Do hit penalties for armor ever make a difference?

[Death and Drek]

Has anyone ever noticed the hit penalties from armor actually making a difference for a melee/pole fighter? I'm partway through the Great Cave in my game of AV4 (average party level 20), and between Blessed Breastplates, Vambraces, Bracers, and/or Helmets both of my fighters are around -30% or so to hit. Yet they never miss. They are parried/riposted from time to time.

 

So does this miss chance actually make a difference? Does your overall chance to hit affect your damage or an enemies chance to parry? I'm curious if there is a subtle effect for miss chance going on I wasn't catching...

[Mea Tulpa]

They do make a difference. However, if you put a lot of points into strength and the appropriate fighting skills, and use good weapons, it is pretty easy to get your base chance to hit so far above 99% (the max) that you will never notice a difference from those penalties.

[Fort]

For a dedicated fighter, it does not take many points into the appropriate skills in order to max out the hit percentage. You will put far many more points into these skills after this to increase damage, so a mere -30% is like nothing later in the game.