Futuristic Armor & Materials compared to Medieval

[fireinthedust]

I'm trying to mix Futuristic materials with Medieval materials for armor. Fantasy world with Star Wars storm/clone troopers arrive.

How different are storm trooper armors? If the players grabbed Trooper armor after a fight, and I wanted to use the Medieval armors in a given rule set as a benchmark, what would the comparison be like?

 

[Derren]

It really depends on the type of weapon the armors are designed to defend against.
Storm Trooper armor from Star Wars seems pretty useless as I have never seen it stop anything, so I have to use general terms.

Most futuristic and modern armor would likely not be designed to stop big melee weapons. They do not need to as such weapons are not used against them. Instead they protect against high speed impacts or energy discharges. In a fantasy environment that would translate into resistance to energy attacks and a big bonus against ranged attacks.

On the other hand, if the futuristic armor is also designed to stop futuristic melee weapons, for example a Warhammer 40K Space Marine or other power armor, this guy would probably be pretty invulnerable to normal, nonmagical attacks as futuristic materials would be harder than any mundane material a low tech fantasy world can produce. Magic would be your only option here as such armor also tends to be sealed so there is no bypassing it or using gas or other indirect attacks.

Generally, carrying comfort would likely be higher in modern armor than fantasy ones (unless the futuristic weapons are so powerful that you need to take extreme measures to defend against them) meaning less skill penalties and maybe faster movement unless it are really big "hulk" like power armors. Speaking of power armors, they usually run on a battery (and also have an air tank if sealed) so unless the PCs have a way to recharge it (and figure it out) it will stop working at some point and thus become so heavy that it is unwearable.

Of course, depending on the weapons the armor is designed to defend against, they can have other interesting properties. For example, armor designed to defeat gyrojet weapons might have a reactive outer layer which will explode whenever a arrow or even melee weapon comes in contact with it, destroying the armor and likely damaging the melee weapon and its wielder. But charges would be limited as once a reactive plate is gone it can't be replaced.

 

[Wolf72]

Clone/Storm Trooper armor in a fantasy setting? ... I'd think half-plate level protection but medium armor quality. I wouldn't put to much into accuracy as it breaks down between genre's.

The more I consider that type of armor, I think maybe the same stats as half-plate, including being 'heavy', but drop the weight by 1/2. Possibly give it a simple resistance ... like Resit Fire 3.

 

[fireinthedust]

I like the idea of making it lighter.

What about Hockey equipment? How would that stack up in terms of armor design?

 

[Derren]

I like the idea of making it lighter.

What about Hockey equipment? How would that stack up in terms of armor design?

It would be on the low/middle end and the opposite of futuristic armor.
It would protect ok against melee attacks unless faced with weapons designed to pierce armor and the coverage is rather low as many harder to vital reach parts are not protected (arm pits, etc.)
Against ranged attacks it would likely not work very well. In D&D terms when coupled with medieval armor parts to plug the holes it would probably be something like a breastplate.

 

[Wolf72]

So ... light armor, +5 AC, -2 ACP, +5 max dex, 10% ASF?

 

[fireinthedust]

ACP?

How would you differ between storm troopers and, say, Master Chief from Halo? And also Gears of War suits?

The Halo suits are spaceworthy, I'd say Heavy armor. The Gears have the least cover. The Troopers would be in the middle, but they're... well, they just die so much.

 

[Wolf72]

Armor Check Penalty

I always though HALO suits were powered armors.

I don't have my Dragonstar RPG books right next to me, but they had some advanced armors to use.

Everyone dies fast when you have advanced tech ... also lots of npc types can be classified as 'minions' and are meant to be wiped out quickly. (or it could be a WWI analogy ... charging the enemy lines while they mow you down with MGs). So it's hard, imo, to classify armor types when minion-quality troops are used.

 

[fireinthedust]

Not necessarily: Minions in many games simply have 1hp (earliest I can think of is M&M, though I'm sure some 90s games could have thought of this; maybe just house rules, I don't know). Armor can be just the DC to hit the target, and a hit automatically knocks them down.

 

[Quentin3212]

Assuming your characters could wear mjolner armor (halo armor), which they couldn't if it was a true to the haloverse suit, they would receive a big bonus to all forms of AC either from the armor itself or the shields, also they would receive a bonus to attacks from the armor's target assist systems and strength rolls due to the armor's huge bonus to its wearer's strength.

Also if I remember correctly the mjolner suits don't need to be recharged very often, I think they have an internal reactor or something like that.

Suffice to say I really wouldn't recommend giving a suit to a player in a fantasy setting, unless you want them going toe to toe physically with things that would normally easily overwhelm a regular person.


As for clone/storm trooper armor, besides having a built in HUD for target assist, I don't know that that armor really provides much more protection than a piece of hockey equipment, though it does cover more of the body.