Armour and clothing are items worn on a character's body, designed to protect the character from the environment and from damage.
The armour system in Age of Magic is very flexible, and allows characters to wear different types of clothing or armour on each of the twelve areas of the body (Head, Eyes, Throat, Chest, Abdomen, Groin, Left Arm, Left Hand, Right Arm, Right Hand, Left Leg and Right Leg).
Each type of armour provides protection to the area(s) of the body that it covers. This Armour Protection Value depends on how effective the type of armour is. Armour is generally effective against most physical types of damage, but does not protect against mental or life-draining damage.
Where a character wears more than one type of clothing or armour on an area of the body, for the purposes of calculating his total Protection Value against an attack, he/she counts the best Armour Protection Value of any type of armour worn, plus any innate protection from his/her skin (as a result of a Tough skin racial talent).
Clothing and armour can be split into two broad types, based on whether it covers the character's body or the character's head. Body armour may be purchased as a full suit, or as separate pieces covering different areas of the body.
Each piece of clothing/armour has a weight. A piece of clothing/armour that fits a character will normally weigh a proportion of the character's body weight, so weights of armour are expressed as %-ages. To work out the actual weight of the clothing/armour, you need to multiply the %-age by the character's body weight.
For simplicity, the weight of clothing/armour that would fit an average person is also given. If a character is not unusually small or large, this may be used instead.
Clothing and armour, when worn, are always worn on the body and so count half their weight for encumbrance purposes.