Rarek wrote:Being new is interesting.
I have a high strength build and around 12 base dex so I was going in the full plate direction, but if there are better choices out there do tell.

If you're a STR-based fighter, don't bother with anything other than full plate.
To be honest, +5 hp is laughable at best when you have several hundred hp already. It's just a waste of an enchantment slot, and there are plenty of better things you could get, if you have the time/money.
Assuming you want to wear full plate, the best currently available would either be +3 Adamantine, +3 Mithral, or +3 full plate enchanted with 15 elemental resist.
Since you have 12 dex, you probably won't feel the benefit of Mithral armour, unless you have a lot of points in UMD and plan to regularly use a wand of cat's grace.
Adamantine +3 full plate is desirable, but currently rather hard to get. Adamantine ingots are rare, but the main problem would be securing the necessary ingredients to perform the +3 enchant. The items you need for that only drop in two dungeons, and you will need to be at
least level 15 before you can handle those. Even then, you will probably need to complete the dungeon many times before you find what you're looking for.
Normal full plate +3 can be secured from either high level quests or by purchasing it from a player merchant (very rarely are such items seen in Ealden). Once you've got the normal plate, it can be enchanted by someone with the necessary skill (such as myself), giving it an additional 15 resistance against one elemental type (of your choice).
With regards to weapons, Adamantine +3 is probably the best, but again, hard to get. A +3 iron weapon with a 1d4 elemental damage enchant is nearly as good, in my opinion, and again, I can perform that enchant for you, for a price, if you bring me a +3 weapon (as can several other players on the server).
As for helmets, and other items, there is quite a variety of nice equipment available. For more details, I suggest you look at some of the merchant's threads here in this forum, or find some PC merchants ingame and ask them what they have.