Homebrew: Simple Armor durability and degradation rules

[ClaytonCross]

-- I have said it before and I will say it again. Sometimes I just need to get an idea out of my head. Take it or leave it. --

I was trying to make as few rules as I could for armor durability that were easy to understand and follow. I feel like this works. I do realize it would work best if you mark AC "transition levels" and the GM and players will have to call the roles to hit not just say "hit". Nether seem like a big deal to me but it actually works better with pen and paper since your digital forms will not have a spot to track

"transition levels"​

but its pretty easy just to write it down.

I do get some people will complain Wizards using mage armor, Barbarians, and monks are largely unaffected. I actually like that flavor. ... I mean its homebrew. Edit: This homebrew would be intended as homebrew for a more gritty campaign, would not be for the masses, and it would be extremely unlikely that other classes would not have similar rules to deal with. Example, the same homebrew campaign might not allow casters to use arcane focus and be forced to track material components. That would be a similar off set that someone playing this type of game might want.

---That said, here it is:

Attacks that miss below natural armor + applied dexterity modifier have no effect.
(Example: Wearing medium armor with a 16 dex, armor is not damaged if opponent rolls less than 12, 10 + max dex bonus)


Attacks that miss because of armor value over 10 causes 1 damage to the armor. Or 1 point of damage from a failed save against area of effect force or acid damage.
(Example: Wearing Studded leather base 12 with 20 dex or AC17, the armor takes 1 damage if the opponent roles a 15 or 16 to hit. If carrying a shield raising AC to 19 then 15-16 damages armor and 17-18 damages the shield)


Durability of armor is the AC of the armor for light armor, AC times 2 for medium armor, AC times 3 for heavy armor, and Shields have durability of 20.
(Example: Studded Leather durability 12, Half-plate durability 30, and Plate durability 54. The scaling durability is important not only due to the increase in cost but also because the higher AC the more likely it would be damaged)

Casting mending within an hour of the damage to armor reduces total damage taken by half by sealing holes in the armor (round down to a minimum 1). Additional casts of mending have no effect due the spelling being unable to repair stress and wear on the armor.
( I limit it just to make tracking less of pain and so that having one player with mending does void it but at the same time it makes having more useful to have.)

If the durability drops to 0, the armor stops providing an AC adjustment but maintains dexterity restrictions while worn and weight. Shields simple break and fall off unable to be used in order to gain +2 to AC. It maybe possible to repair the armor with have the cost in materials if you are proficient and have access to the appropriate tools however a failing a DC15 test may mean its cheaper to just replace them or they are destroyed beyond reasonable repair.

Edit: I would make magic items unaffected as part of being enchanted. Most people I have played with describe them as not rusting already so I am just continuing that. This also helps reduce the issue of more hits in longer fights due to increased health at late game but I would also point out that missing in just the range of armor will also be more rare since higher level fights tend to be more if characters can kill the enemies before they run out of hit points due to a lot of late game enemies having really high attacks.

...That's just my shot at it.

​

 

[Calm_EyE]

So, what happens when the armor has taken all it's durability damage?

 

[5ekyu]

-- I have said it before and I will say it again. Sometimes I just need to get an idea out of my head. Take it or leave it. --

I was trying to make as few rules as I could for armor durability that were easy to understand and follow. I feel like this works. I do realize it would work best if you mark AC "transition levels" and the GM and players will have to call the roles to hit not just say "hit". Nether seem like a big deal to me but it actually works better with pen and paper since your digital forms will not have a spot to track

"transition levels"​

but its pretty easy just to write it down.

I do get some people will complain Wizards using mage armor, Barbarians, and monks are largely unaffected. I actually like that flavor. ... I mean its homebrew.

---That said, here it is:

Attacks that miss below natural armor + applied dexterity modifier have no effect.
(Example: Wearing medium armor with a 16 dex, armor is not damaged if opponent rolls less than 12, 10 + max dex bonus)


Attacks that miss because of armor value over 10 cause 2 damage to the armor.
(Example: Wearing Studded leather base 12 with 20 dex or AC17, the armor takes 2 damage if the opponent roles a 15 or 16 to hit. If carrying a shield raising AC to 19 then 15-16 damages armor and 17-18 damages the shield)


Durability of armor is the AC of the armor for light armor, AC times 2 for medium armor, AC times 3 for heavy armor, and Shields have durability of 20.
(Example: Studded Leather durability 12, Half-plate durability 30, and Plate durability 54. The scaling durability is important not only due to the increase in cost but also because the higher AC the more likely it would be damaged)


Casting mending within an hour of the damage to armor reduces damage by half by sealing holes in the armor. Additional casts of mending have no effect due the spelling being unable to repair stress and wear on the armor.
( I limit it just to make tracking less of pain and so that having one player with mending does void it but at the same time it makes having more useful to have.)

...That's just my shot at it.

​

I think it fails badly at higher levels. When characters have 100 plus hp and tons of healing on an adventure , seems like long fights will eat thru armour like no tomorrow.

