Speaker-to-Dreamworlds
Mongoose
Armor:
There are two basic kinds of armor, each of which has several subdivisions, depending on how the armor is made and what it is made of.
Flexible Armor
This armor is the easiest to move in, the easiest to wear and has the best coverage, but sacrifices protective power. It does well against slashing or raking attacks, and has tolerable protection versus chopping or impaling attacks, but suffers versus impact or crushing attacks, due to the armor's flexibility.
Types of flexible armor.
Fabric: any tough or stiffened fabric type material can be used as at least minimal armor. Modern "bullet-proof" armors are of this type, for instance. The mechanical effects of fabric armor are entirely dependant on what it is made of. It generally comprises the lightest and least confining, but at the same time least protective armor. Fabric can provide "complete" coverage, if desired.
Fabric can be reinforced or stiffened by varius means to provide extra protection.
Fabric can be formed into almost any kind of covering, depending on its characteristics.
Mail (or "maille"): The classic medevial armor, maille is made of tough and strong (i.e. non-flexible) material that is formed into rings which are then interlinked with each other to form a type of "metal fabric". It is almost as flexible as cloth or leather (though obviously much heavier), but lacks impact protection and for that reason is almost always worn over padding of some type. Like fabric, maille can provide "complete" coverage, if desired. Mail is almost as protective as hardened plate versus "slashing" type attacks, and reasonably protective vesrus "chopping" type attacks, but "piercing" attacks have a tendancy to spread the individual rings of which the maille is composed (severely hampering resistance), and maille has almost no resistance to crushing impacts.
Maille can be made in several ways, to varying effect. The "standard" "chainmail" is composed of mild steel wire rings of around 16 gauge, formed into ring-shaped links from 1/2" to 3/8" across, each ring linked to four others and the ends butted together. A shirt of maille of this type would weigh around 25 pounds.
In "flattened" mail, the armorer used heavier wire to form the links, and then hammered them into the resemblance of flatwashers, creating a much heavier, but also much more resistant weave. A mailshirt of this type would weigh around 45 pounds.
In "riveted" or "welded" mail, the armorer makes the rings slighlty longer, so that the ends overlap. He then beats the ends of each individual link together and welds them or rivets them into one piece. This adds little weight to the shirt, but greatly increases its resistance to piercing impacts, as the riveted links will not generally spread apart. Needless to say, it also greatly increases the time and effort expended on each piece of armor, and so the cost of the suit.
In "double" mail, the armorer links each individual link to more of its fellows than the usual four. This both creates a denser weave, and stiffens the weave slightly. Like "flattened" mail, "double" mail is much heavier than a standard suit.
In "hero's" mail, the armorer uses thinner wire to make much smaller links, creating an effect that has been called "liquid steel". A shirt of 17 gauge wire in 3/16" links would be almost impenetrable to a sword blow, but would weigh almost 35 pounds. This is, by far, the most expensive kind of maille.
The various kinds of maille can be "stacked" assuming you can find an armorer who is willing to do so. So, you could have a hauberk of flattened, double welded hero's mail, assuming you were, y'know, batshit insane or something.
Maille can be formed into Shirts, protecting the torso, shoulders, waist and groin; Hauberks, protecting the torso, shoulders, upper and usually lower arms, waist, groin and upper legs; Leggings, protecting the legs, but not usually the feet or groin; Sleeves, protecting the arms; Gloves (or rather mittens) protecting the hands; Mantles (called "bishop's mantles"), protecting the shoulders and upper chest; and Coifs, protecting the head and neck.
Lamellar: also called, in various forms, "scalemail" and "brigandine", Lamellar armor consists of small plates of tough material (generally metal) called "lamelles" or "scales", depending on their shape. Theses plates may either be sewed to an underlayer of tough fabric, sewed into pockets _inside_ the actual garment (both the medevial armor called "brigandine" and modern "bulletproof" vest's "ballistic inserts" work in this way), or even connected to each other in a semi-flexible "fabric" (some of the best Japanese armor works like this).
