Heavy Armour Perk

[Moldy]

Looking at the perks in New Vegas,you notice something. The developers want you,above all other equipment,to use light armour,thanks to the fact that light armour has perk support in the form of Light Touch and Travel Light. Medium and heavy armour do not have such perks,however a mod called Jury-Rigged Armour adds a perk called Middleman,which has identical effects to Travel Light,thus eliminating the movement speed penalty you incur for wearing medium armour.

 

To my memory,no mod exists that offers benefits to wearing heavy armour. As it stands,the use of heavy armour is extremely disadvantaged,due to its weight restricting how much loot/ammo/aid items/secondary weapons you can carry,and sometimes even restricting what you can use as a primary weapon. In New Vegas,if you wear heavy armour,you're sacrificing potentially more powerful secondary effects,movement speed,and carry capacity,in the name of defence,which can easily be competitively matched by Elite Riot Gear. You effectively handicap yourself.

 

I seek a perk that changes this. Ideally,the perk should offset the movement speed penalty imposed by heavy armour,at least partially,and partially offset the weight of the armour when worn. I'd like it to be named "Iron Skin",with the phrase "You're safe and sound under your iron skin" present in the description.

 

Perks represent the player character learning new skills. Wearing heavy armour is indeed a skill; Wear it wrong,and you're a graceless mess. Wear it right,and it might as well be a second skin. Yes,it might be heavy in hand,but when worn,its weight is distributed across your entire body,and the more rigid armour is,the more it can support its own mass; It's simple physics.

 

If someone can make this perk,that'd be greatly appreciated. I bet I'm not the only one looking for something like this.

Edited February 22, 2017 by Moldy

[YanL]

Easy request.

 

Leave to me.

[YanL]

It's not as easy as I thought. Creating the perk and making it work with the heavy armor of the vanilla game is easy, just use a Form List for all medium/light armor.

 

But what about armors from mods? It would not work.

 

Does anyone have a better solution?

Edited February 23, 2017 by YanL

[Ladez]

Yes, but it requires Lutana NVSE.

 

http://geck.bethsoft.com/index.php?title=GetArmorClass

[YanL]

Got it. I will leave it to someone more experienced to attend the request of the colleague.

[Ladez]

The function can be used in a condition, so it's really as simple as replacing your current form list condition, assuming you have the GECK loaded with NVSE and Lutana installed.

[Mktavish]

I was trying to think of what other perks one could expect from heavy armor in theory.

 

How about a chance of ricochet to strike enemies , maybe even allies sadly ?

Could be a multi rank perk ... something ending up with 20% chance.

Or other forms of damage shields I suppose ...

Edited February 23, 2017 by Mktavish

[Moldy]

I was trying to think of what other perks one could expect from heavy armor in theory.

 

How about a chance of ricochet to strike enemies , maybe even allies sadly ?

Could be a multi rank perk ... something ending up with 20% chance.

Or other forms of damage shields I suppose ...

Well,the reason someone would lean towards heavy armour would be for the (theoretically) superior protection. Maybe include in the perk's effects a significant bonus to Damage Resistance (Fallout 3 style; A percentage reduction of all incoming damage,rather than a flat,numerical subtraction),or a few extra points of Damage Threshold while wearing heavy armour? As pointed out by Ladez,with the Lutana NVSE Plugin,it should be easy enough...

 

I hope.

Edited February 23, 2017 by Moldy

[Mktavish]

Well ya better protection is expected with heavy armor of course ... but I thought you were suggesting that wasn't enough of a reason when compared with perks available for wearing light armor.

 

So I was just saying besides better protection ... could be a range of perks for heavy armor that add what is essentially known as a damage shield.

 

Ricochet chance as one , to use enemy bullets in damaging them and their allies.

 

Spiked armor for npc's and creatures who use unarmed attacks.

 

Shocker armor for any mele attacks

 

repulsor armor for knock back proximity.

 

Threatening aura for speech & barter checks , or even induce flee during combat.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Just to name a few off the top of my head.

 

But to clarify , I was just asking you and others here what they thought about those kind of perks.

I myself could give it a shot to create.

Edited February 25, 2017 by Mktavish

[Moldy]

I'm also bearing general feasibility in mind; I'd imagine things like thorns effects would be a royal pain to work into an effect,among other things. So,from the top of my head,for effects of a heavy armour-specific perk.

 

-Movement speed bonus,to offset the movement speed penalty inherent in the armour class; The character has learned how to properly wear the armour so they can move with their armour,rather than against it.

-Carry capacity bonus while wearing heavy armour; The character learned how to properly wear the armour so it can partially support its own weight. SHOULD NOT EXCEED 30 POUNDS.

-Damage Resistance (FO3) bonus; The character learned how to absorb incoming attacks with their armour,robbing any incoming attacks of a large portion of their lethal energy.

-Damage Threshold (NV) bonus; The character learns the most effective way to use their armour,enabling them to squeeze a little extra protection from their armour.

-Armour condition bonus; The character learns the ins and outs of caring for heavy armour,as well as its limits,artificially inflating a single suit's lifetime.

-Melee & Unarmed damage bonus; The character learns to use the extra weight their armour offers,as well as their ironclad fists,to impart more destructive force on target in close quarters.

-Hostile Crit penalty; The character trusts their armour to keep them safe,and protect their vitals from lucky shots. Effectively,the defensive component of Light Touch.

 

That's what springs to my mind,if I'm keeping to the KISS Principle. Much of the rest would require rather heavy scripting,and would likely quickly fall into mindbendingly complex territory. These are effects that I can see being applied to every suit of heavy armour in the game,not just powered armour,or the bedecked-in-spikes Metal Armour.

 

Besides,I don't want it to be overwhelmingly powerful. I simply want it to put heavy armour on par with light armour under the effects of Light Touch,Travel Light,and Tunnel Runner,but while those perks emphasise mobility,I'd like the heavy armour perk(s) to emphasise staying power,durability,and the shedding of some of the weaknesses of the armour class,allowing it to blow light armour out of the water in a direct confrontation,as it's supposed to.