Altair_the_Vexed
2009-03-29, 05:49 PM
Here's relatively big idea - please have a look and let me know what you think.
I'm not confident I have assigned the protection types of the armour very well - my common sense approach may be wrong to someone with more hands-on or academic experience in fighting - so please make counter suggestions!
The normal d20 game (D&D, d20 modern, etc) deals with the idea that armour makes you harder to damage by effectively increasing the difficulty of scoring a good hit on an armoured target: armour simply increases the number needed to hit. It's a bit simple, and doesn't take into account the many different weapons and armour combinations that exist.
The OGL (http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/)product Unearthed Arcana included rules for treating armour as damage reduction (DR) (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/abilitiesAndConditions.html#damage-reduction) - wearing armour gives you some bonus to defence, but also reduces the amount of damage you take. Typically, the armour bonus of the armour (from padded armour's +1 to plate mail's +9) is evenly split between AC bonus and DR. Characters get hit more often, but they take a little less damamge each time.
Now, one of the early ideas that disappeared between editions of D&D was that different weapons had advantages over different armour types. Chain mail affords less protection against a mace than it does against a sword, because it flexes with the blunt blow, for example.
This is especially relevant to modern armours - a kevlar vest that can stop or reduce the penetration of a bullet is next to uselss against knives.
I thought it might be interesting to work on a system that deals with this, using the Armour is Damage Reduction variant from Unearthed Arcana. Damage in D&D and d20 systems is already classified according to the type of weapon or magic you are using, so it only remains to decide which armour deals with what kind of damage best.
I came up with this list of protection types.
acid (abbr: Ad) - Material resistant to acids, alkalis, etc, e.g.: hazmat suit ballistic (abbr: Ba) - A mesh or gel or other high-speed impact spreading material, e.g.: flak vest bludgeoning (abbr: Bl) - Padding, often with a tough outer material, e.g.: sports armour energy (abbr: En) - Insulation against fire or cold damage, e.g. fire-fighter's suit piercing (abbr: Pr) - Tough protection, resilient to low energy sharp penetration, e.g.: chain links slashing (abbr: Sl) - Tough material resistent to cuts, e.g.: chain links Add 1/2 DR against damage of the listed protection types (minimum 1).
My proposal is to match these up with the existing armour in d20 games, and give a bonus to the DR against that type of attack.
The d20 modern game gives characters a defence bonus each level ("defense" in their US English).
I'll use that system (also presented as a variant rule in Unearthed Arcana) to let characters get better at not being hit as they get more experienced. With that in mind, I've lowered the defence bonuses granted by armour in the table below.
Armour________________Defence___DR____protection type
None
_______________________0_______0_______none
Padded
_______________________0_______1/-_____2/- vs Bl
Leather
_______________________0_______1/-_____2/- vs Sl
Studded leather
_______________________1_______1/-_____2/- vs Sl
Chain shirt
_______________________1_______2/-_____3/- vs Sl
Hide
_______________________1_______1/-_____2/- vs Bl
Scale mail
_______________________1_______2/-_____3/- vs Sl
Chainmail
_______________________2_______2/-_____3/- vs Sl
Breastplate
_______________________2_______2/-_____3/- vs Sl
Splint mail
_______________________2_______3/-_____4/- vs Sl
Banded mail
_______________________2_______3/-_____4/- vs Sl
Half-plate
_______________________3_______3/-_____4/- vs Sl
Full plate
_______________________3_______4/-_____6/- vs Sl
Leather jacket
_______________________0_______1/-_____2/- vs Sl
Light undercover shirt
_______________________0_______1/-_____2/- vs Ba
Pull-up pouch vest
_______________________0_______1/-_____2/- vs Ba
Undercover vest
_______________________1_______1/-_____2/- vs Ba
Concealable vest
_______________________1_______2/-_____3/- vs Ba
Light-duty vest
_______________________2_______2/-_____3/- vs Ba
Tactical vest
_______________________2_______3/-_____4/- vs Ba
Special response vest
_______________________3_______3/-_____4/- vs Ba + Bl
Forced entry unit
_______________________4_______4/-_____6/- vs Ba + Bl
I'm not confident I have assigned the protection types of the armour very well - my common sense approach may be wrong to someone with more hands-on or academic experience in fighting - so please make counter suggestions!