Lamellar varies in protective ability depending on how large the lamelles are and how much they overlap each other. Unfortunately, lamellar's flexiblity, comfort, and weight vary inversely with exactly the same factors. Lamellar resists chopping and slashing blows quite well. It is also fairly resistant to piercing impact, and, depending on how it is made, to crushing impact. On the down side, lamellar that is poorly overlapped can suffer from blades or points "skidding" off of one layer and coming up _under_ the layer above it, therby compromising protection. The individual lamelles are also vulnerable to being torn away from the rest of the suit, sometimes in large sections. For this reason, lamellar is also highly maintenance-intensive. The better varieties are also quite heavy: often heavier than the same suit in pure plate armor would be.
Lamellar can be formed into: Corselets, protecting the torso, shoulders and waist; Hauberks, protecting the torso, shoulders, upper arms, waist and upper legs. Additional protection is generally provided by plate greaves, vambraces, pauldrons, helmets and suchlike. It should also be noted that the more protective types of lamellar are also much stiffer, and thereby, of necessity, leave greater gaps in coverage around joints and the edges of major pieces in a suit.
Plate (or "nonflexible") Armor
This armor has the greatest resistance to all types of damage, but is also the least flexible and requires the greatest expertise to forge properly. Also, because plate armor does not, of itself, bend, joints and the interconnections between plates must either be covered by expensive and difficult to produce, don and maintain jointed plates, be covered by some type of Flexible armor (generally maille), or left uncovered.
Solid Plate: Made of single pieces of solid metal (usually) plate, this is the toughest and most resistant type of armor available. It is also frequently lighter than other types of armor offering similar protection, because the unjointed plate requires less material for a given area of protection than the often overlapping bands or rings required by other styles. 15th and 16th century "plate-of-proof" could withstand the impact of a .60 caliber musket at short range, and were more or less invulnerable to most types of hand weapons: maces and thick-bladed axes could sometimes penetrate, and spiked warhammers were still dangerous, but the most common end for a fully plate-armored warrior was to be knocked down and stunned by a massive blow from a mace or halberd, and then to take a dagger through an eyeslot. It should be noted that there can be no such thing as a "full suit" of solid plate, as such a suit of armor would be completely inflexible. Even the best plate, then, must resort to jointed or banded reinforcement on the outsides of joints (such as the neck, elbows, knees, hands and feet, and to mail re-inforcement on the inner parts of the elbow, knees and groin.
Jointed (or "segmented", or "banded") Plate: as mentioned above, all plate armors that attempt to cover an area that must move or slide must resort to segmented or jointed plates. Thus, this variety of armor solely refers to those suits that, like the Roman Lorica segmentat, use jointed plates over main protective areas, such as the torso, or the long bones of the arm or leg. This armor is both more expensive to make, and slighlty heavier than solid plate. It also takes longer to don, as the points or ties that hold the plates in alignment must be adjusted. It does, however, provide greater flexibility and comfort, which is important in some uses.
Plate armor, of all types, can be formed into: Breastplates, protecting the front of the torso only; Corselets or Cuirasses, protecting the whole torso; Greaves, protecting part or all of the legs; Bracers, protecting part or all of the arms; Pauldrons, protecting the shoulders; Gorgets, protecting the neck; Bevors, protecting the neck and face; Gauntlets, protecting the hands; and Sollerets, protecting the feet. There are also a wide and varied list of small pieces (such as cuisses, tassets, cuishes and faulds, among many others) that fill specific and highly specialised roles. Plate is also the most common form of head protection in the form of Hlemets, of which there are many varieties and styles.
Mechanics: (first draft)
Armor has: Damage Reduction (DR), Coverage (CV), Max Dex Bonus (Max Dex), Armor Check Penalty (ACP), Hit Points (HP), Weight (wt), and Fatigue Penalty (Fat). It may also have a speed reduction. Usually, the weight of armor is considered "well distributed", and therefor only counts half-value for encumbrance purposes (if worn).
