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Trading AC for DR in 5e
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<blockquote data-quote="fewilcox" data-source="post: 6594921" data-attributes="member: 6794151"><p>Before I can answer that, you need a bit of history, both mine and the roleplaying industry's.</p><p></p><p>Our very first roleplaying purchase was <em>GURPS Basic Set 3e</em>, but the first game we ever actually played was HackMaster 4e, which was in '04 or early '05 so we had started a collection of GURPS 4e books.</p><p></p><p>In GURPS armor (from a bear's hide to a tank's ablative plates to a starship's force field) gives DR (Damage Resistance) X, subtracting X from the damage of incoming attacks. But as it thankfully lacks an AC equivalent, it's hard to make a comparison.</p><p></p><p>(For the curious: GURPS is built around skills. A ranger tries to roll 3d6 under his Bow skill (generally 14-16 for a starting adventurer) to kill his supper. If his roll succeeds and the prey wasn't caught completely unaware, it gets to make a Dodge roll (8 for an average human) to try and avoid the hit. A deer's hide is DR 1, so the GM will subtract 1 point from the ranger's damage before applying it to the deer.)</p><p></p><p>HackMaster 5e, on the other hand, does exactly what your player is asking. GURPS is our go-to system so it's the one I know best and the one I think in and compare everything else to, but my current campaign is HM5e so I think I can be of help.</p><p></p><p>If you've played AD&D 2e and any sort of point-buy system (like GURPS), then HackMaster 4e will be familiar. It is basically D&D 2.5 merged with a point-buy game. Since it is at heart an evolution of AD&D it uses the standard d20 vs AC, but of course had good ole THAC0 (which I was delighted to find the D&D 5e PHB's index).</p><p></p><p>For 5e Dave Kenzer and friends decided to try and keep the same feel as HM4e and the old school D&D that spawned it, but with completely modern mechanics, including armor that lowers defense but provides DR. It once again lacks a direct AC equivalent, though. Instead of boring, old static target numbers, most non-damage rolls are opposed, with both players rolling 1d100 for skills or 1d20 for everything else plus mods. In combat the defender wins any ties, and can even critically defend, earning a free, immediate counterattack. (It also works in the last two editions of D&D since post-THAC0 AC is basically a Take 10 defense roll.)</p><p></p><p>Since it is still d20-based its armor table may be of use to you even though it lacks fixed target numbers. You can get the rules, pre-gens, adventures, and everything else you might need for free on the Kenzer & Co website, except the chargen rules. The rules come in the free PDF <em>HackMaster Basic</em> and include the armor table, but here are the bits vital to this discussion (plus a few more armors that were previewed before the PHB released):</p><p></p><p>(NOTE: Since HM5e uses second-by-second combat instead of rounds, lower Initiative is better.)</p><p></p><p> [TABLE="class: grid"] [TR] [th]Armor[/th] [th]DR[/th] [th]Defense[/th] [th]Init[/th] [th]Category[/th] [/TR] [TR] [TD]None[/TD] [TD]0[/TD] [TD]0[/TD] [TD]-1[/TD] [TD]None[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Thick Robes[/TD] [TD]1[/TD] [TD]-1[/TD] [TD]0[/TD] [TD]None[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Leather[/TD] [TD]2[/TD] [TD]-2[/TD] [TD]0[/TD] [TD]Light[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Padded[/TD] [TD]2[/TD] [TD]-3[/TD] [TD]+1[/TD] [TD]Light[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Studded Leather[/TD] [TD]3[/TD] [TD]-3[/TD] [TD]+1[/TD] [TD]Medium[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Ringmail[/TD] [TD]4[/TD] [TD]-4[/TD] [TD]+1[/TD] [TD]Medium[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Banded[/TD] [TD]6[/TD] [TD]-4[/TD] [TD]+2[/TD] [TD]Medium[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Chain Armor[/TD] [TD]5[/TD] [TD]-5[/TD] [TD]+2[/TD] [TD]Heavy[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Scale[/TD] [TD]5[/TD] [TD]-6[/TD] [TD]+3[/TD] [TD]Heavy[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Splint[/TD] [TD]6[/TD] [TD]-5[/TD] [TD]+2[/TD] [TD]Heavy[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Plate[/TD] [TD]7[/TD] [TD]-5[/TD] [TD]+2[/TD] [TD]Heavy[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]</p><p></p><p>Hopefully you can make something out of that.</p><p></p><p>It just occurred to me that I never specifically said that I am in full support of armor providing DR. It's how it is handled in my two favorite systems so it's what I'm used to and has become my preference.