How does Magical Armor work now?

[Selveem]

Okay, I wasn't sure where to post this question. I'm assuming that the details may not want to be public info (though I doubt that's the case anymore, since it'd curb a lot of questions), so I thought here might be best:

How does Magical Armor work now?

From the bug report info and the info in the help file, it sounds like it just adds a +1 _max_ dex bonus to armor. I'm hoping that's incorrect as it'd make most magical non-heavy armors mostly worthless as the maximum dex bonus a player can possibly train up to my knowledge is 20 (a +5 bonus).

A thief/ranger/druid/bard wearing studded leather armor that's magical would, thus, get absolutely no benefit unless afflicted by a spell such as slink or wearing a +2 dex bonus item (if there are any). Regular leather, which confers no penalty to skills for these classes, would get get no benefit without a +4 dex bonus ring or slink spell.

[Raona]

From the bug report info and the info in the help file, it sounds like it just adds a +1 _max_ dex bonus to armor.

Er...in addition to whatever the magical enhancement actually is?

I must be missing something, or the helpfile must be unclear. The improvement in DEX ceiling is in addition to whatever the magical bonus is, so it makes the armour better still (well, for those in a position to leverage it) than it would be by canon rules.

Update: Mask said the DEX ceiling change was a bug, and it is gone now...so magical armour should just be working as per canon, that is, it does whatever its magical enhancement is set to do - increase a stat, improve AC, provide a spell-like effect, what have you.

[Selveem]

It's just that the helpfile is vague.

Max dex bonus is generally determined by the armor type (and in some cases, material). Adding to it is useful, but generally only for the heavy stuff.

For instance, padded armor has an innate AC of 1 and max dex bonus of 8. Meaning the most a person with 20 Dex could get out of it is 10+1(innate AC)+5(20 Dex = +5 dex bonus) for a total of 16. That means, of the maximum possible AC they could get out of padded armor (19), they are only able to utilize 16 of that. If I am reading the helpfile and the bug forums post on how it works, if it's magical the armor would add a +1 to max dex bonus ceiling of the armor. But, that would have no affect on the character wearing it because they can still only utilize 16 of the original maximum of 19 to begin with.

[Raona]

Er, I stand flummoxed by the question. It's magical armour, it grants an additional +1 (or more) to AC because of the magical enchantment. What more do you want?

[Selveem]

Apologies. I was simply confused by the conversation between Brar and Harroghty on this thread. Harroghty meant 'magical metal' in reference to Mithral, not magical armor.

[Raona]

Ah! That makes more sense. Mithral is supposed to be lighter and have a lower DEX ceiling. The implementation of that has changed over time (and was spotty with some older items), so it will not be universal to all mithral pieces from the past; however, all new mithral made with armoursmithing (which got a thorough overhaul last year) should reflect this correctly.

I've figured out a way (I think!) to easily correct old mithral pieces that don't correctly reflect mithral's advantages, so if you encounter any of those, please file a bug report. Please include the exact long and short descriptions of the item, if you don't have the vnum.

[Selveem]

Hm, okay. I haven't ever run across any, but will do. Thanks again.