Armor
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Armor is very useful in combat. A single sword blow or bullet can incapacitate or kill you...but armor might give you a second chance. Your armor’s Damage Resistance, or DR, subtracts directly from the damage inflicted by your enemies' weapons. Armor requires no skill to use – you just wear it! (Exception: Certain TL7+ armor types require Environment Suit skill, and various advanced armor require Battlesuit and other skills.)
Effective armor is heavy, though. Its weight can hinder you (see Encumbrance and Move), reducing your Dodge – and also your Parry, if you use fencing weapons, Judo, or Karate. A swashbuckler who relies on agility to avoid injury might choose light or no armor! (As a guideline, your Dodge, Block, or Parry – and preferably two or all three of these – should be at least 12 if you plan to go unarmored.)
The best armor is expensive, too. You probably won't be able to afford it without lots of Wealth!
Armor is more important in some periods than in others. Before TL4, it's a lifesaver. Warriors who expect to go into battle should wear the heaviest armor they can afford. On the other hand, few fighters wear metal armor in a city or on the road: it's just too heavy and uncomfortable.
At TL4, armor declines in importance as firearms become common: anything that can stop a musket ball is too heavy to wear. Except for heavy cavalry, few soldiers or adventurers wear more than a pot helm and breastplate. At TL5-6, armor all but disappears – although TL6-7 infantry still wear a steel pot helmet to protect against bursting shell fragments.
At TL7-9, this trend reverses, as lightweight, bullet-resistant synthetics (such as Kevlar) appear and gradually improve. In some TL10+ backgrounds, armor might be vital. In others, weapons can penetrate anything, and a good Dodge – or shooting first – is the best defense.
Wearing Armor
There are some social and practical restrictions on wearing armor.
Reaction Penalty
A fully armored individual is someone who is expecting trouble...or looking to make trouble. He is unlikely to receive a warm welcome! In a noncombat situation, armor that covers the face or entire head gives -2 to reaction rolls. Nonconcealable armor with DR 2+ anywhere else (except the hands or feet) gives -1, or -2 if it isn't flexible and covers the torso. These penalties are cumulative: plate armor and a full helm would give you -4!
However, there is no reaction penalty if the NPC making the reaction roll recognizes the wearer's need or right to wear armor in the situation. Examples of socially acceptable armor include a knight on campaign or at a tourney; an astronaut wearing a vacc suit in space; or a soldier, paramedic, or journalist wearing body armor in a war zone.
Donning and Removing Armor
It takes three seconds per piece to don or remove most armor. It takes 30 seconds per piece for vacc suits or battlesuits, except for their helmets.
Exception: TL8+ flexible armor with insert panels and all TL9+ nonflexible armor have some form of "quick release" mechanism to drop the insert panel or let the user step out of the armor in only one second.
Combining and Layering Armor
You can freely combine multiple pieces of armor that don't cover the same hit location, but you can only layer armor if the inner layer is both flexible and concealable. Add the DR of both layers. Wearing an extra layer of armor anywhere but on the head gives -1 to DX and DX-based skills.
Armor Tables
The armor tables appear below. Each item on the tables includes an article of light, common clothing to wear underneath – or padding, if this is usual for the armor (e.g., mail includes cloth padding under the chain). The statistics already reflect this; you do not have to buy clothing or padding separately, or account for its DR and weight.
The tables give the following information for each item of armor:
- TL: The tech level at which the armor is commonly available.
- Armor: The item's name.
- Location: The area the armor protects on a humanoid wearer. Individual locations are skull (top of the head), face (the face, excluding the eyes), neck, eyes, arms, hands, torso (the abdomen and chest), groin, legs, and feet. Limbs covers the arms and legs, but not the hands or feet. Head covers skull, face, and eyes. Body is neck, torso, and groin. Full suit is everything but the head.
- DR: The amount of Damage Resistance the item gives. Subtract this from any blow that strikes the armored location. For instance, if you're wearing a DR 6 corselet and are hit in the torso for 8 points of damage, only 2 points penetrate and affect you. Some armor has a split DR; e.g., "4/2." This means DR varies by location or by type of attack; see the notes for that piece of armor.
- "*" means the armor is flexible. Flexible armor is easier to conceal or wear under other armor, and quicker to don or remove, but it is more vulnerable to blunt trauma damage.
- "F" means the DR only protects against attacks from the front.
- Cost: The item's price, in $. "K" is thousands; "M" is millions.
- Weight: The item's weight, in pounds.
- LC: The item's Legality Class; see Legality Class (p. 267).
- Notes: Many items have special features or restrictions; see the notes after each table. Some advanced armor has built-in features that effectively grant the wearer advantages.
Basic Set, Low-Tech and High-Tech
Ultra-Tech
Defenses and weapons compete in a constant arms race. As weapons become more deadly, stronger and more effective defenses are developed to protect against them...leading to more powerful weapons. This chapter covers both general defenses, such as armor and force screens, and specific defenses, such as protective fields that shield against particular weapons, or electronic countermeasures designed to warn against or defeat attack.
Enemy action is not the only danger. Filter masks, vacc suits, and powered exoskeletons are just some of the gear that can protect the wearer in hostile environments and on the battlefield
Materials
Ultra-tech armor may be made of tough synthetic fibers, ceramics, plastics, or alloys similar to lower-TL armor. All of these technologies improve at higher TLs due to ongoing advances in material technology, but two materials are worthy of special mention.