Armor, when equipped, makes it harder for enemies to hit you, which makes heavy armor a desirable asset for most character builds. The heavier the armor, the higher armor rating it bestows, and the less likely any given monster is to hit you. Armor does not guard against firebolts or other forms of magical attack unless it has the runic of reflection.
Equipped armour can also negatively impact your ability to be stealthy. This is reflected in Brogue by a higher stealth radius. Leather and scale have no penalty, and the heavier the armor, the greater the impact upon your stealth radius. A ring of stealth can help to lessen the effect of armor on stealth. Seeking out unlit and dark areas of the dungeon is also useful.
If you equip an armor before you meet the strength requirement for it, you will receive a penalty resulting in the armor being less effective than possible. A potion of strength or scroll of enchantment can help to remedy that situation.
Armor can be ordinary, blessed or cursed but armor found in a vault is guaranteed not to be cursed. If you are unfortunate enough to have equipped a cursed armor, it can only be removed by reading a scroll of protect armor, a scroll of remove curse, or a scroll of enchantment and targeting the afflicted armor.
Types of Armor:
- Leather Armor - 3 armor, 10 strength; Of the 20% that are blessed, about 69% will be runic.
- Scale Mail - 4 armor, 12 strength; Of the 20% that are blessed, about 58% will be runic.
- Chain Mail - 5 armor, 13 strength; Of the 20% that are blessed, about 48% will be runic.
- Banded Mail - 7 armor, 15 strength; Of the 20% that are blessed, about 27% will be runic.
- Splint Mail - 9 armor, 17 strength; Of the 20% that are blessed, about 6% will be runic.
- Plate Armor - 11 armor, 19 strength; Plate Armour is never runic.
Magic and Runic
Armour generation works as follows:
- 60% of armour will be non-magical.
- 20% of armour will have a random enchantment level from +1 to +3. In the Brogue community, enchanted armour is often refered to as "blessed". These suits of armour have a percentage chance of having a positive runic effect based on the following formula:
- (96 - 10 * armour value) / 96 * 100
- 20% of armour will have a random enchantment level from -1 to -3. These items will also be generated cursed. They have a flat 33% chance to possess a negative runic effect.
Positive armor runics include:
Negative armour runics include:
Armor equivalence
Sometimes you’ll find a weak blessed/runic suit. Is it worth enchanting/protecting? The answer is:
- +0 scale ≤ +1 leather
- +0 chain ≤ +1 scale, +2 leather
- +0 banded ≤ +2 chain, +3 scale, +3 leather
- +0 splint ≤ +2 banded, +3 chain, +4 scale, +4 leather
- +0 plate ≤ +2 splint, +3 banded, +4 chain (found as +1 or +2), +5 chain (found as +3), +5 scale, +5 leather (found as +1), +6 leather (found as +2 or +3)
Remember: if you use a commutation altar and, for example, your previous armor was +5, treat your new armor as “found as +5”.
All items (16)