My armour house rules

[S'mon]

Played a little, made some rules changes to armour I think work better:

1. Helmets add to a character's Shield DV bonus (Dodge vs missile, Parry vs melee) rather than to their Damage Reduction.

2. Leather armour is overly good in the book, compared to metal. I've split it into Heavy (Cuirass) and Light (Vest).

Heavy Leather costs 10 sp & gives DR 4, as per the book. It weighs 10lb and gives a -2 Armour Check penalty (book gives -1 Check & 10 lbs). Max Dex +4.

Light Leather costs 8 sp and gives DR 2. It weighs 5lb and gives -1 Check penalty. Max Dex +6.

3. Padded armour is DR 3, it has a -1 Check penalty (book says 0). Thinking of reducing its cost, it seems overpriced at 45sp. Probably make it 15sp. Max Dex +7.

4. Variant on my existing D&D rule for armour-piercing arrows applies - basically AP is +1 per -1 to pip on damage die - eg a bossonian longbow does d12 AP 5 with a sheaf arrow, with a bodkin arrow AP+2 it does d10 damage AP 7, with AP +4 it does d8 damage AP 9, AP +6 does d6 damage AP 11, theoretically enough to pierce plate armour within 160', however the armour would still be DR 5, so mighty bows are always handy!

5. Heavy reduces speed to 20'. Medium armour still 25', same as in book.

 

[Iron_Chef]

These seem like quick and easy fixes. I like 'em, except Quilted is supposed to be more expensive and have no armor check penalty because it is for thieves and assassins.

 

[S'mon]

These seem like quick and easy fixes. I like 'em, except Quilted is supposed to be more expensive and have no armor check penalty because it is for thieves and assassins.

Well, no - in the stories quilted armour is worn by the Argossean sailors in Queen of the Black Coast, and donned only immediately before battle. Hyborean thieves don't wear armour - eg Arenjun thieves decribed as wearing only a red loincloth. I don't think any armour in Conan should have no check penalty.

 

[Iron_Chef]

I stand corrected.

 

[Speaker-to-Dreamworlds]

Played a little, made some rules changes to armour I think work better:

1. Helmets add to a character's Shield DV bonus (Dodge vs missile, Parry vs melee) rather than to their Damage Reduction.

You see that? You know what that is? That's freaking brilliant, that's what that is!

Why didn't I think of that?

Hmm. Off to plot.

 

[S'mon]

Played a little, made some rules changes to armour I think work better:

1. Helmets add to a character's Shield DV bonus (Dodge vs missile, Parry vs melee) rather than to their Damage Reduction.

You see that? You know what that is? That's freaking brilliant, that's what that is!

Why didn't I think of that?

Hmm. Off to plot.

Cheers.

Historically, shield + helmet is quite a popular combination because the shield protects the torso, but leaves head unprotected, so I always felt they should stack well together. Whereas wearing a helm isn't going to make your platemail any thicker than it was already (increase DR). Traditional D&D AC system makes shields little use to an unarmoured character (eg AC 11 > AC 12 or 13) but great for a heavily armoured character (eg AC 18 > 20) which can make the difference between foe hitting on '18' or on a '20'; the opposite of historical truth - as armour got better, shields fell into disuse because it took specialised 2-handed weapons like lucern hammers to punch through it.

 

[Speaker-to-Dreamworlds]

Yup. Also, of course, because the weapons you needed to wield to punch through the other guy's armor started to need two hands to wield. It's not a big help to be invulnerable if you can't hurt the other guy either. :wink:

By the way: if you haven't seen it, over in Iron_Chef's New Weapons thread I've derived the stats for a bec-de-corbin. It seems that it's either AP 14 or AP 11, depending on how I shift the stats for the pollaxe. Which would you pick?

 

[S'mon]

Yup. Also, of course, because the weapons you needed to wield to punch through the other guy's armor started to need two hands to wield. It's not a big help to be invulnerable if you can't hurt the other guy either. :wink:

By the way: if you haven't seen it, over in Iron_Chef's New Weapons thread I've derived the stats for a bec-de-corbin. It seems that it's either AP 14 or AP 11, depending on how I shift the stats for the pollaxe. Which would you pick?

Well, with my Helmet rule there's no need for AP over 11, so 11 seems fine.
BTW I have a D&D house rule that weapons wielded 2-handed always do at least +1 dmg over 1-handed use, unless the wielder has a STR penalty and needs 2 hands just to wield the weapon (eg goblin with morningstar). So a STR 10 wielder with greatsword does 2d6+1 dmg IMC, STR 12 2d6+2, etc. I think I'll use that for AP also, ie 2-handed use is always at least +1 to AP. So if a weapon's base AP is 9, 2-handed use gives minimum AP 10 (STR 10-11). YMMV.

 

[GhostWolf69]

BTW I have a D&D house rule that weapons wielded 2-handed always do at least +1 dmg over 1-handed use, unless the wielder has a STR penalty and needs 2 hands just to wield the weapon (eg goblin with morningstar). So a STR 10 wielder with greatsword does 2d6+1 dmg IMC, STR 12 2d6+2, etc.

That was acctually a good house rule.... *smacks forhead* Why didn't I think of that?

/wolf

 

[Speaker-to-Dreamworlds]

That was always my rule as well: wielding two-handed gives you a STR bonus of +1 if yours is 0 or reduces a penalty by one if you have one. Never made sense to me any other way, really.

 

[Shonuff]

I've read on a number of threads about DR making some characters too tough. Especially when facing off against hordes of picts with hatchets, knives, and spears. Or - when characters face full plated knights and armored warhorses.

Has the 1 point of damage minimum rule helped people here? From the book, I believe that's official and has not been reversed.

Tinkering here: Building on this, has anyone ever thought how a house rule that allowed all blows that were absorbed by armor to do half damage (minimum 1)? Sort of keeping with the idea that hard blows, although not piercing armor - can still wear you down.

Another thought - What if missile weapons did 1 regular HP damage (allowing a hail of arrows to eventually find their way through the cracks of the armor) and melee weapons resulted in 1/2 damage that was non-lethal (allowing warriors to be battered unconscious)? I remember both of these happening in REH's Hour of the Dragon. -- Just wondering.

I also thought that when someone spends a Fate Point for a massive blow, that weapon should do maximum critical hit damage - since that truly is a massive blow. And I also don't think the weapon should break so often. You know - what if I gave a guy a massive blow to the jaw with my fist? (Conan did this often and his hand did not break )?
Tinker hat off . . .


Now - was the problem in the battles mentioned above more the DR or was it a lack of tactics?

It also looks by the book as if a Pict's primitive weapons (hatchet, knife) are 1.not finesse weapons and 2.will break if the DR reduces the dmg to 0 (p141).

Are Picts in your games breaking weapons this often?