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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jin" data-source="post: 1241569" data-attributes="member: 1484">My thoughts on this whole armor thing…No system will ever be perfect.  Use what makes you happy when you play.  That’s what the game is all about.We use an armor system that’s similar to some that have been posted so far.  Armor grants not only AC & DR, but Fortification as well.o    AC is the same as it always has been on any given suit of armor.o    DR is usually about 1/3 to 1/2 of a suit’s AC - tops out at 4 / --.o    Fortification is only around in heavy armors - tops out at 15%.AC should ONLY be a function of how hard a target is to hit.  Plate armors were designed to deflect even the heaviest blows (AC) & then if they had to, help absorb them (DR).  Hence soft leather armor isn’t truly viable unless studded, while hard leather is since it can actually deflect a blow due to its hardness after curing.As to why I didn’t lower AC once DR was added - it was easier to just leave all the standard stats on armor as they were, as everyone would have the tables in whatever book they were looking at.  And so far, nothing seems to be broken.Some weapons, such as picks & crossbows, have a penetration value that lowers a target’s DR.Materials will also ignore DR, or add to it if it’s used for armor, based on how hard they are vs. how hard the material they are striking is.  (Still need to come up with some BS mechanic to generalize the hardness of “natural” DR.)The other big beef folks seem to have is that plate armor should make someone slow & sluggish.  It should only do this if it encumbers you.  Armor doesn’t need a strength requirement to wear.  (I would argue that heavy weapons do however.)  Anyone don a suit of armor, just as any of us could strap on a frame pack with 70lbs of weight in it.  Some of would be so encumbered by this we wouldn’t be able to stand.  However, others would be able to not only walk around, but do so for a bit of time.  So why add that mechanic when the rules already take care of it?  Also, if you’ve ever worn a really heavy suit of some kind, it’s much easier to move around in than with a pack of the same weight due to the weight distribution.Anyway, I’ve seen people doing repeated summersaults, leaping onto horses, running, & quickly scaling ladders in replica suits (not some ungainly SCA suit) of plate armor.  Sure, they were a bit less coordinated than when in their plain clothes, but they still had a great range of movement.  So, I think the Max Dex mechanic, while not perfect, will fit the bill.  If anything, I think the heavy armors limit it too much, but that might skew the game too much in favor of heavily armored folks after the changes we’ve made, plus, if it’s not truly broken in some way, shy fix it?We also use rules that use the fatigued & exhausted core conditions as a result of strenuous physical & mental activity.  However, our also inflict 1/2 the standard penalty on Int & Wis as well.  If you’ve ever been truly exhausted, you know that your logic & common sense don’t work so well at that point either.  The more encumbered you are, the faster you wear out.  Lightly armored folks won’t get as tired as quickly.We also use a mechanic called Hardened AC.  This determines how bad the secondary effects of a critical hit are in addition to the standard extra damage you take.  It works similarly to Torn Asunder’s rules if you’ve ever seen them, but instead of using a generic increment of 5, the increment is your HAC.  (Basically your flatfooted AC - 10.)  Admittedly, a function of DR would have been better due to the distinction I made above, but even armor w/o DR should provide some protection from critical hits both realistically & for enjoyment purposes so lightly armored folks don’t get absolutely brutalized.  Plus, then we would have had to add another stat to armor.  Why not use something that’s already there?So far it’s all working quite well.  Yes, it’s a bit more complex & takes an extra 5 minutes per combat encounter, but being that we are higher mammals with math skills, we may as well use them for something.</blockquote>

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