Armored Cores

This datapack adds craftable items called armored cores! Armored cores are items that when used, grant the player an armored aura which buffs the player's armor stat to be equal to the corresponding armor type!

For a more in-depth explanation:
When the player has an armored aura (I'll be referring to the diamond aura for simplicity's sake) their armor and toughness stat will always be set to at least that of the corresponding armor type (in the case of diamond this would be 20 and 8 respectively). This means wearing weaker armor or even no armor at all will grant the same amount of defense as the tier of armor equivalent to your aura would. This also means that you can wear gear that has other uses, such as elytra, without compromising as much on defense. Wearing stronger armor than your aura provides wont debuff the armor you have on, you just wont gain any buffs from your aura. Armored cores are reusable, and the buff lasts until the player dies or removes it by drinking a water bottle. This means you can leave the core at your base while going on expeditions, and if you die you can reapply it once you respawn. Last thing is something I haven't done a lot of testing for, but enchantments should still work the same on weaker armor sets as they would on a diamond or netherite set if you have the corresponding aura. This means armor sets that are easier to enchant (like gold) or that you simply may like the look of more than diamond or netherite simply need to be fully an enchanted while you have a high tier aura, and you basically have end-game level defense.