Armor that reduces damage.

[Darklance]

I'm working on a campaign with a more realistic feel. I was wondering if anyone had links or ideas on rules for armor that reduces damage rather than changing chance to be hit. Here are my ideas so you know what I am talking about.

Most armor would be separate from AC. It might infact bring it down because you are losing dex. Dex, magic and a few other elements would be the new factors for AC. Armor would reduce damage taken. If you were hit and received 10 points of damage, padded armor would take away 1 point. Leather 2 and studded leather 1d4-1. A chain shirt would do 1d4 and so on. Certain armor would still add to AC. I would justify this by saying that besides its ability to absorb blows, some are made to deflect. Plate for example could add +4 or so to AC as well as reducing 1d8 damage.

I did not put this in house rules as I am just fishing for ideas here. There are obvious flaws with this system so I'm asking if anyone has done anything similar or knows some links. Thanks for your time.

 

[Replicant]

Try Runequest

Want rules about armor reducing damage rather than making you harder to hit? Find yourself an old copy of Runequest on Ebay.

It's a simple to learn, realistic combat system where armor has hit points and absorbs damage. Weapons and shields have HP and can be broken while parrying attacks. BRP rules!

 

[Donatello]

Check out "Arms & Armor" from Bastion Press. They have precisely what you're looking for.

 

[Jack Haggerty]

Check the Revised Star Wars Rules, which now use armor as DR.

Or take a look at this chart I built to house rule armor as DR for the old SW20 rules. It's designed for SW, but is almost a direct analog to D&D armors. It hasn't been play-tested much, so the DR's may need to be adjusted for D&D levels of damage instead of SW levels.

 

[Vaxalon]

Some questions about this system:

1> Does critical hit damage help penetration of armor?

2> What about DR?

3> Given that the most damage penetrates the armor, why use anything but a greataxe?

4> Who fears a kobold, even at first level?

 

[kenjib]

Vaxalon brings up good points. My experience with trying out Ken Hood's Grim N' Gritty system only reinforced this. Everyone will end up with the biggest armor and biggest weapons they can find. A character gets very heavily penalized for not taking the absolute highest damage weapons and strongest armor available. If that's what you want then this type of system will work well for you. If you want more variety between different characters than you should avoid a system like this or play a different game that is more suited for this from the ground up.

Another thing is that low level monks are pretty much useless with a system like this. They only do d6 damage and have no armor. Therefore they simply can't hurt armored opponents and at the same time, while they may be hit less often, when they are hit they get smashed.

Grim N' Gritty: http://www.sleepingimperium.rpghost.com/

I imagine a variant like this could be fun, but there are lots of repercussions that are hard to predict. I really suggest playtesting it a good bit before committing to one of these systems in actual play so you can see if you like how it feels.

 

[Darklance]

What is the difference between wanting to have the best damage dealing weapon now and after armor reduces damage?

You could also deal with massive weapons by giving them a negative to attack bonus to represent its massive awkward size.

 

[Jack Haggerty]

I think the tricky part is making in work in a D&D-type genre, with D&D-type rules.

In Star Wars, weapons deal more damage on average (3d6 for a standard blaster pistol that almost everyone owns), Defense works a little differently (going up by level), Critical Hits work differently (applying straight to WP, instead of using a multiplier), and so on.

With my DR armor house rule, the trade off is that gaining high DR Armor can severely limit your Defense and Dex bonuses... "Should I use the Combat Jumpsuit with a DR of 3 and keep my Defense of 27? Or should I get a DR of 6 with Partial Battle Armor and limit myself to a Defense of 15?"

Also, heavy armors are prohibitively expensive... "Should I buy the Powered Battle Armor, or should I pick up a used Starfighter, or should I pay off that debt to the Hutt crimelord?"... And especially so in a genre like SW, where the characters don't necessarily discover sacks of loot beneath every creature they kill.

The rules could work for D&D, they'd just need some adjustment.

 

[Grazzt]

What about hit points is my questions? In addition to actual damage a creature can withstand, they are supposed to be an abstract representation of luck, skill at dodging blows or absorbing minor blows that really don't do any damage, fate, etc....

Wouldnt the hp system have to be altered or revamped in a system like this?

 

[Darklance]

I just noticed that D20 modern claims to be using armor to reduce damage.

Anyone know if these rules are previewed in a dungeon mag?