What about fireballs and other AoE effects?

More to the core - why is this a good addition? What is the purpose? Is it intended to drive many of the BBEG boss fight finales into "can we kill him before our armor falls off" races? Is it to really empower effects like blur or sanctuary over say innervate or aid?

 

[ClaytonCross]

So, what happens when the armor has taken all it's durability damage?

Ah, well good call. I had thought about it but forgot to put anything. I figured it would stop being functional as armor and would lose its AC bonus and basically be dead weight. I think from a narrative stand point you could just say a shield breaks in half, light armor just tears to shreds, medium armor falls apart in pieces, heavy armor would also fall apart but I almost feel like it more warp to the point its hard to move to so its easy enough to attack the week spots but at the same time you can still move and attack. Mostly I just represents a breaking point when it is no longer useful like players hitting 0 hit points and passing out.

I thought about a scaling effect with every lose of 10 durability causing the AC to drop by 1 but I was not sure if that stats to make it too complex. What do you think?

 

[ClaytonCross]

I think it fails badly at higher levels. When characters have 100 plus hp and tons of healing on an adventure , seems like long fights will eat thru armour like no tomorrow.

What about fireballs and other AoE effects?

More to the core - why is this a good addition? What is the purpose? Is it intended to drive many of the BBEG boss fight finales into "can we kill him before our armor falls off" races? Is it to really empower effects like blur or sanctuary over say innervate or aid?

I would say magic items are immune and so it will be less of a big deal a higher levels.

 

[Calm_EyE]

Ah, well good call. I had thought about it but forgot to put anything. I figured it would stop being functional as armor and would lose its AC bonus and basically be dead weight. I think from a narrative stand point you could just say a shield breaks in half, light armor just tears to shreds, medium armor falls apart in pieces, heavy armor would also fall apart but I almost feel like it more warp to the point its hard to move to so its easy enough to attack the week spots but at the same time you can still move and attack. Mostly I just represents a breaking point when it is no longer useful like players hitting 0 hit points and passing out.

I thought about a scaling effect with every lose of 10 durability causing the AC to drop by 1 but I was not sure if that stats to make it too complex. What do you think?

Personally I'd use it so that at 0 durability it would give half of it's AC bonus. Then have the item be "marked". If an item gets "marked" three times it breaks and no longer functions. This is all in order to keep it as simple as possible.

The other aspect that you could "fix" is to remove the '2 damage per hit' rule, and just halve the durability values.

 

[ClaytonCross]

Personally I'd use it so that at 0 durability it would give half of it's AC bonus. Then have the item be "marked". If an item gets "marked" three times it breaks and no longer functions. This is all in order to keep it as simple as possible.

The other aspect that you could "fix" is to remove the '2 damage per hit' rule, and just halve the durability values.

I think missing in the range of the armor will be less common than you might think and hitting the target does not damage the armor (conceptually you hit the target on an exposed part of the body or if they dodge the armor is not damaged). Halving the AC for armor with 11 means halving 1, if you then round that the result is you just eliminate some types of armor and people pick the ones that round in there favor. Also counting 3 times complicates it and requires more tracking. I also like 2 damage instead of 1 or the use of mending is more complicated.

 

[Calm_EyE]

I think missing in the range of the armor will be less common than you might think and hitting the target does not damage the armor (conceptually you hit the target on an exposed part of the body or if they dodge the armor is not damaged). Halving the AC for armor with 11 means halving 1, if you then round that the result is you just eliminate some types of armor and people pick the ones that round in there favor. Also counting 3 times complicates it and requires more tracking. I also like 2 damage instead of 1 or the use of mending is more complicated.

I figure that at any point when you halve you round down. This means that some armors are effectively broken when their durability reaches 0.
As for people picking ones that work in their favor; that is the case always.

I guess I was being poor in my explanation. I meant simply that each time the armor reached 0 durability, it would be marked. It would then have half AC until repaired.
When it gets marked for the third time, it is instead destroyed.

Anyway, I wish you the best of luck with the system!

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Something I've witnessed in other games that feature armor degradation is that, when healing HP is easier than repairing armor, characters just stop wearing armor. (Armor degradation rules are more acceptable in games where healing is slow and difficult, with potential for complications. If it costs me 100gp to replace my armor, then that armor needs to have prevented more than 100gp worth of complications in order for it to be worthwhile.)

I can say with absolute certainty that, if you were my DM and wanted to use that rule, I would absolutely play a monk or wizard or something. There's no upside to being a paladin in that game; it's just more bookkeeping.

 

[Yes]

I don't think armor degradation plays well with D&D 5. I just assume players are repairing their armors during long and short rests, and that proficiency with an armor type means the character knows how to deviate blows with it without ruining it.

When I ran the first part of OotA, I used milestone level advancement. Each time the players got to a major underdark settlement, they advanced level, but I told them that they had a small fee to pay in repairs and upgrades to their armors and weapons to "confirm" their level gain because of the wear and tear of their equipment during their long travels in the UD. That's as close an armor degradation rule I ever used.