Paladin Armor - lvl 28

[nectarprime]

I am currently lvl 28 on my Paladin and have been borrowing a full set of Imbued Koada, which is great armor but not really that great for my class. I'd like to give this set back it its owner eventually, but before that I'll need to get my own gear.

Let's say I have a 3k budget. What pieces should I be looking for? I know I want to focus on STA and STR - I already have a Deepwater helm, hero bracer, heavy velium brawlstick, and silver chitin handwraps.

[Tuurin]

Crusty? How important is CHA to you?

[nectarprime]

Crusty? I think the only spell I have that utilizes CHA is Lull, so voerall not very important. My current gear has lots of CHA lol

[Jaleth]

Not sure, but might be able to get a full set of Ro armor for that price, probaby a lot less. Although it's a fun series of quests to do.

[Tuurin]

Crusty? I think the only spell I have that utilizes CHA is Lull, so voerall not very important. My current gear has lots of CHA lol

Was referring to Crustacean Shell Armor (https://wiki.project1999.com/Crustacean_Shell_Armor)
A full set gives 109AC, 45STR, 83STA, -10DEX, -48CHA

Compared to Armor or Ro (https://wiki.project1999.com/Armor_of_Ro_Quests)
A full set gives 98ac 35hp 4str 6sta 6dex 14wis and 10 to all resists

Similar, although you said you wanted to focus on STR/STA which is why I suggested Crustacean (although major -CHA, which is why I asked). Can always mix and match too if you wanted. Prices are probably pretty similar between the two, although crustacean is probably easier to sell off once you're done with it since it's not PAL specific.

[nectarprime]

Ah Crustacean looks pretty good! Thanks! Ro armor looks pretty good as well, but I'd have to work on my armorsmithing.

[Shodo]

A mixture of Crusty and DW armor should last you well into your 50's, or until you can get Velious quest or planar armor.

[nectarprime]

crustacean actually looks awful :c Yeah, stats are decent, but it looks terrible if that is at all important to you. If you just want best setup then go:

Treeweave or EBC
DW Arms
DW Boots
DW Bracer
Kylong Greeaves

That net you most AC on the cheap :3

So I'm assuming that I should prioritize AC over everything? I am MTing usually for my group of friends so that make sense

[Shodo]

So I'm assuming that I should prioritize AC over everything?

In general, yes.
It's less important pre-50ish since you'll hit the soft cap so easily, but aside from resists (and agility, if you want to count that) it's the only stat available to you that will actually reduce the amount of damage you take in a fight - stamina and HP only delay the inevitable. So in a group setting, as long as your healer isn't constantly overhealing due to you having a tiny amount of max HP to work with, it's more efficient to focus on AC.

That said, having more HP can really save your ass if the healer runs out of mana or shit just generally hits the fan. So you still need plenty of that too :P
In general, i'd say focusing on flat HP gear until 45 then switching to more AC and stamina gives the best quality of life.

[Jimjam]

Velium fire wedding rings if you don't already have them. Nice hp boost and respectable ac for fingers.

Apart from that I'd fill on cheap junk; it is trivial to reach sufficient AC at your level. Save the plat for something meaningful like jboots/sow pots, regen breastplate, etc imo.

[Sage Truthbearer]

Get two +55 rings and don't worry about the rest. At level 28 there's only a few things that will actually make a noticeable difference in your character: A fungi, a haste item, or a really good weapon. Anything else is not worth stressing about because you would barely notice it.

[nectarprime]

Thanks for all the input guys! I have HP rings, a good weapon and a haste item, I think I may start saving for an Iksar Chestplate

[Jaleth]

Ah Crustacean looks pretty good! Thanks! Ro armor looks pretty good as well, but I'd have to work on my armorsmithing.

I believe Ro armor are no fail combines. It's just a faction issue with each paladin order. Have to be at least indifferent I think. How to check faction: If they talk to you about the quest when you hail them, you are high enough for the turn-ins for the molds.

[Issar]

I believe Ro armor are no fail combines.

This is correct. I had no skill in smithing when I quested my set. The quest items are relatively easy to obtain. Though, at this point it looks like most of the pieces sell for less than the plat costs required in the quests.

With regards to crustacean shell armor, charisma does play a part in lulling and you will notice a difference in critical misses. However, if you are not pulling, then all that stamina is nice. I all but abandoned my pally due to not having time to group which is what I doing enjoy with that class, but when I was playing I prioritized ac over stamina. I have no evidence to back it up, but it did feel like damage mitigation was more effective than hp pooling. With that being said it all changes when you're grouping with c-heal clerics and AC has no mitigation against spells, less saves on the armor.

[Jimjam]

-cha can be a good thing. Sometimes you will be able to make 'impossible' pulls by spamming lull on a mob outside of line of sight until you get a critical resist. Or it can be used to pull casters without causing them to start casting on you.

[BarackObooma]

Here are my tips on getting Ro armor.

1. Ro armor is a no fail combine so don't bother working on your smithing.
2. You need to be AMIABLE or higher (NOT indifferent) to receive the armor molds. Each quest giving NPC is on a different faction too.
https://wiki.project1999.com/Armor_of_Ro_Quests
3. Some of the turn in items for molds are tradeable and can be found dirt cheap in the East Common tunnel saving a ton of time (although it is rewarding for some to farm their own). Kilij Plans (boots), Nightfall Giant's Head (Legs), Cyclops Skulls (helm - you'll need a container that holds giant items, the cheapest is a Large Sewing Kit for 1pp) and rotten shark meat (arms) are all tradeable. The giant's head is usually the easiest to find (as people kill the hill giants in WC) followed by the kilij plans (people trying to farm the AC in SRO get this named).
4. Sometimes people sell the armor pieces for less than it costs to make. Besides all the time it takes to gather the items, making ronium requires two platinum bars (100pp+ ea & tip for enchanter to enchant them).
5. The arms are one of the least made pieces. The shark the meat drops off of is in Erud's crossing. You need two and it doesn't drop every time and the mob has a two hour respawn time. I usually took a character I wasn't actively playing and park them there and then kill the shark every two hours. Or go right before bed, kill the shark, get up in the morning and kill it again and hope you're lucky and get back to back meats.
6. At 28 you're a good level to get in a courtyard entrance group in Mistmoore. Good groups clear so well they can reach a lot of gargoyles for your mistmoore granite. Also, they can reach the cooks which drop the cauldrons you need for the breastplate! Be wary, there are two of them in the kitchen and they harm touch!
7. While in Mistmoore, in the mausoleum, there is a bag or flower on top of the grave inside. If you take it and give it to the non-kos npc behind the structure, it gives you temple of sol ro faction. Do it several times as some Temple Quests require faction. It respawns about as fast as you run back and forth.
8. If you look up the undead cyclops in the wiki, there's instructions on how to get him to spawn. It's pretty easy once you've killed the PH. You need two skulls and he doesn't drop it every time (they require a giant container too I believe).
9. If you have a higher level toon, sometimes it's easier to have them do the quests and hand it over. My wizard always did it because he could get around easier and being agnostic, he could raise the factions easily enough.
10. The bracers are one of the harder pieces. The netmasters spawn at the base and inside the tower that Lord Begurgle spawns for the cleric epic in the underwater cave in Lake Rathe. Farm four of them, turn two in for the mold, make the bracer and go back and turn in other two in for a 2nd mold for a 2nd pair of bracers.
11. You can either buy fairy dust (you'll need 4 for each soil of underfoot which you need for each piece of armor) or do a mass genocide of the fairy village in Lesser Fay. The named that spawn there drop wands that sell really well. One turns you into a tree if I remember correctly!