Armor

It is obvious that no matter how tough you are, it's not always enough to protect you from the dangers of the world. That is why armor is important. Armors fall into many categories and styles. Some can be light as a feather, others heavier than steel. Of course, a light armor allows for more mobility while a heavier armor restricts your movement quite a lot. But it does not stop there. After all, even thick normal clothes count as a sort of armor but allow you to walk around while wearing them. Meanwhile a full plate armor might raise some eyebrows of the authorities.

Armors fall into three size categories: light armor, medium armor and heavy armor. Each has distinctive advantages and disadvantages, meaning that depending of your choice in armor, your fighting style might change dramatically. Here we go over what each size category of armor means and what they are good at, and what are their problems.

• Light Armor cost 5 AP and is best for those who trust their speed more than their toughness. It gives +2 to your physical defense score. A kevlar shirt or a light ringmail under your everyday clothes might count as a light armor.
• Medium Armor cost 10 AP and is the in-between of armors. Not too heavy but not too light. It gives +4 to your physical defense score. A tough leather jacket with armor plating or a kozane armor might count as a medium armor.
• Heavy Armor cost 20 AP and is the ultimate choice in defense, protecting the wearer from dangers of the world. It gives +6 to your physical defense score. A riot suit or a full plate mail might count as a heavy armor.

The following list includes the Weak/Base/Strong defense bonuses as granted by your armor type, which defines what weapons they are good against:

• Light Armor
  • If your Armor Type is Weak towards the weapon damage, it does not gain a bonus.
  • If your Armor Type is Base towards the weapon damage, it gains +1 defense bonus.
  • If you Armor Type is Strong towards the weapon damage, it gains +2 defense bonus.
• Medium Armor
  • If your Armor Type is Weak towards the weapon damage, it does not gain a bonus.
  • If your Armor Type is Base towards the weapon damage, it gains +2 defense bonus.
  • If you Armor Type is Strong towards the weapon damage, it gains +4 defense bonus.
• Heavy Armor
  • If your Armor Type is Weak towards the weapon damage, it does not gain a bonus.
  • If your Armor Type is Base towards the weapon damage, it gains +3 defense bonus.
  • If you Armor Type is Strong towards the weapon damage, it gains +6 defense bonus.

If you have a Supernatural Unarmored Defense, it has the same bonuses as a Light Armor would have.

As with weapons, armors are also counted as either modern or classical. This means that they are either products of the current world, or heirlooms and relics of the past given new purpose. Each type of armor has its own purpose and can be Weak, Base or Strong versus a certain type of weaponry – with the actual numerical effects of these decided by the Weight Class of your armor, as described above. Being unarmored means you do not count as any, and take full damage as if you were Weak versus the weapon used to strike you. There's also the third supernatural category of armors, but it is not available for normal armors.

• Modern Armor is things like protective clothing or gear utilized by military and police. By wearing one you transform your physical defense score to be modern physical defense score. Modern Armor count as Weak versus Supernatural Weaponry, Base versus Modern Weaponry and Strong versus Classical Weaponry. They include things such as kevlar armor, hazard suits, riot shields, tactical vests and so forth.
• Classical Armor is things like a cambeson or a scale mail armor utilized by warriors and people of days gone by. By wearing one you transform your physical defense score to be classical physical defense score. Classical Armor count as Weak versus Modern Weaponry, Base versus Classical Weaponry and Strong versus Supernatural Weaponry. They include things such as plate mails, ring mails, ō-yoroi, tower shields, leather armors and so forth.
• Supernatural Armor is things like thick hide or bone plates utilized by monsters of the turnside. By wearing one you transform your physical defense score to be supernatural defense score. Supernatural Armor count as Weak versus Classical Weaponry, Base versus Supernatural Weaponry and Strong versus Modern Weaponry. They include things such as rock-like skin, protective spells, intangible form, barbed hide, magical armor and so forth.

Your armor category can change depending on what you wear. For example, if you would normally have a Supernatural Type of armor because of your paranormal nature, it would change to Modern if you were to don such armor.

Then there is also the matter of shields. A shield is part of your armor set, which means it takes after them, being either modern or classical. A shield adds bonus to your physical defense score depending on its weight class, as long as you are wearing it. It also adds a “Block Chance”, which is a flat percentage deduction to attacks made against you by the enemy which require an attack roll. However, utilizing shield means that you have only one hand free. This means that GM might rule some weapons unfeasible to use with only one hand, case-by-case basis.

• Light shield offers +1 physical defense bonus, gives 10% Block Chance and costs 5 AP. They are often small armaments, like parrying daggers or bucklers.
• Medium shield offers +1 physical defense bonus, gives 15% Block Chance and costs 10 AP. They are often moderate armaments, like riot shields and rondaches.
• Heavy shield offers +2 physical defense bonus, gives 20% Block Chance and costs 20 AP. They are often heavy armaments, like ballistic shields and scutums.