Almost all of these statistics are the same as in the Conan OGL RPG, with the exception that Coverage represents the amount by which the wearer's DV must be exceeded in a Finesse Attack to negate the armor's DR (see Finesse Attack); Arcane Spell Failure percentage, which is instead replaced by applying the armor's ACP to the sorcerer's Magic Attack roll; and the Fatigue Penalty, which adds to the wearers DC to avoid or reduce environment penalties for long term wear in difficult conditions (optional rule).
Armor comes in "suits", relating to the total area covered.
"One-Quarter" suits represent coverage of the limbs only, down to a saet of greaves and a guard on the weapon arm. 1/4 suits generally have a CV of 4.
"Cuirasses" represent coverage of the torso only. They may also be called "shirts", "corselets" or "breastplates" (front only). Cuirasses generally have a CV of 5.
"One-Half" suits represent coverage of the torso, waist and shoulders, plus sometimes the upper arms. Some "mail shirts" are of this type. 1/2 suits generally have a CV of 6.
"Three-Quarter" suits represent coverage of the torso, waist, upper and lower arms and at least part of the legs. This type may also be called a "hauberk". 3/4 suits generally have a CV of 8.
"Full" suits represent coverage of all major body areas, with at least some coverage for joints and cracks. Full suits generally have a CV of 10.
"Tough Fabric" suits have a DR of 3 or 4. A 1/2 suit weighs 5-10 pounds.
"Mail" suits have a DR of 6. A half suit weighs 25 pounds. Standard mail has an innate penalty of -3 to its DR vs. attacks of the Crushing or Piercing type, but has an innate bonus of +2 to its DR vs. Slashing attacks whose AP value does not exceed 6.
Light Lamellar suits have a DR of 5. They weigh 10-15 pounds for a half suit, and have an innate penalty of -2 to their DR vs. Crushing attacks.
Medium Lamellar suits have a DR of 6. A half suit weighs 30 pounds. Medium Lamellar has an innate penalty of -2 to its DR vs. Crushing attacks.
Heavy Lamellar suits have a DR of 7. A half suit weighs 40 pounds. Medium Lamellar has an innate penalty of -1 to its DR vs. Crushing attacks, but an innate bonus of +1 to its DR vs. Slashing attacks.
Lamellar in general takes a penalty of -1 to it's CV.
Segmented Plate suits have a DR of 9. A half suit weighs 20-25 pounds.
Solid Plate suits have a DR of 10. A half suit weighs 20 pounds.
Individual types of armor may be somewhat lighter or heavier, for a small penalty or gain to DR or CV.
Helmets have a ACP that affects Sense tests only, a Fat that stacks with the suit Fat, a bonus to CV that stacks with the suit CV, and a weight.
Steel helmets worn alone grant a DR of 9. Bronze grant a DR of 8. Leather grant DR 4. A stacked Great Helm would have a DR of 10, although what someone is doing wearing a stacked Great Helm and no other armor I don't know.
Half helmets cover the top of the head. They have a CV bonus of 1 and no ACP.
Three-Quarter helmets cover the top of the head and some of the sides, neck, and face. They have a CV bonus of +2 and an ACP of -1.
Full helmets cover the whole head, but have gaps. They have a CV bonus of +3 and an ACP of -3.
Close helmets cover most of the head and neck, with a visor that can be lowered to cover the face. Visor up they are CV+2, ACP-1. Visor down they are CV+4, ACP-3.
Great Helms Cover the whole head with silts for eyes and airholes for breathing. They can be stacked over a coif and steel cap for additional DR vs. called shots. They provide CV+4, ACP-5.
Half helms weigh about 3 pounds, 3/4 about 4, and full, close, and great helms about 5.
Shields add their Shield bonus to CV, even if their wearer is dodging the attack.
Finesse attacks are possible with any weapon that is not ungainly. They work as indicated in the Conan OGL ruleset, but must exceed the CV value of the target's armor to avoid its DR, instead of exceeding the DR directly. Those weapons which are currently marked as "finessable" are remarked as "precision". A "precision" weapon gains an equipment bonus of +2 on the attack roll to exceed the CV in a Finesse Attack only! All missile weapons are marked as "precision" within one range increment.
Full armor lists to follow, including the Conan types, plus others drawn from history.
