Pathfinder 1E Armor as Damage Reduction

[enigma5915]

In regard to many light damaging attacks versus heavy armor, I do believe that would replicate the reasoning for and use of armor. It is supposed to prevent damage, that is the point. Though the assumption that the whole world is dressed in full plate is not what your stating right? Full plate is supposed to be bad ass and I am more than fine with that. but plate, not to mention full plate is rare, heck in my games any heavy armor is uncommon. not to mention the dificulties that arise with being heavily armored. encumbrance, fatigue, penalties...these are important considerations when trodding about all over in heavy armor. And you dont just go to a local mall and pick up a suit of a rack. So, the awesomeness provided by DR dose have a price. By the way I also noted previously that being grappeld ( pinned I believe) halves your DR and being helpless negates your worn DR completely. Ill have to double check, but I think thats the case. Therefore grapling is way more useful especially for groups of small guys. I do believe that DRs will not be to high, except for appropiate creatures...dragons, golems, elementals, etc... And to those facing these creatures I would recommend fleeing...lol

 

[Ashtagon]

Here's something that I came up with once...

* Strength bonus no longer applies to attack rolls.
* The Weapon Finesse feat lets you apply your Dexterity bonus to those weapons that could normally benefit from Weapon Finesse. These two changes make lighter weapons generally more accurate, which counters some of the disadvantages that light weapons have.
* Shields provide their usual AC bonus. They do not provide any damage soak.
* Natural armour counts 50% as AC.
* Multiply the creature's natural armour bonus by their HD (without class levels). This is their "natural damage soak".
* Armour provides an amount of damage soak equal to the AC bonus. Double this for medium armour; triple this for heavy armour. (eg. full plate provides a damage soak of 24).
* When a critter takes a hit, damage is applied first against damage soak, then against hit points. A critter's damage soak is replenished in full at the start of its turn. Hit points are recovered in the usual way.

And some feats (all fighter bonus feats)...

Armour Focus: (prereq BAB +6): Multiply the amount of damage soak provided by damage soak sources by 1.5.

Improved Armour Focus: (prereq BAB +11, AF): Multiply the amount of damage soak provided by damage soak sources by 2. This replaces the multiplier from previous Armour Focus feats.

Greater Armour Focus: (prereq BAB +16, Imp. AF): Multiply the amount of damage soak provided by damage soak sources by 3. This replaces the multiplier from previous Armour Focus feats.

Overall, I wasn't happy with the way this left lighter armours are very weak against multiple opponents.

 

[BriarMonkey]

I've been looking at converting to DR for a while now. Every time I think I have it figured out, I hit a case that causes all the work to go out the window.

Right now, I'm actually looking at a different tactic. I'm thinking of leaving most of the whole AC thing alone. But, for the purposes of Heavy Armor, I am looking at taking a note from the 5E playtesting and having this grant "disadvantage" to damage rolls. In addition, I'm looking at removing the Dex cap from armors and doubling the bonus provided by shields.

Thus, highly dextrous fighters can still benefit from armor, regardless of type. And, if you have heavy armor, you get a DR in the form of the opponent has to roll damage twice and take the lesser of the values.

This is all still in the planning stage, so I am not quite sure how it'd play out.

 

[Empirate]

Here's something that I came up with once...

* Strength bonus no longer applies to attack rolls.
* The Weapon Finesse feat lets you apply your Dexterity bonus to those weapons that could normally benefit from Weapon Finesse. These two changes make lighter weapons generally more accurate, which counters some of the disadvantages that light weapons have.
* Shields provide their usual AC bonus. They do not provide any damage soak.
* Natural armour counts 50% as AC.
* Multiply the creature's natural armour bonus by their HD (without class levels). This is their "natural damage soak".
* Armour provides an amount of damage soak equal to the AC bonus. Double this for medium armour; triple this for heavy armour. (eg. full plate provides a damage soak of 24).
* When a critter takes a hit, damage is applied first against damage soak, then against hit points. A critter's damage soak is replenished in full at the start of its turn. Hit points are recovered in the usual way.

And some feats (all fighter bonus feats)...

Armour Focus: (prereq BAB +6): Multiply the amount of damage soak provided by damage soak sources by 1.5.

Improved Armour Focus: (prereq BAB +11, AF): Multiply the amount of damage soak provided by damage soak sources by 2. This replaces the multiplier from previous Armour Focus feats.

Greater Armour Focus: (prereq BAB +16, Imp. AF): Multiply the amount of damage soak provided by damage soak sources by 3. This replaces the multiplier from previous Armour Focus feats.

Overall, I wasn't happy with the way this left lighter armours are very weak against multiple opponents.

The damage soak approach reminds me of 3.0 energy resistances, which also applied only on a per-round basis. Although I find the general idea of 1/round defenses, or ablative, per-round defenses in this case, clunky and hard to implement, I like your ideas quite a bit. I'd toy around with them a little to see if I can think of something to make them more streamlined and less of a bookkeeping nightmare.

One thing I have to emphasise is that "Str must not apply to attack bonus for this to work" was the first thing that popped into my head when reading this thread!

 

[Mark Chance]

I used armor as DR with both 3.5 and PF, but with a caveat. The armor didn't provide traditional DR. Instead, an armor's DR rating converted that much lethal, nonenergy damage into nonlethal damage. So, if a character's armor was DR 4, and he got hit for 8 points of lethal damage from a sword, he'd take 4 lethal and 4 nonlethal.

It worked quite well, IMO.

 

[enigma5915]

One thing I have to emphasise is that "Str must not apply to attack bonus for this to work" was the first thing that popped into my head when reading this thread!

I agree exactly with this. I am going to give this a try starting next week when I run the new hardback Rise of the Rune Lords. Ill post my feedback and results from it as I go. And thanks to everyone for sharing so far. It helps a lot.