Future: Advanced PL Armor Question

[HeapThaumaturgist]

So I was looking over the Future SRD equipment section and got to looking at the armors offered at higher PLs ...

They're WORSE than armors offered at standard Modern (PL 5), aren't they?

Light Combat Armor is the same as an Undercover Vest ... without being concealable.

Medium Combat Armor is a Concealable Vest ... without being concealable.

I'm going to go pick up the book when I get paid coming the begining of the month, but this just was a bit confusing for me ... as we advance to PL 6 and 7 we add bulk and surface area to armors while being unable to increase their protective qualities?

--fje

 

[Christopher Lambert]

It's a lame explanation, but you could argue that the higher PL weapons are better at armor penetration, and armor hasn't really kept up.

Of course, this causes balance problems. I can't see why PL 6 and 7 firearms can do 3 dice of damage when hit point, Defense and other such values haven't increased to keep up with them and still maintain balance.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

I figure the protection values may end up staying the same, or somewhere close, but at least reducing the Armor Check penalty or increasing the Max Dex or something ...

I just whipped up something on the high end of Medium and added a point of max-dex and reduced a point of Armor Check.

Just seemed a little off to me to have people picking up PL5 armor because its better than PL7.

--fje

 

[Omega Lord]

It seems that the equipment section of d20 future is notoriously... odd. Like the fact that things like weapons and armor can get worse (?) from one pl to the next (the armor issue for one and the fact that the plasma rifle is just better than the pulse rifle, oh and the lightning gun isnt worth it). To me it seems that sometimes things in the book were put in the wrong PL or that there is not enough difference between different PL equipment. Even with energy shields (which are only avialable in PL 8) the weapons outpace available protection.

Dont get me wrong, I am very happy with my purchase of d20 future if only for the ideas I have gotten from it, but the equipment chapter and the traveller science chapter seem like they are both very... off and require a bit of reworking.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

True. I've actually been going back through Alternity and, starting at PL 6, have been re-creating the weapons with an eye toward balance and DIFFERENCE (usually some improvement) between PLs. In Alternity:

PL 6 - We get an improvement in ballistic weapons, electrochemical propulsion techniques, damage and range both increase somewhat over PL5.

PL 7 - Greatest increase in the number/type of weapons. I found alot of them almost wholley redundant. In Alternity laser weapons introduced an edge in range and a jump in accuracy over PL 6 weapons, but no big damage jump. The "Mass Rifle" shows a huge jump in damage, but is little farther ranged than a melee weapon.

PL 8 -- Increase in damage with similar range to PL 7 weapons with the introduction of Maser technology.

For PL 6 I recreated electrochemical ballistic weapons by taking similar PL 5 weaponry (9mm, etc) and increasing the die size by one (increasing average damage by 2-3) and extending the range a bit.

PL 7 I reintroduced laser weapons by giving them similar stats but adding a Mastercraft bonus to attack rolls and the Laser Rifle is 3d8 instead of 2d12 (slightly better average and minimum damage).

I'm going to go through the armor section and make some higher PL armors by tweaking Max Dex and Armor Check FIRST, so I don't get a big AC glut. I think Fast gets a bit of a front-load with the class defense arena. I'm going to make an effective Medium armor for PL 6 AND 7 since mine will be a military campaign and I figure standard issue armors will be in the Medium range, with Heavy being unpowered assault armor and Light being reserved mostly for special-utility armors (stealth suits, etc). I'm also going to make a better Impromptu armor for higher PLs for individuals with no Armor feats (as Alternity seemed to have non-feat-required light armors are higher PLs).

Bleh. Hate having to do all of this myself, but at least I have a template to base it off of. Starting at PL 5 and increasing various aspects of weaponry a tad each PL.

--fje

 

[Olive]

So any chance of seeing those bad boys?

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Well, yes, but I'm not sure how I can post up tables on here without them getting all wonkied up.

Hrm.

--fje

 

[Olive]

Well, yes, but I'm not sure how I can post up tables on here without them getting all wonkied up.

Um... maybe link to a word doc?

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Hopefully everybody can see this.

This is just a few things that I've built/converted so far. Mostly I'm trying to take the intent/flavor of some of the Alternity stuff and work it for d20 Future, as I'm going to be working in the Star*Drive setting.

Armor is a bit touchy. Alternity had a more complex system for armor, allowing for more gradiations. I built a Soft E-Suit for all those space-faring characters that want to be able to wear their space suit all day. I think in Alternity it was closer to what d20 has as "Impromptu" armor.

I did want to introduce a better form of "Impromptu" armor. The leather jacket isn't the end-all, be-all of no-feat-required armor. Thus Carbon-Fiber Weave.

Also included is the Deflection Inducer, an item I lifted from Alternity. There it couldn't be combined with Armor, but in D20 "Deflection" bonus stacks with "Equipment" bonus, so.

Anyway, what I've got so far.

--fje

 

[Achan hiArusa]

Even Worse

Compare all the armor in Future with D&D. The only advantage that the Land Warrior Armor has over splint mail is that you can run in it. I am going to do a compiled table when I get time to do it.