There are two basic kinds of armor, each of which has several subdivisions, depending on how the armor is made and what it is made of.
Flexible Armor
This armor is the easiest to move in, the easiest to wear and has the best coverage, but sacrifices protective power. It does well against slashing or raking attacks, and has tolerable protection versus chopping or impaling attacks, but suffers versus impact or crushing attacks, due to the armor's flexibility.
Types of flexible armor.
Fabric: any tough or stiffened fabric type material can be used as at least minimal armor. Modern "bullet-proof" armors are of this type, for instance. The mechanical effects of fabric armor are entirely dependant on what it is made of. It generally comprises the lightest and least confining, but at the same time least protective armor. Fabric can provide "complete" coverage, if desired.
Fabric can be reinforced or stiffened by varius means to provide extra protection.
Fabric can be formed into almost any kind of covering, depending on its characteristics.
Mail (or "maille"): The classic medevial armor, maille is made of tough and strong (i.e. non-flexible) material that is formed into rings which are then interlinked with each other to form a type of "metal fabric". It is almost as flexible as cloth or leather (though obviously much heavier), but lacks impact protection and for that reason is almost always worn over padding of some type. Like fabric, maille can provide "complete" coverage, if desired. Mail is almost as protective as hardened plate versus "slashing" type attacks, and reasonably protective vesrus "chopping" type attacks, but "piercing" attacks have a tendancy to spread the individual rings of which the maille is composed (severely hampering resistance), and maille has almost no resistance to crushing impacts.
Maille can be made in several ways, to varying effect. The "standard" "chainmail" is composed of mild steel wire rings of around 16 gauge, formed into ring-shaped links from 1/2" to 3/8" across, each ring linked to four others and the ends butted together. A shirt of maille of this type would weigh around 25 pounds.
In "flattened" mail, the armorer used heavier wire to form the links, and then hammered them into the resemblance of flatwashers, creating a much heavier, but also much more resistant weave. A mailshirt of this type would weigh around 45 pounds.
In "riveted" or "welded" mail, the armorer makes the rings slighlty longer, so that the ends overlap. He then beats the ends of each individual link together and welds them or rivets them into one piece. This adds little weight to the shirt, but greatly increases its resistance to piercing impacts, as the riveted links will not generally spread apart. Needless to say, it also greatly increases the time and effort expended on each piece of armor, and so the cost of the suit.
In "double" mail, the armorer links each individual link to more of its fellows than the usual four. This both creates a denser weave, and stiffens the weave slightly. Like "flattened" mail, "double" mail is much heavier than a standard suit.
In "hero's" mail, the armorer uses thinner wire to make much smaller links, creating an effect that has been called "liquid steel". A shirt of 17 gauge wire in 3/16" links would be almost impenetrable to a sword blow, but would weigh almost 35 pounds. This is, by far, the most expensive kind of maille.
The various kinds of maille can be "stacked" assuming you can find an armorer who is willing to do so. So, you could have a hauberk of flattened, double welded hero's mail, assuming you were, y'know, batshit insane or something.
Maille can be formed into Shirts, protecting the torso, shoulders, waist and groin; Hauberks, protecting the torso, shoulders, upper and usually lower arms, waist, groin and upper legs; Leggings, protecting the legs, but not usually the feet or groin; Sleeves, protecting the arms; Gloves (or rather mittens) protecting the hands; Mantles (called "bishop's mantles"), protecting the shoulders and upper chest; and Coifs, protecting the head and neck.
Lamellar: also called, in various forms, "scalemail" and "brigandine", Lamellar armor consists of small plates of tough material (generally metal) called "lamelles" or "scales", depending on their shape. Theses plates may either be sewed to an underlayer of tough fabric, sewed into pockets _inside_ the actual garment (both the medevial armor called "brigandine" and modern "bulletproof" vest's "ballistic inserts" work in this way), or even connected to each other in a semi-flexible "fabric" (some of the best Japanese armor works like this).
