Armor selection in FF1

[desh]

So, near the end of the game, I always have a problem figuring out who should get what armor. Specifically I have 4 major conundrums, here it goes:

1 - Do I give my Knight the Opal Helm with the added absorb, or do I give him the Heal Helm so that he can Heal every know and then?

2 - Do I give my Knight the Opal gauntlet or do I give him the Power Gauntlet with slightly less absorb? The power guantlent casts SABR, which can be handy in those Boss fights (note: you can also give him ProRing which has same absorb as Opal Guantlet and better evade, also gives you that added defense against instant death spells, but the Aegis Shield already covers that).

3-Do I give my Red Wizard or Ninja the Heal Helmet over the Ribbon? For most cases the Heal helm is the better choice, but when facing those pesky Gas Dragons, the Ribbon is very nice to have.

4-Do I give my Red Wizard or Ninja the Zeus Gauntlet or a ProRing? It's nice to have that extra free LIT2 to cast, but the extra absorb and defense against instant death spells is also very useful.

So, there you have it. I'm curious as to what some of you guys do with your limited armor inventory options. Do you mix it up depending on how you feel, or do you always do the same thing? I used to never go with Power Gauntlet, but trying to complete a low level game, I found it came in handy, using it over and over again against the final Boss before he casts Cure 4 on himself.

[Martyr]

It depends totally on your party. You may wnat to hold on to the Zeus gauntlet, for example, if you have no other black magic characters. That's assuming that you don't have a Thor's hammer for some reason. Same goes for the heal Helmet. I put it on my RW or Ninja. If the Red Wiz can carry it. I also may put it into the extra Master Slot.

KIf I were you, of your options, I'd give the knight the Opal Helmet and ProRing.
And I'd give a ProRing to the others too.

However, if you have more than one character who can equipe the Heal Helmet, since there's two, I might choose the Heal Helm over the Opal helmet just because it saves so much on the cost of heals. (Ex: In ToF, 9 Badmen, make it one Badman, use heal helmets and staff to get all HPs to max, come out with 99 heals still etc...)

If you have no casters, you may want to leave somebody with the Zeus Gauntlets when you're in the water shrine, if only to make the red sahag fights faster.

And the Aegis Shield may not protect you from all RUB spells. Doublecheck that, yo.


Edit: Oh yeah... Ribbon trumps all.
Honestly, I will usually sacrifice some piece of armor (the ProRing), and keep the unequipped Heal Helmet in it's place. But I'll be wearing the ribbon.

[Sword Chucks]

Use heal staffs instead of the helmet so you can have whatever helmets you want.

[Dr Unne]

Fighter gets a Ribbon. Opal Helmet is useless unless you give everyone else the Ribbons, or if you have more than one Fighter. He also get a ProRing; everyone does. Gauntlets get sold automatically once I can buy ProRings. His defense is so ridiculously high that it's pointless risking not having the ProRing. That's how I play it.

[desh]

Yah, but the Dragon Armor provides magic resistance, so the Ribbon really isn't necessary, and the Aegis Shield provides Instant Death spell resistance, so the ProRing really isn't necessary. I'm not sure if it's cummalitve tho. Besides, there's only 3 ribbons, so the fighter shouldn't get one since he has the Dragon Armor.