: I think he's just saying that clerical magic, based on
: Power Investiture, generally has a very well-defined
: sphere of influence. It doesn't make that much sense
: for Journeymen to know a dozen different healing-class
: spells--and then a single "Make suit of armor
: really tough" spell. A true mage might pick and
: choose spells from different areas like that, but a
: Power-Invested pseudomage would probably not.
You've got a point. However, I have another idea to offer. We know the Herons can heal people, and "exceptional" people can be made immortal (though not invincible). How do you think the immortality works? I think it does so by constantly healing the body. Remember my theory about Balor's armor continually healing the person's body?
See how a similar spell to the Heron immortality spell, cast on armor, could make the wearer "tougher"?
So the armor isn't actually made really tough - it's just got an auto-healing spell on it so woulds inflicted are made less severe, giving the effect of "absorbing" some percent of the damage. Maybe the magic armor in the Barrier was made by the old Herons before the sack of Muirthemne, and worn by some important figure who died during the sack (despite being nigh-invincible), which would explain why it's out in the Barrier and not hidden away in Soulblighter's temple with all the other important artifacts.
