armor bonus as damage conversion

[punkorange]

Our group is using the armor bonus as damage conversion rule from UA. Do any of you use it, like it, suggest something different?
I like the fact that my players can now defeat people without murdering them. Also, I don't have armor convert damage from flames, shock, or other magical damage.

Do you all have any suggestions for making this system a bit easier to maintain. All of my players now deal normal damage plus some kind of magical affect with it, and It is a pain dealing with shock/flame/etc different than normal damage.

 

[raineym]

I use a similar rule, but it was a house rule before UA.

Taken directly from our House Rules document:

"As normally done, the difficulty to hit a creature or object has always been determined by their Armor Class (AC). The basic premise behind this rule is that armor doesn't make people any harder to hit; it just stops damage from getting through. As such, characters who wear armor do not get a bonus to their Armor Class but instead gain a Damage Reduction equal to X/- to all physical attacks, with X equal to whatever their Armor bonus would normally be.

Any magical enhancements to the armor, including the Invulnerability special armor quality, count toward the damage reduction, so chain mail +3 of invulnerability would offer Damage Reduction 13/magic. Since shields are not physically worn but instead are used to block attacks, they would also still add a Shield bonus instead of adding to Damage Reduction. Natural armor bonuses to Armor Class, such as from Amulets of Natural Armor, add to both Damage Reduction and Armor Class. Magical items that give an Armor bonus, such as bracers of armor and rings of protection, add to Damage Reduction, but not to Armor Class.

If a character, NPC, or monster already has Damage Reduction, he or she uses the higher of the two Damage Reduction ratings."

 

[Wrathamon]

so someone at 1st level has DR 8/- when wearing full plate?

that seems like a lot... on average a great sword wont hurt him.

 

[punkorange]

well yeah.
but in theory a 1st level character can't afford full plate.
and we go damage conversion, not reductions.
so a level 1 character with full plate has DmgCnv 9/magic. He will still go unconcious just as quickly, but his wounds aren't lethal and he is less likely to die at 1st level.

 

[Li Shenron]

punkorange means damage CONVERSION not reduction, which means that you're not ignoring that part of the damage but that it becomes nonlethal damage thanks to the armor worn.

I have never used it, but I am curious to know how it changed healing issues in your campaign. Do you also use it for natural armor (this had extra problems IIRC)?

 

[punkorange]

yes, we do use it for natural armor. In fact it is kind of cool. After the group stopped to breath after dropping the red dragon, they then had to coupe de gra it.

It doubles the effectiveness of healing as well, but I would gladly take that as a tradeoff to the way this system works for gameplay. My group, after raiding a weakened thieves guild, simply knocked out and disarmed their opposition rather than flat out murdering everyone they come accross.