Armor in Runequest
- Thread starter Utgardloki
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AlphaStrike
Mongoose
I'm a couple of sessions into GMing a new RQ campaign and - having acquired enough money to buy a suit of leather armour - an experienced (25+ years) player's first reaction to the rules for armour was was 'it's fairly pointless then'.
He felt that losing 8% from all sorts of skills - specifically weapon skills - in exchange for 1 point of armour was a poor exchange. Maybe as the PCs advance and skills get higher, 8% won't seem especially significant, but by then he might be wearing chainmail, with an even higher penalty, and so on.
It's got to be either an Armour skill - starting at 1% - where the rating is taken away from the armour penalty, or no penalty in combat.
He felt that losing 8% from all sorts of skills - specifically weapon skills - in exchange for 1 point of armour was a poor exchange. Maybe as the PCs advance and skills get higher, 8% won't seem especially significant, but by then he might be wearing chainmail, with an even higher penalty, and so on.
It's got to be either an Armour skill - starting at 1% - where the rating is taken away from the armour penalty, or no penalty in combat.
AlphaStrike
Mongoose
Just to clarify - by combat, I mean weapon skills, not dodge. Obviously that is harder in armour.
I was talking this over with one of my gaming buddies (who is the other GM in our group, and a LONG TIME RuneQuester; while I started with RQ3, he started with RQ1), and we're going to give the Armor skill a shot.
For the purposes of initial purchase and improvement it will be like any other skill, however, it will not be rolled. Whatever skill level your character possesses in the Armor will simply offset the skill penalty assessed by the armor worn.
This creates an interesting tradeoff; should you put a bunch of points into the Armor skill so you can wear armor without penalty, or should you put those points into other skills? Should you put only 20 points into it to cover heavy leather and improve the skill later should you get a suit of plate, knowing that there will be a time you'll get penalized for not having a high enough Armor skill?
We discussed other uses for it... is your enemy making a precise shot to avoid armor? Instead of dodging or parrying, use your Armor skill to offset the precise shot in some way (haven't fully fleshed that out, yet).
But we think it's going to be a cool addition. I'll be using it next Thursday and he'll be using it tonight so I'll let you know (although he's brought forth all his RQ house rules, so tonight's game won't be a decent and complete test; for instance, in his MRQ armor is rated in a number of dice you roll with the total indicating damage blocked instead of a fixed number.)
For the purposes of initial purchase and improvement it will be like any other skill, however, it will not be rolled. Whatever skill level your character possesses in the Armor will simply offset the skill penalty assessed by the armor worn.
This creates an interesting tradeoff; should you put a bunch of points into the Armor skill so you can wear armor without penalty, or should you put those points into other skills? Should you put only 20 points into it to cover heavy leather and improve the skill later should you get a suit of plate, knowing that there will be a time you'll get penalized for not having a high enough Armor skill?
We discussed other uses for it... is your enemy making a precise shot to avoid armor? Instead of dodging or parrying, use your Armor skill to offset the precise shot in some way (haven't fully fleshed that out, yet).
But we think it's going to be a cool addition. I'll be using it next Thursday and he'll be using it tonight so I'll let you know (although he's brought forth all his RQ house rules, so tonight's game won't be a decent and complete test; for instance, in his MRQ armor is rated in a number of dice you roll with the total indicating damage blocked instead of a fixed number.)
iamtim said:
A couple of ideas:
Excess armor skill points (above what the character needs to offset armor penalties) are subtracted from enemies chances of making a precise attack. This would be like Defense in RQ1/2, and IMO it was a pain to deal with.
Allow the character to roll against their excess armor to take the blow on their armor rather than letting it bypass. I'd even consider this for moving the blow one location, so that it lands on heavier armor or an uninjured location. This would require an extra die roll.
If you try either, let us know. My instinct is to not bother in either case, and just let armor skill offset penalties.
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