Larian Studios Forums Divine Divinity (English) General Armor and Defense

What is the relationship between your character's defense and armor ratings? The system was never clearly explained to me in the manual. I noticed that higher agility made my defense go up, makes sense, but the effects of armor isn't quite as clear. Do I dodge attacks with my defense and take less damage with my armor when I'm hit? If thats the case then what is the role of the armor absorbtion percentate?

Defense determines the chance you will be hit. see differences between classes
Armour determines (in part) how much damage is done when you are hit.
Absorption percentage is the probability you will be struck in any particular region.

Lets say my overall armor rating is 100 while my helmet's armor is 50. If I get hit in the head (25%) then my armor value vs the attack is only 50??

Correct. The armour value used in the damage calculations is that of the piece where you were hit. The overall (weighted?) average value listed in the stats is for your information only.

That's right. Your hands and legs might be coated in steel, but it's no good if your barely clothed torso is hit. The overall Armour score is your average armour score for each hit against you. Since helmets and gloves cover less of you, they affect this score less.

This is bad news because the highest piece of armor I have is an uber belt with 300 while the rest of gear is 125-150 <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/puppyeyes.gif" alt="" />

Come'on you orcs, aim for the crotch!! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/silly.gif" alt="" />

<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/delight.gif" alt="" />

Well, you haven't lost anything with the belt! And there is better armour available. The best I found was the Larian Armour with an Armour score of 520. Mind you, that's freekishly high. 300-400 is about standard for high level armour.