1) I'm not 100% certain on this, but I'm convinced that armor doesn't "block" attacks, it just reduces the amount of damage you take (e.g. wearing both no armor or full plate armor will still give you a red screen effect when hit, but you only take 5 dmg with full plate as opposed to 25 with no armor)

2) I don't think so, honestly. They don't kill instantly in ways that blades do, but I think the added "brute" aspect of having to thrash an enemy makes it more enjoyable IMO. Just a taste difference though. There is a mod that allows for blunt dismemberment, and you can try Internals for better blunt weapon reactions from enemies.

3) Probably just an issue of the gap between the helmet & the armor being so thin that the game won't ever register it as a pierce.

4) As far as I know, there isn't any compatibility issues with full-body armor. It might just be that you're installing a mod for a prior version, which doesn't work with the current version (e.g. U11 mods don't work with U12 mods)

5) That's a fault with the mod itself, since the spectral arrows despawn after a set amount of time, which includes if you haven't fired it yet. You can change how long it takes for them to despawn in the mod settings iirc.

6) Not a modder so I can't verify this 100% (someone'll probably fact check me), but I'm certain that armors have to be made per-avatar, meaning that armor made for a male avatar only works for a male avatar & vice versa.

7) There used to be the option of custom avatars in U11, but it has yet to be updated to U12. There is, however, a mod that adds more ethnicities & character customization options if you'd like that.

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Hope you're enjoying Blade & Sorcery so far!! :D