Ranger Armor Question.

[Loromir]

I plan on rolling a Ranger/Rogue with Fighter splash. What are the biggest disadvantage to heavy armor? I know hide and move silently won;t work in heavy armor. I know Dex bonus to AC is capped in Heavy Armor. Will Archer skills or Disable skills or lock picking skills or Ranger spell skills be gimped in Heavy Armor?

I primarily want a good melee character with Trap and Unlock skills along with Bow skills. I don't care about sneak attack, hiding etc. I don't care about having uber jump/swim/tumble skills.

I was hoping to wear Full Plate Armor, and TWF. The fighter splash is to open up additioanl weapon proficiencies and Heavy Armor Proficiency.

Obviuosly looking at Exploiter Build.

[Paryan]

If you go anything over light armor, you'll lose evasion from the ranger or rogue (if you have 2 lvs of rogue). In addition, the dexterity bonus you get for AC might be lost, or not fully utilized based on how high your dex is and the restriction on the armor you plan to use.

Far as light armor, you could get a +5 mithril breastplate for decent AC until your dex bonus is high enough to warrant switching to robes. A ranger with decent dex gets higher AC, keeps evasion (ie. lives longer) with robes over heavy armor.

[grodon9999]

You'll be abandoning armor shortly after 11th level, one of the dumb things in this silly game is you get better AC wearing pajamas than you can wearing heavy armor.

My Starting stats were:

S 15
D 15
C 14
I 12
W 14
C 8

Current stats:

S 30*
D 30
C 24
I 14
W 22
C 10

* Variable depending on buffage and gear equipped. I can sustain 42+ STR for 3 minutes if needed

Non-theoretical AC breakdown (Self-buffed):

10 Base
1 Dodge
4 Icy Raiments Dodge
1 Alchemical Dodge
6 Wisdom
10 Dexterity
3 Chattering ring
4 Insight (Shroud Crafted)
5 Protection
5 Barkskin
8 Armor Bracers
4 Tempest III
5 Combat Expertise
1 Haste

67 Self-buffed. In Heavy Armor the same guy could maybe hit 59 (?).

[Loromir]

OK...I fogot about evasion...but I plan on using the Heavy Armor only as long as it is the best option for AC. When I can get better AC in something other than Full plate, I plan to switch. Other than Evasion, Does it affect my Bow Skills, Trap skills or Ranger Magic abilities?

[Loromir]

You'll be abandoning armor shortly after 11th level, one of the dumb things in this silly game is you get better AC wearing pajamas than you can wearing heavy armor.

Speaking of PJ's...I have an elf wearing +4 Darkleaf Breasplate. Looks just like he is in his Pajamas.

[Paryan]

Another benefit to pj's....can switch instantly between them rather than waiting for the loading/equipping time for armor...

[Talon_Moonshadow]

Evasion only works in light armor or no armor.

Heavier armors have more limits to dex bonus to AC. May or may not effect your build depending on Dex.

does not affect casting of divine spells.

Does not effect most Rogue skills.

All armor applies their armor check penalty to certain skils. Heavy amor has high penalties.

Hide, MS, Jump, Swim (double for swim), Tumble. I think that is about it.

for the most part, you only have to worry after you get evasion.

And as you level up and get a higher dex, keep looking at whether you will get a higher AC fom lighter or no armor.

What I found on a high dex Ftr is that Mithral Full plate gives me the highest AC.
But the Fighters also have enhancments that can increase their armor dex bonus.

When you get about a 30 Dex is when you usually see that it is time to go to robes.
Depending on what equipment you have anyway.

[grodon9999]

But the Fighters also have enhancments that can increase their armor dex bonus.

Bingo, especially dwarves. Below is what a dwarf TWF kensai could get if they actually gave a darn about defense . . .

10 Base
1 Dodge
16 MFP+5
1 Alchemical Dodge
4 Shield Clickie (I've got 11 of them for this purpose)
7 Dexterity (24 DEX is a little high I admit . . .)
3 Chattering ring (or DT rune . . .)
4 Insight (Shroud Crafted)
5 Protection
5 Barkskin
2 Chaosguarde
5 Combat Expertise
1 Haste

64 Heavily Orthon resistant.

[unbongwah]

Will Archer skills or Disable skills or lock picking skills or Ranger spell skills be gimped in Heavy Armor?