Lamellar varies in protective ability depending on how large the lamelles are and how much they overlap each other. Unfortunately, lamellar's flexiblity, comfort, and weight vary inversely with exactly the same factors. Lamellar resists chopping and slashing blows quite well. It is also fairly resistant to piercing impact, and, depending on how it is made, to crushing impact. On the down side, lamellar that is poorly overlapped can suffer from blades or points "skidding" off of one layer and coming up _under_ the layer above it, therby compromising protection. The individual lamelles are also vulnerable to being torn away from the rest of the suit, sometimes in large sections. For this reason, lamellar is also highly maintenance-intensive. The better varieties are also quite heavy: often heavier than the same suit in pure plate armor would be.
Lamellar can be formed into: Corselets, protecting the torso, shoulders and waist; Hauberks, protecting the torso, shoulders, upper arms, waist and upper legs. Additional protection is generally provided by plate greaves, vambraces, pauldrons, helmets and suchlike. It should also be noted that the more protective types of lamellar are also much stiffer, and thereby, of necessity, leave greater gaps in coverage around joints and the edges of major pieces in a suit.
Plate (or "nonflexible") Armor
This armor has the greatest resistance to all types of damage, but is also the least flexible and requires the greatest expertise to forge properly. Also, because plate armor does not, of itself, bend, joints and the interconnections between plates must either be covered by expensive and difficult to produce, don and maintain jointed plates, be covered by some type of Flexible armor (generally maille), or left uncovered.
Solid Plate: Made of single pieces of solid metal (usually) plate, this is the toughest and most resistant type of armor available. It is also frequently lighter than other types of armor offering similar protection, because the unjointed plate requires less material for a given area of protection than the often overlapping bands or rings required by other styles. 15th and 16th century "plate-of-proof" could withstand the impact of a .60 caliber musket at short range, and were more or less invulnerable to most types of hand weapons: maces and thick-bladed axes could sometimes penetrate, and spiked warhammers were still dangerous, but the most common end for a fully plate-armored warrior was to be knocked down and stunned by a massive blow from a mace or halberd, and then to take a dagger through an eyeslot. It should be noted that there can be no such thing as a "full suit" of solid plate, as such a suit of armor would be completely inflexible. Even the best plate, then, must resort to jointed or banded reinforcement on the outsides of joints (such as the neck, elbows, knees, hands and feet, and to mail re-inforcement on the inner parts of the elbow, knees and groin.
Jointed (or "segmented", or "banded") Plate: as mentioned above, all plate armors that attempt to cover an area that must move or slide must resort to segmented or jointed plates. Thus, this variety of armor solely refers to those suits that, like the Roman Lorica segmentat, use jointed plates over main protective areas, such as the torso, or the long bones of the arm or leg. This armor is both more expensive to make, and slighlty heavier than solid plate. It also takes longer to don, as the points or ties that hold the plates in alignment must be adjusted. It does, however, provide greater flexibility and comfort, which is important in some uses.
Plate armor, of all types, can be formed into: Breastplates, protecting the front of the torso only; Corselets or Cuirasses, protecting the whole torso; Greaves, protecting part or all of the legs; Bracers, protecting part or all of the arms; Pauldrons, protecting the shoulders; Gorgets, protecting the neck; Bevors, protecting the neck and face; Gauntlets, protecting the hands; and Sollerets, protecting the feet. There are also a wide and varied list of small pieces (such as cuisses, tassets, cuishes and faulds, among many others) that fill specific and highly specialised roles. Plate is also the most common form of head protection in the form of Hlemets, of which there are many varieties and styles.
Mechanics: (first draft)
Armor has: Damage Reduction (DR), Coverage (CV), Max Dex Bonus (Max Dex), Armor Check Penalty (ACP), Hit Points (HP), Weight (wt), and Fatigue Penalty (Fat). It may also have a speed reduction. Usually, the weight of armor is considered "well distributed", and therefor only counts half-value for encumbrance purposes (if worn).
