Armor actually stopping damage?

[ZzaphodD]

Has anyone used or seen a system where armor actually stopped the damage and was not just a bonus to the characters STR?

The idea came from when I read this looking for amor variants as equipment: "Armor was a protective covering worn mainly by militants. Some examples of armor are Mandalorian armor, Sith battle armor, and light battle suits. Most armor would stop a standard blaster bolt, although only advanced, heavy battle armor could withstand a heavy cannon bolt. Specialized weapons (called disruptors) could punch through armor. "
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Armor

By the description it does not seem to include blast vests and the like, but seems to mean Bounty Hunter armor and similar armors.

A 'standard' blaster bolt I assume to be at least a Blaster Pistol at 4D damage. So a 'standard' Bounty Hunter Armor should then have a 4D armor rating?

A couple of ideas I have...
I was thinking of rolling the 'Armor Dice' in a different color at the same time you roll STR. If the result of the Damage Dice is higher than the Armor Dice the attack penetrates. Resisting damage is then done through STR Dice plus Half the result of the Armor Dice. This way theres no additional dice rolling.

Another idea is to keep the basic mechanics as is, just roll Armor Dice in a separate colour. If the total Damage is not higher than Armor Dice x2 the weapon does not penetrate the armor. If Armor Dice is below this, work things out as per the original rules.
This would mean increasing Bonty Hunter armor protective rating to 2D though (which is not a problem in itself). Just bump up the price and make it a bit more exclusive (which I tend to do anyway).

[atgxtg]

The Legend d6 system (Herc& Xena) did use an armor point system, but it also used wound points instead of STR rolls. It also had a nice feature in that the margin of success for an attack added to the damage.


Considering that in Star Wars, armor dice are added to STR, you might just assume an average person has 2D STR and that something that would stop a 4D blaster bolt is +2D.

Or,
You could treat armor as cover. Give it a STR rating and use cover table to determine how much damage gets through the armor. You'd probably want to up most armors 2D or so to account for the lost STR dice.
The drawback to this would be that it would add another roll to the combat system, but it would work.

Yet another method (used in a d6 related system, EABA) would be to have armor dice subtract from the damage dice before rolling. So a blast vest worth +1D would take one die off the damage of a blaster (pistol would do 3D, rifle 4D, and so on).

[ZzaphodD]

[Raven Redstar]

Cyberpunk and Shadowrun if I'm not mistaken reduce damage taken, and certain weaponry if it hits certain armors, is nulled.

[bobenhotep]

armor subtracting die from damage would be the easiest mechanics wise.

how does everyone do armor, do they use hit locations? if so i have a hit location method that i used in sw and cyberpunk, exactly the same way in both systems...statistical hit probabilities are in brackets next to hit locations []

roll 2d

2-head [1 in 36]
3-lower left leg[2 in 36]
4- left arm[3 in 36]
5-upper left leg [4 in 36]
6,7,8-torso [16 in 36]
9-upper right leg [4 in 36]
10- right arm [3 in 36]
11-lower right leg [2 in 36]
12-equipment hit (normally what is in the character's hands) [ 1 in 36]
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D&D 5e DM and WEG Star Wars GM for two kids who will hopefully carry on with RPGs for years to come

The Chijawa said so, that's why.

[Ankhanu]

I'm not sure I understand what the issues with the standard armour roll is, really... Doesn't taking no damage indicate that the hit doesn't penetrate? Doesn't the increase in soak dice represent the protection that the armour provides?

[jmanski]

That's why I like the armor ratings the way they are. Remember that armor is right against you- not held out away like a shield. While an attack may not penetrate the armor it can still damage you with the force of the blow.

I don't think you can really make armor more realistic. IMHO it is realistic as it is.

This is all opinion and such, of course. If you want to change it, do so, but you need to report back after game testing (if it works better for you, it most certainly will for others).
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Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

[garhkal]

I am with Jmanski.
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[ZzaphodD]

[Grimace]

Well, I tend to agree with the others that anything that you come up with to encompass this is basically equating to the same effect as what currently exists.

As an alternative, albiet with the same base effects, you could do the following.

When it, roll damage vs. armor rating only. If Armor is greater than damage, no effect on target. If Damage is greater than armor, take the amount the damage is greater than and carry over that number against the Resistance roll of the character. (example: Character with 3D body and 2D armor gets hit with 5D damage. Damage roll is 14. Armor of 2D is rolled and result is 8. Since damage is greater than the armor, the damage will get through, but only the difference. So 6 damage get's through hitting the person. Now the character rolls 3D to resist 6 damage. Roll of resistance is 13, so no damage is done to the person.


That's one way. It adds yet another roll in to give the feel of armor being seperate, but it basically works the same way as rolling the armor and body together.

Another way is to convert the armor ratings to a static number. So 2D armor is converted to a static value. Put it high, like at 12 to start. So it's assumed that the armor resists at a 12 automatically. If the damage exceeds the resistance of the armor, then the character has to roll against the amount the damage exceeded the armor...just like in the above example. Additionally, the armor is "degraded" by being penetrated, so it's rating drops a point. So instead of 12 it's now 11. If the damage doesn't penetrate, the armor rating stays at 12 and there's no effect on the character.

This has the effect of possibly eliminating a roll. If the damage isn't enough to exceed the armor points, there's no need for the character to roll to resist the damage.

Hopefully that gives you something like what you're looking for.

[bobenhotep]

grimace's post sounds like how cyberpunk handles armor. BEWARE if you make armor too powerful, you will end up with Kevlar monsters wandering around...
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D&D 5e DM and WEG Star Wars GM for two kids who will hopefully carry on with RPGs for years to come

The Chijawa said so, that's why.

[atgxtg]