No. The max DEX bonus only affects AC, not ranged to-hit. Rangers are divine casters, so arcane spell failure isn't an issue. The armor check penalty (which is higher the heavier the armor) only applies to the following DEX-based skills: Balance, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Swim, and Tumble; trap skills, UMD, etc. are unaffected.

If you're going for ranger 18 / rogue 1 / fighter 1, heavy armor is viable at lower levels (presuming you take your ftr splash early); by the time you hit ranger 9 and get Evasion, you ought to have enough DEX bonuses (from ranger enhs plus items or Cat's Grace) to make the switch from full plate to mithril breastplate fairly painless (well, except for the auction house costs - that stuff's expensive!). Dwarf would be my pick for this build: higher CON & HPs, higher saves, Armor Mastery for a little more AC, dwarven axe proficiency for free, racial axe bonuses to boost your DPS. But I think you can make any race work.

[Loromir]

Probably going Elf for Scimitar & Bow Efficiencies.

[lugoman]

I plan on rolling a Ranger/Rogue with Fighter splash. What are the biggest disadvantage to heavy armor? I know hide and move silently won;t work in heavy armor. I know Dex bonus to AC is capped in Heavy Armor. Will Archer skills or Disable skills or lock picking skills or Ranger spell skills be gimped in Heavy Armor?

I primarily want a good melee character with Trap and Unlock skills along with Bow skills. I don't care about sneak attack, hiding etc. I don't care about having uber jump/swim/tumble skills.

I was hoping to wear Full Plate Armor, and TWF. The fighter splash is to open up additioanl weapon proficiencies and Heavy Armor Proficiency.

Obviuosly looking at Exploiter Build.

If you do take the 1 monk level instead of the fighter, you get both your dex and wisdom bonus to ac when in robes. Add that to +7 or 8 bracers, constant barkskin, tempest bonus and a prot item and you can easily get better ac than plate. Plus you get a bonus feat when you take 1 level of monk. So you only need to decide if the extra weapon proficiencies are worth it.

[unbongwah]

Probably going Elf for Scimitar & Bow Efficiencies.

That's fine too: a little lower CON, a little higher DEX, a bit less melee DPS than human khopesh, but a little more ranged DPS to balance it out. Keep an eye out for scimitars which proc effects on crits (e.g., Shocking Burst, Enfeebling); the higher crit range of scimitars means you'll proc more often than a khopesh user. Might as well take advantage of the one thing scimitars are better at than khopeshes.

As for the monk vs fighter splash: my view is a fighter splash makes things easier at lower levels (more HPs + heavy armor for better survivability), is less stat-intensive (since WIS is less important), and is a better choice for new players (who most likely have only 28 pts, no monk, and few if any resources to twink themselves with); but monk splash is better in the long run for experienced players with 32-pt builds willing to grind for the gear which really lets them max their AC.

[Aerendil]

Bingo, especially dwarves. Below is what a dwarf TWF kensai could get if they actually gave a darn about defense . . .

10 Base
1 Dodge
16 MFP+5
1 Alchemical Dodge
4 Shield Clickie (I've got 11 of them for this purpose)
7 Dexterity (24 DEX is a little high I admit . . .)
3 Chattering ring (or DT rune . . .)
4 Insight (Shroud Crafted)
5 Protection
5 Barkskin
2 Chaosguarde
5 Combat Expertise
1 Haste

64 Heavily Orthon resistant.

Not to nitpick, but MFP+5 should be 13 AC I believe, with a max dex of +3 on it, and a further +3 possible from Dwarven Armour mastery, and if they were Kensai, a further +3 from Fighter armour mastery. Meaning they'd need 28 Dex on a Fighter to fill it out fully (13 AC + 9 dex).

The better option might be DT plate which is AC 15, MDB of 1 (7 with fighter+dwarven armour masteries maxed, so 24 Dex required) for a total of 15 AC + 7. Sadly, the same as MFP but with a higher dex requirement.

As a Ranger, your best bet for being armoured is mithril breastplate (MBP) which is ac 10 for MBP+5. Max dex boost = 5, but could be up to 8 with dwarven armour mastery (26 Dex required to fill it out). As noted already, you want Light armour (or none at all) to take advantage of Evasion.
I mused about this a few months ago, in fact (http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=247261), and it looks like it's definitely possible for a Dwarven armoured Ranger to get good AC.
It'll take a bit of work, though!

[Merlocke]

Definatley swap the fighter for a monk level and wear rainment much higher AC that way.

EDIT: Speaking of AC has anyone tested Lama mobs to-hit??