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="fewilcox, post: 6594921, member: 6794151"] Before I can answer that, you need a bit of history, both mine and the roleplaying industry's. Our very first roleplaying purchase was [I]GURPS Basic Set 3e[/I], but the first game we ever actually played was HackMaster 4e, which was in '04 or early '05 so we had started a collection of GURPS 4e books. In GURPS armor (from a bear's hide to a tank's ablative plates to a starship's force field) gives DR (Damage Resistance) X, subtracting X from the damage of incoming attacks. But as it thankfully lacks an AC equivalent, it's hard to make a comparison. (For the curious: GURPS is built around skills. A ranger tries to roll 3d6 under his Bow skill (generally 14-16 for a starting adventurer) to kill his supper. If his roll succeeds and the prey wasn't caught completely unaware, it gets to make a Dodge roll (8 for an average human) to try and avoid the hit. A deer's hide is DR 1, so the GM will subtract 1 point from the ranger's damage before applying it to the deer.) HackMaster 5e, on the other hand, does exactly what your player is asking. GURPS is our go-to system so it's the one I know best and the one I think in and compare everything else to, but my current campaign is HM5e so I think I can be of help. If you've played AD&D 2e and any sort of point-buy system (like GURPS), then HackMaster 4e will be familiar. It is basically D&D 2.5 merged with a point-buy game. Since it is at heart an evolution of AD&D it uses the standard d20 vs AC, but of course had good ole THAC0 (which I was delighted to find the D&D 5e PHB's index). For 5e Dave Kenzer and friends decided to try and keep the same feel as HM4e and the old school D&D that spawned it, but with completely modern mechanics, including armor that lowers defense but provides DR. It once again lacks a direct AC equivalent, though. Instead of boring, old static target numbers, most non-damage rolls are opposed, with both players rolling 1d100 for skills or 1d20 for everything else plus mods. In combat the defender wins any ties, and can even critically defend, earning a free, immediate counterattack. (It also works in the last two editions of D&D since post-THAC0 AC is basically a Take 10 defense roll.) Since it is still d20-based its armor table may be of use to you even though it lacks fixed target numbers. You can get the rules, pre-gens, adventures, and everything else you might need for free on the Kenzer & Co website, except the chargen rules. The rules come in the free PDF [I]HackMaster Basic[/I] and include the armor table, but here are the bits vital to this discussion (plus a few more armors that were previewed before the PHB released): (NOTE: Since HM5e uses second-by-second combat instead of rounds, lower Initiative is better.) [TABLE="class: grid"] [TR] [th]Armor[/th] [th]DR[/th] [th]Defense[/th] [th]Init[/th] [th]Category[/th] [/TR] [TR] [TD]None[/TD] [TD]0[/TD] [TD]0[/TD] [TD]-1[/TD] [TD]None[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Thick Robes[/TD] [TD]1[/TD] [TD]-1[/TD] [TD]0[/TD] [TD]None[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Leather[/TD] [TD]2[/TD] [TD]-2[/TD] [TD]0[/TD] [TD]Light[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Padded[/TD] [TD]2[/TD] [TD]-3[/TD] [TD]+1[/TD] [TD]Light[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Studded Leather[/TD] [TD]3[/TD] [TD]-3[/TD] [TD]+1[/TD] [TD]Medium[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Ringmail[/TD] [TD]4[/TD] [TD]-4[/TD] [TD]+1[/TD] [TD]Medium[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Banded[/TD] [TD]6[/TD] [TD]-4[/TD] [TD]+2[/TD] [TD]Medium[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Chain Armor[/TD] [TD]5[/TD] [TD]-5[/TD] [TD]+2[/TD] [TD]Heavy[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Scale[/TD] [TD]5[/TD] [TD]-6[/TD] [TD]+3[/TD] [TD]Heavy[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Splint[/TD] [TD]6[/TD] [TD]-5[/TD] [TD]+2[/TD] [TD]Heavy[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [TD]Plate[/TD] [TD]7[/TD] [TD]-5[/TD] [TD]+2[/TD] [TD]Heavy[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Hopefully you can make something out of that. It just occurred to me that I never specifically said that I am in full support of armor providing DR. It's how it is handled in my two favorite systems so it's what I'm used to and has become my preference. [/QUOTE]
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