Armor Points
Once a marshal has assigned your Armor Rating, you may use an armor tag with up to as many Armor Points as you have Armor Rating. If you remove a piece of armor at any time during the game, your Armor Rating is reduced by the appropriate amount. You can never have more Armor Points on your tag than the actual armor you are wearing, and your maximum Armor Points may be limited by your class and skills (see the “Classes” section for details). If needed, you may remove extra points from an Armor Tag by marking it down in order to use the tag - but this change is permanent and the lost points may not be “regained” without purchasing an entirely new armor tag.
Example: Barinor is wearing armor that has been evaluated for 10 points, but he does not have any armor tags. He fights with a goblin and kills him, and as treasure is given an Armor Tag worth 16 points. Since Finther is only wearing 10 points of armor, he cannot use that 16 point tag unless he immediately rips off 6 points from the tag (in-game, this represents throwing away some armguards or a helmet that don’t work with his gear or beating the armor in order to make it fit). Alternatively, he can sell the 16 point suit in game and then use the money to buy himself a good 10 point suit.
You cannot carry multiple Armor tags and “switch” between them in battle, nor may you switch between different sources of armor (such as the Arcane Armor ritual and a physical Armor tag) without having the new suit of armor refit.
When struck for damage in battle, your Armor Points will be deducted before your Body Points. You must have the Blacksmith skill to be able to refit armor and repair its damage. There are some magical effects like Mend Armor that may temporarily restore damaged Armor Points.
Example: Ena is wearing a suit worth 33 Armor Points, and she has an armor tag to match. In battle, she is struck for 30 points of damage by an enemy’s Evocation Bolt spell! She frantically backpedals only to hear her ally Lyn incant a Mend Armor spell, touching her with a Mend Armor effect to repair 20 points of damage immediately. This keeps her in the fight for a few more blows. After the battle, she goes to find a friendly Blacksmith to fully repair her armor, which is now in pretty bad shape. Once the armor has been refit by a Blacksmith it’s back up to 33 points, ready to go for the next fight.