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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 6021360" data-attributes="member: 92305">Conan has Armor as DR. First off, characters have three basic Armor Classes.  Looking at a 4th level Cimmerian Barbarian with a 16 STR and 15 DEX, he would have a base AC 10.  This is used when he's not aware of a blow and not doing anything actively to protect himself.  The base AC is always AC 10.Then, there's a Dodge AC.  This is made of the Base AC added to a level modifier and a DEX modifier.  The 4th level Barbarian--let's call him Cael--would have Dodge AC 15.  That's the base of 10 + 3 points due to his level + 2 points due to his DEX.If you use Dodge as your defense, you cannot be hemmed in on all sides.  Otherwise, you take a -2 penalty to your Dodge.  You need a certain amount of room to Dodge--if you're completely surrounded by foes, or they've got you backed up to a wall, it's harder to get out of the way of their blows.And, Dodge is the only type of active defense against certain kinds of attacks.  For example, when faced against a foe in melee combat, you can Dodge or Parry, but if someone throws a spear at you or fires a crossbow your way, then Dodge is your only option.The remaining defense type is to Parry.  Your base is AC 10, and your normal Parry AC is made up your base + STR modifier + level modifier.  Cael, above, would have Parry AC 14.  That's 10 points from the base + 3 points from STR + 1 point from the character's class.Note how STR modifies Parry while DEX modifies Dodge.       In this game, if you're flatfooted, then you can't Dodge or Parry.  Which means that you're AC 10. But, just because a foe hits you doesn't mean that he damages you.  How much damage you take depends on the weapon, your foe's STR rating, and how much armor you're wearing.       The shield can be used to dodge missile weapons, in which case the +3 Shield bonus (for a targe or D&D medium shield) is added to your Dodge AC, since you can't parry arrows.  Cael's Shield + Dodge would be AC 18If you just want to use the shield traditionally to block incoming blows, then you would add the +3 shield modifier gained by the targe to your Parry defense.  Cael woull be AC 17 using his shield with a Parry defense routine.Or, maybe, you want to use your shield to bash your oppoenent, using the shield as a weapon.  All shields in this game are statted like weapons.  If you use your shield as weapon, then you cannot use the shield bonus with either your Parry or Dodge that round.       This brings us to armor.  In the Conan RPG, armor does not make the character harder to hit.  Armor, instead, soaks up damage.Weapons have penetration rating.  And a character has two basic ways to have a melee fight.  The character can just basically bash away at his foe, old school stye.  Or the character can fight smarter and attempt to bypass his foe's armor and strike at the soft or non-armored parts.For example, let's say Cael's foe, a Vanir raider, is wearing a mail hauberk.  This piece of armor is capable of absorbing 6 points of damage.  It's rated as DR 6. Let's take a look at how this works...Cael is using a Broadsword that is rated at AP 3.  Add to this Cael's STR modifier, and the weapon, with Cael swinging it, is rated at AP 6.  Note how STR has a big influence on how well a weapon can penetrate armor.  In this case, Cael's STR 16 doubles the penetration value of the broadsword. When total AP is greater than or equals DR , halve the DR. When total AP is less than DR, keep the DR as-is. DR reduces damage. If Cael hits a Vanir raider with the broadsword (total AP 6), it will penetrate his opponent's mail hauberk (DR 6).  Thus, the hauberk will only reduce 3 points of damage instead of 6.  Cael's damage, if he hit, would do 1d10 +3 -3 damage, which is broadsword damage of 1d10 plus Caels STR mod, minus the DR.  1d10. If Vanir also wore a helm, his total Damage Resistance would increase to DR 7.  So, this means that Cael's broadsword strokes would not penetrate.  Any hit Cael would make would do 1d10 +3 -6, which is broadsword damage plus STR mod minus DR.  1d10 - 3.     Now, if Cael found that he was connecting a lot but not doing a lot of damage to the Vanir (Cael can only put 1-7 points of damage on the Vanir, doing the 1d10 -3, and 30% of the blows he does land end up dealing no damage at all, if damage is 1, 2, or 3), then he could change fighting styles.  Instead of the typical freestyle of bashing through armor, he can be more picky and attempt to hit the Vanir's weak spots--at the throat, under the arm, in between armor plates and the unarmored areas.This is called the Finesse style.In this case, Cael uses his DEX as a to-hit modifier on his attack roll in place of his STR modifier.  And, to account for how much harder it is to specifically target and hit locations on the Vanir foe, the DR rating is used as a measure of how well Cael landed his blows.Note that STR modifies standard attacks while Finesse attacks are modified by DEX. This means it's completely possible to have a very viable fighter with a low STR but a high DEX.  Finesse is perfect for Thieves.  Get a thief with a very high DEX, and he will benefit from high initiative, being good at the Finesse combat style (thus armor won't matter), good at using his Dodge AC, won't need heavy expensive armor with the high Dodge AC, and quite deadly if wielding two weapons that can both be used as Finesse weapons.For example, let's say that the Vanir is Parrying at AC 15, and the Vanir is using a large shield.  That makes him AC 19.  Cael has to roll 6 points over that needed in order to land a Finesse hit.  That means....  A roll of 1-9 misses the target.  A roll of 10-19 is parried by the Vanir.  A roll of 20-24 hits, but armor is used to reduce damage.  And, at a roll of 25+, Cael has successfully landed a Finesse blow.Successful Finesse blows completely ignore armor--full damage is applied to the target--since the whole point of a Finesse attack is to land a blow where  the foe is not protected by armor.      Now, I realize that this seems very complicated.  Like anything else, it's easy and second nature once you've played it a couple of times.  And, I really think that this combat system is a lot more realistic than your typical fantasy games.There are piecemeal armor rules, too, so that you can find some (little) protection from small pieces of armor.For example, I rolled up a character for my game last night that had several armor options:ARMORBracers = DR 1Bracers + Helm = DR 2Mantle = DR 2Mantle + Helm = DR 3Winter Clothing = DR 3 (+7 Max DEX)Winter Clothing + Helm = DR 4 (+7 Max DEX)Mail Hauberk = DR 6 (+3 Max DEX, -4 Armor Check Penalty)Mail Hauberk + Helm = DR 7 (+3 Max DEX, -4 Armor Check Penalty)If this character wears his leather wrist bracers, he's got a DR 1 rating.  Add a helm to that, and he's DR 2.A mantle is a large, heavy Cimmerian cloak.  This provides some armor protection.  Wearing it with or without the bracers yields protection of DR 3.  With the helm, it's DR 4.Thick winter clothing can provide armor equivalent to a quilted jerkin, thus when all bundled up, this character is DR 4 and DR 5 with the helm.Getting some formal armor, this character also owns a mail hauberk.  He doesn't like to wear it often because the mail is heavy on the shoulders and may cause fatigue if worn too long.  But, when he is wearing it, he's DR 6 and DR 7 with the helm.      The other neat thing about this system is that a player doesn't just pick the weapon that does the most damage for his character.  More thought is put into it. For example, if the character is going to go into a mass battle, he might use the war hammer.  It only does 1d6 damage, but it's penetration rating is AP 7.  Combine that with a decent STR modifier, and you've got a weapon that will break through anything. Then again, if your character will be among those who don't often wear armor, like sailors, then the cutlass might be a better choice.  It's only got AP 2, but it does 1d10 damage This is why you won't see a lot of war hammers on the deck of a pirate ship, and you won't see armored infantry men using cutlasses in a mass battle.  The right tool for the right job, and so forth.        I'm sure there are other ways of using armor in games, but I do like the depth of this one. Lots-a food for thought.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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