Equipment damage

[Kerilstrasz]

I was searching through my books but i couldn't find what i need.
My players often ask for more "realistic" situations in the sessions so i want to try equipment damage. At start only for armors and generally whatever they wear. Not items they hold and/or weapons.Because a warrior in full plate that for the last 1 ingame year takes a ruthless beating should have his armor beaten and repaired often.
So.. if there is a rule about this (not the one for magic dmg), plz ignore the rest post and be kind enough to provide book and page.

So.. what is my though..
I don't want to spent the entire session calculating hardness and Hp of materials so i though the following.
Assume character wearing: Chainmail, Dastana, small shield
Each item would have "Durability Points" according to its AC and enchantment modifier.
Something like..
+2 Chainmail : Base Points = 4(Base Item AC) + 10(5per +1M.Mod.) + X if rare material (haven't set the X yet but common metal is +1, rarest exotic Mat. up to +5, +0 if cloth,leather or wood)
So this chainmail would have 15 Durability points, that means it can absorb 15 hits (no matter how high the damage) before it breaks and become useless.
But when a piece of armor gets hit?
Assume character with AC 20. - 10 (BaseAC) + 4(Dex) + 6 (Armor)
So if a received hit, ranges from 1-14, then the char avoided the blow with his "evasion" only thus no dmg to equipment. If the hit ranges from 15-20 then a piece of armor negated the attack thus it takes 1 Durability point dmg. Which item? We use the order from the rule for magic dmg. At all times the armor is the last line of defense with the exception of active spells such as Mage armor that protects the character(thus the gear) from Durability dmg.
The price for repairing a damaged item is: ( Total Item's Market Price/2 ) / Durability Points Left

What do you think? (don't tell me that it would ruin the fun or it will need more book-keeping. My players asked for this, so i follow.)

[BWR]

The easiest thing would be to just use the hardness/hit point suggestions for items. No need to make up a new set of rules, just ruthlessly enforce the need to keep track of hp for all items. Sure, you're probably going to end up naked after a fight or two, but if you want to play with damage trules, you got them.
If you want to be nice, just say that unless specifically targeted, items always take half damage before hardness, 1/4 if an ST is required.

[aleucard]

Here's my personal idea.

The armor takes a certain percentage of damage from each attack instead of you, rather than an AC bonus. It's actually easier to hit a guy in platemail than chain, it's just that the plate takes abuse much better and has more total protection. Different attack types are protected against to different levels (platemail may block 100% of slashing, 80% of piercing and 40% of crushing for example) depending on the armor. If the armor takes significant damage, these percentages drop. If the armor is reduced to 0 HP, the wielder takes full damage from all attacks unless specified otherwise (some might need to be completely removed as opposed to just trashed) and the armor is destroyed as normal. Lighter armors have less HP and protect a smaller percentage (with some point exceptions, leather's better than metal for lightning after all).

EDIT: My favorite function of this is that it gives major tangible benefits to wearing heavier armor that keep pace with the reasons for wearing lighter armor (such as Arcane Failure and Dex Penalties and whatnot). While it doesn't SOLVE the power distribution between casters and non-casters (divine ignores failure chance, and hp alone doesn't do **** for this problem), it at least levels the playing field a bit. It also leaves some good reason for people to actually use those Craft skills.

[Fouredged Sword]

Import the Armor as DR rules, and apply the damage the DR soaks to the HP or the piece of armor.