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[Fossaman]

My apologies if this has been suggested before; my search-fu is weak and I have no idea what this would be under.

I'd like to see different ground types or debris on the ground cause damage to a creature's feet. For example, a barefoot dwarf crossing 'obsidian pebbles' should get his feet sliced up pretty good. Glass shards, a bucket of nails that have been dropped, some sort of prickly seedpod or plant, that sort of thing. This would also allow caltrops to be implemented.

So, assume stuff on the ground can cause damage to your feet. Now you need shoes, boots, etc. They already act as armor, so that's fine. But what if the creature is barefoot?

Barefoot creatures should form calluses which increase the durability of their feet. This would be useful for other things as well (novice miners or woodcutters getting blisters on their palms from their tools, writing calluses for the bookkeeper, blisters and eventually calluses when learning a new weapon).

Creatures should be reluctant to path over dangerous debris, as well, unless they have adequate foot protection.

[Doodle]

I like the idea.  I really don't know how the new layers for skin and such work, but it doesn't sound like that far of a stretch, to add a new layer which applies to certain tasks as a dwarf develops them, such as calluses on the fingers or on the soles of the feet.  It could also factor into how quickly people gain skills, since perhaps a bookkeeper or miner without calluses might end up with open sores that require them to rest and heal before they become infected, or perhaps the system simply provide an unhappy thought (has been very unhappy for having to work his fingers raw) since I don't think infection has been worked in yet, iirc . 

Heck, I wouldn't mind other work related injuries as well: woodcutters being crushed under snapping tree limbs, smiths having their beards caught alight by stray sparks, irate cows kicking in the brains of farmers, bookkeepers getting sliced in half when turning the pages of those massive tomes.  Somehow dying in your line of work seems very dwarfy, and other than miners (cave-in) and fishermen (drowning), there don't seem to be quite enough accidents about the fortress.

[Bricks]

I like the idea of making shoes/gloves helpful, but if your fort's shoes suddenly all dissolve, you should still have only minor accidents (like things that aren't really brought to your attention, like bruising, small cuts).  Disastrous accidents would be horribly frustrating, unless you somehow want to correlate them with skill level.  Even then, having your woodcutter on a new fort fell his first tree on himself would really piss me off.

[Fossaman]

One way to avoid shoe dissolution would be to have dwarfs actually mandate or request shoes, like a noble would. Have them do it when the boot gets to XX wear or something. People in the real world generally don't wait until it falls off their body to go and get new clothing, why should dwarfs? They should be able to say "Gee, my boots look kinda ratty there. I should get some new ones." Add in some randomness to the decay time and it shouldn't be a problem.

A pair of boots, though, should last for quite a few years. Leather is pretty durable stuff. Idea: New boots should cause blisters too, until they're broken in.

[Warlord255]

Clothing needs better handling before consequences of being unclothed can come into play. There's some effects already where clothing slows or stops things like temperature effects, so we might see something like a barefoot dwarf getting frostbite.

There's also the chicken-egg problem of "if the dwarf is barefoot, how does he cross the obsidian pebble field to get to the fort to get new shoes?"

[Fossaman]

He doesn't, unless he's willing to get his feet sliced. Sure, it's a problem, but it's a realistic problem. You could order a single tile stockpile that accepts only boots and no bins to have another dwarf bring him the shoes. But that dwarf should be pretty much screwed without help.

[612DwarfAvenue]

That's why you smooth your floors...