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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jlhorner1974" data-source="post: 611480" data-attributes="member: 8628">There seem to be 2 main design theories for armor:1.  Armor makes you harder to hit, but does not reduce damageIn this case, weapon damage is usually on the low side (the most common weapons do d8 or less, and the mightiest is only 2d6).  All other factors equal, characters with heavy armor do take less damage on average (since they aren't hit as often), but it is still possible to damage a heavy armor wearing character with a low damage weapon (like a knife or dagger).  Combats are usually fairly quick.2.  Armor is DRIn this system, all weapons have to do more damage to account for the fact that practically no hit will ever do full damage.  What's the point of having a weapon dealing 1d4 damage if most people have DR of at least 3.  In Star Wars, for example, the damage is much higher.  Most weapons do at least 2d6, with 2d8 and higher not uncommon.  A careful design balance needs to exist between weapon damage and armor DR to assure that combats neither end in a single round (damage too high relative to DR) nor should they take forever (DR too high relative to damage).   1st level characters with heavy armor will still be tough to damage.I happen to think that the Star Wars Revised rulebook is a great place to start with "Armor as DR rules", as Star Wars probably ranks high as one of the most heavily playtested "Armor as DR"  rulesets, I think.  If you are looking for a modern/futuristic campaign, I would look both at Star Wars (Armor is DR) and d20 Modern (Armor is not DR, but the system is well done, IMHO), as well as Spycraft by AEG (Armor is DR) and formulate something  based on those.If you are looking for fantasy, I don't know of a lot of big name companies using Armor vs. DR rules.  The modern/futuristic books above should be able to help if you want to try to roll your own rules.</blockquote>

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