Almost all of these statistics are the same as in the Conan OGL RPG, with the exception that Coverage represents the amount by which the wearer's DV must be exceeded in a Finesse Attack to negate the armor's DR (see Finesse Attack); Arcane Spell Failure percentage, which is instead replaced by applying the armor's ACP to the sorcerer's Magic Attack roll; and the Fatigue Penalty, which adds to the wearers DC to avoid or reduce environment penalties for long term wear in difficult conditions (optional rule).
Armor comes in "suits", relating to the total area covered.
"One-Quarter" suits represent coverage of the limbs only, down to a saet of greaves and a guard on the weapon arm. 1/4 suits generally have a CV of 4.
"Cuirasses" represent coverage of the torso only. They may also be called "shirts", "corselets" or "breastplates" (front only). Cuirasses generally have a CV of 5.
"One-Half" suits represent coverage of the torso, waist and shoulders, plus sometimes the upper arms. Some "mail shirts" are of this type. 1/2 suits generally have a CV of 6.
"Three-Quarter" suits represent coverage of the torso, waist, upper and lower arms and at least part of the legs. This type may also be called a "hauberk". 3/4 suits generally have a CV of 8.
"Full" suits represent coverage of all major body areas, with at least some coverage for joints and cracks. Full suits generally have a CV of 10.
"Tough Fabric" suits have a DR of 3 or 4. A 1/2 suit weighs 5-10 pounds.
"Mail" suits have a DR of 6. A half suit weighs 25 pounds. Standard mail has an innate penalty of -3 to its DR vs. attacks of the Crushing or Piercing type, but has an innate bonus of +2 to its DR vs. Slashing attacks whose AP value does not exceed 6.
Light Lamellar suits have a DR of 5. They weigh 10-15 pounds for a half suit, and have an innate penalty of -2 to their DR vs. Crushing attacks.
Medium Lamellar suits have a DR of 6. A half suit weighs 30 pounds. Medium Lamellar has an innate penalty of -2 to its DR vs. Crushing attacks.
Heavy Lamellar suits have a DR of 7. A half suit weighs 40 pounds. Medium Lamellar has an innate penalty of -1 to its DR vs. Crushing attacks, but an innate bonus of +1 to its DR vs. Slashing attacks.
Lamellar in general takes a penalty of -1 to it's CV.
Segmented Plate suits have a DR of 9. A half suit weighs 20-25 pounds.
Solid Plate suits have a DR of 10. A half suit weighs 20 pounds.
Individual types of armor may be somewhat lighter or heavier, for a small penalty or gain to DR or CV.
Helmets have a ACP that affects Sense tests only, a Fat that stacks with the suit Fat, a bonus to CV that stacks with the suit CV, and a weight.
Steel helmets worn alone grant a DR of 9. Bronze grant a DR of 8. Leather grant DR 4. A stacked Great Helm would have a DR of 10, although what someone is doing wearing a stacked Great Helm and no other armor I don't know.
Half helmets cover the top of the head. They have a CV bonus of 1 and no ACP.
Three-Quarter helmets cover the top of the head and some of the sides, neck, and face. They have a CV bonus of +2 and an ACP of -1.
Full helmets cover the whole head, but have gaps. They have a CV bonus of +3 and an ACP of -3.
Close helmets cover most of the head and neck, with a visor that can be lowered to cover the face. Visor up they are CV+2, ACP-1. Visor down they are CV+4, ACP-3.
Great Helms Cover the whole head with silts for eyes and airholes for breathing. They can be stacked over a coif and steel cap for additional DR vs. called shots. They provide CV+4, ACP-5.
Half helms weigh about 3 pounds, 3/4 about 4, and full, close, and great helms about 5.
Shields add their Shield bonus to CV, even if their wearer is dodging the attack.
Finesse attacks are possible with any weapon that is not ungainly. They work as indicated in the Conan OGL ruleset, but must exceed the CV value of the target's armor to avoid its DR, instead of exceeding the DR directly. Those weapons which are currently marked as "finessable" are remarked as "precision". A "precision" weapon gains an equipment bonus of +2 on the attack roll to exceed the CV in a Finesse Attack only! All missile weapons are marked as "precision" within one range increment.
Full armor lists to follow, including the Conan types, plus others drawn from history.
