Armor in Magience is rather unique. Thanks to the existence of magic, armor itself was never refined upon due to being largely unnecessary so things like plate mail often become much more cumbersome than they're worth; 200 pounds of iron or steel isn't going to help much against a strong fire spell, and might instead serve to cook you alive inside your own protection. It's also kind of a big problem that ores such as iron and copper are incredibly rare in Riariti .
Instead, most people rely on enchanting to protect them. They pay an enchanter to enhance clothing to repel spells, weapons, and even monster teeth. The stronger you want the armor the more expensive it gets, but you don't lose the flexibility and light weight of the original material.
Most people who wear armor do so for aesthetic reasons, or because the armor they have on is of a better quality than they can afford to enchant their clothes with; this is common for people who spend a lot of time in dungeons.
It is, however, rather fashionable to wear a single piece of armor such as pauldrons, which are usually enchanted to increase stats yet remain light enough to not inhibit combat.
Armor Enchantments
There are several different levels of armor enchantments. What they do is modify the properties of the material placed on them, they do not add an extra layer of protection. The enchantment is not a shell and by itself does nothing to help.
In ascending order of strength (and cost), the armor enchantments are as follows:
- Leather
- Copper
- Bronze
- Orichalcum
- Iron
- Steel
- Reinforced Steel
- Dragonscale
- Mithril
Magic Armor Enchantments
In addition to the base armor enchantments, other properties may be added. Common ones include Feather enchantments (to make everything lighter, usually reserved for actual armor), and magical resistances such as reduced damage from specific elements.