Since starting with Morrowind relatively recently, I have noticed that certain items of armour have very much higher ratings than others. Most armour ratings are in the 1-20 point range (a netch leather cuirass is 19), but here and there are items that have ratings of around 80-90, like heavy leather boots, wolf pauldrons and imperial cuirass. My question is then, does the game factor my character's own skill with light/medium/heavy armours when it calculates the rating to display, or is it unmodified by my skills (like most RPGs)? I'm playing with both DLCs and a typical suite of graphical enhancements (MGE, etc).

Thanks!

Yes, your character's armor points are calculated by taking into account his related armor skill as well the armor's AR.

Heavy leather boots rank as high as Glass boots in AR.

Good to know, thanks again.