You mean you can't wear robes and ring of protection? I remember rings not being able to be worn with magic armor, but AFAIK they do stack with robes too.

Robe of Armory

AC 3
+10% to all Physical Resistances

Robe of Enfusing (My favourite)

-2 AC bonus
+5% Magic Resistance
+5 Lore
+1 slot for Level 1 Mage Spell

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Eleven chain?

You mean you can't wear robes and ring of protection? I remember rings not being able to be worn with magic armor, but AFAIK they do stack with robes too. </font>[/QUOTE]That's right, so the robes will give marginally better protection than the bracers - however, you don't have to buy the bracers and you generally acquire them earlier than the good robes. I don't worry too much about AC with my mages, even fighter mages, because I try to protect them tactically - the first couple rounds of most fights are taken up with casting, and the F/M then goes in to help mop up if needed, so isn't targeted very much.

*snaps fingers* - I forgot about the Robe of Armory. Yeah, it's pretty good. I've never bothered with the Robe of Enfusing because you have to buy that from Orrick early in the game, and I'm always saving up for other things at that stage (a certain horn, a certain helm...).

Dundee, can you elaborate a bit on why the Robe of Enfusing is your favourite? Does its AC bonus stack with bracers and rings?

Elven chain is quite good, but cannot stack with a ring, so is at par or slightly worse than robes + ring of protection. There's at least two sets of elven chain available as random drops in the Severed Hand.

<font color = lightgreen>No one should go toe-to-toe against anything in HoF unless they have at least 90% resistance to the attacker's form of physical damage.</font>

It stacks with spells. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Armor grants a base armor of 6, and lasts for 9 game hours... translating into a base armor of 4 with the Robe of Enfusing(RoE). Throw in -4 from 18 DEX, and other miscellanous items, you can easily get negative AC for your Mage.

Later on, when your Mage has gained enough levels, you can utilise Shield( 5 rounds/level, ergo 35s/level) instead. With the RoE, you have a base AC of 2 against melee, and 0 against ranged. Which is almost as good as Full Plate Mail already in terms of raw AC. Not to mention the immunity to Magic Missiles and Mordenkanein's Force Missiles.

Throw in a Blur, add a War Chant of Sith, cast Protection from Evil, etc... and my Mage ended up with the best AC in the whole party during the early game. RoP +2 is better for a Paladin using unenchanted Full Plate Mail.

I do not depend on rings for AC for my Mages, because I prefer to reserve one slot for the Ring of Free Action, and the other slot for Kontik's Ring of Wizardry(~insert leetspeak~). Later on, I will then replace the Ring of Free Action with Edion's Ring of Wizardry( at which point, you need not worry about lack of offensive spells)

The RoE is one of the first few items I get from Orrick, and I have never regretted getting it. It really rocks to have it before going to the Severed Hand.

IMHO, it is better to get 'armor' that grants bonus AC for your Mages, than 'armor' that sets AC.

How does one get resistance to 90%?

<font color = lightgreen>Reinforced Leather +1, Ring of Greater Resistance, Great Shield +3, and Warhammer +4: Defender = 90% crushing resistance. Have your bard nearby with War Chant of Sith for immunity to crushing damage.

Studded Leather of Resistance +3, Bone Marrow Belt (non-good only), Great Shield +3, and Morningstar +4: Defender for 100% resistance to slashing damage. Bring it!

Studded Leather of Resistance +3, Clasp of Bron's Cloak, Great Shield of +3, Morningstar +4: Defeneder, and the Potion of Greater Resistance (if you can find it) for 60% piercing resistance. You'd better have your bard singing back up, then suck it up. </font>

In my experience, 100% resistance is best, it involves something taking the hit instead of you.

And over 10 resistance actually heals you!