The normal d20 game (D&D, d20 modern, etc) deals with the idea that armour makes you harder to damage by effectively increasing the difficulty of scoring a good hit on an armoured target: armour simply increases the number needed to hit. It's a bit simple, and doesn't take into account the many different weapons and armour combinations that exist.
The OGL (http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/)product Unearthed Arcana included rules for treating armour as damage reduction (DR) (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/abilitiesAndConditions.html#damage-reduction) - wearing armour gives you some bonus to defence, but also reduces the amount of damage you take. Typically, the armour bonus of the armour (from padded armour's +1 to plate mail's +9) is evenly split between AC bonus and DR. Characters get hit more often, but they take a little less damamge each time.
Now, one of the early ideas that disappeared between editions of D&D was that different weapons had advantages over different armour types. Chain mail affords less protection against a mace than it does against a sword, because it flexes with the blunt blow, for example.
This is especially relevant to modern armours - a kevlar vest that can stop or reduce the penetration of a bullet is next to uselss against knives.
I thought it might be interesting to work on a system that deals with this, using the Armour is Damage Reduction variant from Unearthed Arcana. Damage in D&D and d20 systems is already classified according to the type of weapon or magic you are using, so it only remains to decide which armour deals with what kind of damage best.
I came up with this list of protection types.
acid (abbr: Ad) - Material resistant to acids, alkalis, etc, e.g.: hazmat suit ballistic (abbr: Ba) - A mesh or gel or other high-speed impact spreading material, e.g.: flak vest bludgeoning (abbr: Bl) - Padding, often with a tough outer material, e.g.: sports armour energy (abbr: En) - Insulation against fire or cold damage, e.g. fire-fighter's suit piercing (abbr: Pr) - Tough protection, resilient to low energy sharp penetration, e.g.: chain links slashing (abbr: Sl) - Tough material resistent to cuts, e.g.: chain links Add 1/2 DR against damage of the listed protection types (minimum 1).
My proposal is to match these up with the existing armour in d20 games, and give a bonus to the DR against that type of attack.
The d20 modern game gives characters a defence bonus each level ("defense" in their US English).
I'll use that system (also presented as a variant rule in Unearthed Arcana) to let characters get better at not being hit as they get more experienced. With that in mind, I've lowered the defence bonuses granted by armour in the table below.
Armour________________Defence___DR____protection type
None
_______________________0_______0_______none
Padded
_______________________0_______1/-_____2/- vs Bl
Leather
_______________________0_______1/-_____2/- vs Sl
Studded leather
_______________________1_______1/-_____2/- vs Sl
Chain shirt
_______________________1_______2/-_____3/- vs Sl
Hide
_______________________1_______1/-_____2/- vs Bl
Scale mail
_______________________1_______2/-_____3/- vs Sl
Chainmail
_______________________2_______2/-_____3/- vs Sl
Breastplate
_______________________2_______2/-_____3/- vs Sl
Splint mail
_______________________2_______3/-_____4/- vs Sl
Banded mail
_______________________2_______3/-_____4/- vs Sl
Half-plate
_______________________3_______3/-_____4/- vs Sl
Full plate
_______________________3_______4/-_____6/- vs Sl
Leather jacket
_______________________0_______1/-_____2/- vs Sl
Light undercover shirt
_______________________0_______1/-_____2/- vs Ba
Pull-up pouch vest
_______________________0_______1/-_____2/- vs Ba
Undercover vest
_______________________1_______1/-_____2/- vs Ba
Concealable vest
_______________________1_______2/-_____3/- vs Ba
Light-duty vest
_______________________2_______2/-_____3/- vs Ba
Tactical vest
_______________________2_______3/-_____4/- vs Ba
Special response vest
_______________________3_______3/-_____4/- vs Ba + Bl
Forced entry unit
_______________________4_______4/-_____6/- vs Ba + Bl