Armor (equipment)

Armor are pieces of equipment worn by player characters to protect themselves in battle. Games may have a single or multiple types of armor for characters to equip during gameplay. While pieces of armor typically raise an ally's defense stat, some grant extra protection against certain elemental attacks or status effects while others boost many stats such as intelligence or agility. Like weapons, armor is usually bought in stores, but can also be found in chests, monster drops, or by completing certain quests.

History

Final Fantasy Adventure/Adventures of Mana

Main article: Adventures of Mana armor

Sumo can equip 3 types of armor to raise its defense. Most equipment can be grouped into sets, such as bronze, mythril, gold, etc. Some enemies drop rare gear that cannot be purchased in shops.

• Helmets^FFA or Helms^AoM exclusively raise Sumo's defense power (DP) stat.
• Armor raises the wearer's defense power (DP), but may also increase resistance against elemental damage.
• Shields block certain types of attacks, like arrows, daggers, harpoons, etc.

Secret of Mana

Main article: Secret of Mana armor

Randi, Primm and Popoi all can equip 3 types of armor. Most equipment will raise both physical and magical defense and some will have extra perks such as preventing the wearer from being poisoned, among other things. Like the previous entry, monsters might leave behind valuable equipment that players might be unable to find in store.

• Head Gear typically grants the wearer extra physical and magical defense while not providing anything else. Some late game head gear also raise statistics.
• Torso Gear raises physical and magical defense the most out of all defensive gear. Very few will provide further boosts in other stats.
• Arm Gear increases physical and magical defense while also providing extra protection against status ailments or granting points in strength, intelligence, agility, etc.

Trials of Mana

Main article: Trials of Mana armor

Protective equipment are grouped in 3 main types: headgear, body armor, and accessory. Each of the six playable characters are assigned to a gear list and cannot equip another character's set. Armor is generally bought in store but can be acquired through planting a seed in a Magic Pot or by opening chests. Save from a few additions from the HD remake, armor does not prevent status ailments or raise the wearer's resistance against elemental damage.

In the HD remake, some headgear and accessories can be equipped by more than one party members and other rare gear like the Rabite Adornment can only be owned through DLC.

Legend of Mana

Main article: Legend of Mana armor

Legend of Mana has a wide array of equipment type and boasts the highest amount of equippable gear of all the Mana series. There are 12 types of protective equipment for the main character to wear: shield, helmet, hat, armor, robe, gloves, ring, boots, sandals, hauberk, mantle, pendant.

As with weapons, protective gear can be forged or tempered at the Workshops to modify their stats, elemental resistance, and more. Some weapons can be obtained in chests or by defeating monsters.

Sword of Mana

Main article: Sword of Mana armor

There are 8 types of protective gear in Sword of Mana: helm, hat, armor, robe, boots, sandals, gloves, & accessory. Most equipment can be purchased in stores, while some can only be obtained by forging them inside the Hot House in exchange for raw material and a fee. Each armor grant varying defense against slash, bash, jab, and elemental damage. Additionally, some protective gear may grant extra resistance against status ailments. Each armor has a set forge limit that determine how many times a piece of armor can be fused with raw material.

Children of Mana

Main article: Children of Mana armor

Protective armor is divided into 3 types: plate armor, robe, and accessory. Plate armor can only be worn by Ferrik and Wanderer while robes are solely equipped by Tamber and Poppen. Both grant defensive boost and nothing else, while accessories raise a the protagonist's intelligence stat. Each equipment are tied to a level threshold, meaning the player character cannot equip them if their level are inferior to the gear's. Most equipment are bought in store while some can be obtained through quests.

References

• Final Fantasy Adventure Game Manual
• Secret of Mana Instruction Booklet
• Legend of Mana Owner's Manual
• Sword of Mana Nintendo Power Official Guide
• Children of Mana Instruction Booklet
• Dawn of Mana Instruction Booklet