Is there such a thing? Because for the first time I discovered what it means to be a uber-mage... Now for example I can't do anything in certain techological shops. Also I can only ride the train because I have high persuasive skills. Otherwise they would deny me even the Mage's Caboose. Is there some guide/thread/resource that explains the bonuses and penalties for different aptitude levels? P.S. Whats the best mage armor?
Prepare for an answer bigger than you could expect to encounter in your worst nightmares. There are five armors which present the great five of best magic armors, all being from the Arcane series. I'm so lovely that I made you a comparison of them, and from here you can compare and decide on you own and/or listen to my bumbling on each armor below and/or jump to the conclusion. Arcane Robes are propably the most climatic type of protection for a mage and they give the most total ammount of resistances, although once you are far enough in the game to possess them, the "all other resistances" are usually more or less maxed out with other items, leaving the mage feel naked, since the robes have pretty much no armor class nor damage resistance and those resistances are the ones you use for most of the time. Using this armor is mostly for show. Arcane Traveler's Cloak has much wiser protection allocation. And just think, a dark extremely magical trench coat. Talk about badass. Arcane Leather Armor has the same magical protection alocation as the Arcane Traveler's Cloak (well, slighty weakerin ER), yet has better non-magic protection (it's a armor after all, not just some piece of cloth), making it superior. Looks classy and intriguing as well. Arcane Chainmail has worse total AC than Arcane Leather, worse or the same resistances as leather and it's only advantage over it is the slightly higher damage resistance, although compared to Arcane Leather, it's just simply heavy. And I mean too heavy for you typical mage. And looks like any other platemail, just with different colours = not impressing. Arcane Platemail is a total misunderstanding. When being twice as heavy as Arcane Chainmail, it has weaker magic resistances and all in all it's just worse. As a plus, it has slightly better normal+magic AC and DR, that's for sure, but heavens, the weight cost! :sound of a mage being squished by a great pile of freakin' metalic metal: Plus, it looks like if it would be made of plastic and had neon lights all over it. That's just stupid. Conclusion: Arcane Leather owns and is the best magic armor, no matter it you're a pure weak-at-body mage or a insanely strong battle-mage. It has an optimal weight and pretty much the best protection. The two heavier Arcanes are doubtfully better in some areas when being worse in others and the insane weight isn't really compensated with proper powerful resistance. To make them balanced, they should either have more powerful magic resistances or be magically lighter (hey, why not, it works for the Sword of Air). But since the situation is at it is, Arcane Leather is the answer.
Woohoo... eh... erm. Oh well. If only all answers could be like that. Btw considering the response to that teensy-weensy question, I can only imagine what an answer to the main Q of the same magnitude would look like... Now I just need to get me some Arcane Leather! But I still have ways to go, till I get there.
If I recall correctly, tech oriented shopkeepers don't care either way until your magic aptitude gets over 65. With one of my elf mage characters, I ended up investing two character points in gun smithy because that lowered my MA enough that I could buy supplies for my followers.
