmost column):

Total Hindrance = Base Hindrance * (1 + (Required Bonus - Current Bonus) / 20)

Hindrance can be further reduced both by the spell Faith's Clarity (1603) and by the paladin's armor specialization Armored Fluidity.

Hindrance is entirely negated in natural sanctuaries and areas where Minor Sanctuary (213) is in effect.

Paladins also have access to the specializations Armored Casting which decreases the mana/roundtime penalties for failing a cast, and Armor Blessing which triggers on a failed cast and increases the potency of the next successful cast.

Chart of Armor Penalties and Hindrance

See Armor Use for the amount of Armor Use ranks required for each type of armor.

Arcane Circle spells such as Arcane Blast (1700) have the same hindrance as Sorcerer Base.

Table: Armor attributes

AG	ASG	Name	Base Weight	RT	AP	CvA		Spell Hindrance (%)
						Norm	Magic	MnS	MjS	Cleric	MnE	MjE	Ranger	Sorcerer	Wizard	Bard	Empath	MnM	MjM	Paladin	Max
1. Cloth	1	Normal Clothing	-	0	0	25	20	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	2	Robes	8	0	0	25	15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2. Leather	5	Light Leather	10	0	0	20	15	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	6	Full Leather	13	1	-1	19	14	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	7	Reinforced Leather	15	2	-5	18	13	-	-	-	-	2	-	1	2	-	-	-	2	-	4
	8	Double Leather	16	2	-6	17	12	-	-	-	-	4	-	2	4	2	-	2	4	-	6
3. Scale	9	Leather Breastplate	16	3	-7	11	5	3	4	4	4	6	3	5	6	3	4	4	6	2	16
	10	Cuirbouilli Leather	17	4	-8	10	4	4	5	5	5	7	4	6	7	3	5	5	7	3	20
	11	Studded Leather	20	5	-10	9	3	5	6	6	6	9	5	8	9	3	6	6	9	4	24
	12	Brigandine Armor	25	6	-12	8	2	6	7	7	7	12	6	11	12	7	7	7	12	5	28
4. Chain	13	Chain Mail	25	7	-13	1	-6	7	8	8	8	16	7	16	16	8	8	8	16	6	40
	14	Double Chain	25	8	-14	0	-7	8	9	9	9	20	8	18	20	8	9	9	20	7	45
	15	Augmented Chain	26	8	-16	-1	-8	9	11	11	10	25	9	22	25	8	11	10	25	8	55
	16	Chain Hauberk	27	9	-18	-2	-9	11	14	14	12	30	11	26	30	15	14	15	30	9	60
5. Plate	17	Metal Breastplate	23	9	-20	-10	-18	16	25	25	16	35	21	29	35	21	25	21	35	10	90
	18	Augmented Breastplate	25	10	-25	-11	-19	17	28	28	18	40	24	33	40	21	28	21	40	11	92
	19	Half Plate	50	11	-30	-12	-20	18	32	32	20	45	27	39	45	21	32	21	45	12	94
	20	Full Plate	75	12	-35	-13	-21	20	45	45	22	50	30	48	50	50	45	50	50	13	96

Resources

• http://www.play.net/gs4/info/armory/armor.asp