bryce777
Count
Well, I really don't like the way armor works.
For example, it's been mentioned a few times that helmets are worthless. The reasoning is that headshots damn near always kill you, anyhow, so what's the point? I don't think helmets are worthless, but they are definitely not worth all that much and only the heaviest helmets will save you from a headshot and that's only if it didn't do too much damage.
Now, you could do a kludge and make headshots do slightly less damage or make helmets have a higher rating than body armor (which does make sense since helmets are usually MUCH thicker than body armor) but I think that a much better solution is possible.
So the simplest armor system possible is to just take a few points of damage off. This is what happens now, and it is simple, but it does not really model amor very well at all.
A heavy blow can easily bounce off the side of a facegaurd on a helmet from a certain angle doing no damage, and just as easily instantly kill someone if it is an inch to the left by going through the eye ino the brain.
In a system like DnD, you either hit or don't hit, and that's the end of the story. In M&B you never miss this way - some say it's unrealistic for your arrow to hit on the screen and do no damage, but it's also unrealistic to never have a blow deflected, as well.
Both of these should be used sparingly, however, because their results are too dramatic.
Some systems use damage resistance as a percentage. So, if you have 100 points of damage, armor that absorbs 30% of it will leave you taking 70 points of damage.
Some systems also have coverage area, which is basically how likely you are to bypass the armor completely.
An ideal system would combine them both in a sort of GURPSlike manner:
Damage resistance: Even clothing would dampen blows a bit and give 5% or so resistance, whereas chainmail might get 50% resistance and plate armor 70% resistance
Coverage: Usually this will be a high number like 85-90% for body armors and for some body armors even 95% However, this allows you to model things like openfaced helmets that might only cover 60% of the head, or breastplates which have extremely high protection but do not cover the whole upper body, or plate armor that does not cover the rear in the legs. If there is 80% coverage, there is a 20% chance a blow bypasses the armor completely, which could be very serious for a head shot.
Deflection: this is a chance that a blow will flat out be stopped cold no matter how hard it is delivered. Basically, curved armor, especially plate mail, can have even a severe blow simply slide right off if it does not contact the armor very directly. Armor like leather would have an extremely low deflection chance such as 5% or less, whereas plae armor could have a much higher chance, perhaps as much as 30-40%.
Soak: Soak is what's used now, and it should be used extremely sparingly. In more sophisticated systems it is used sparingly indeed because it is so powerful and hard to balance, but it does have its place. Without balancing it youe asily get into situations where you either totally deflect blows or get killed instantly if you don't have enough armor, which is what happens here and is not terribly realistic - a man in plate armor is not invulnerable to a mob, nor is he probably going to die from one glancing blow of a scimitar either. Both can happen in M&B, though. What soak IS good for is to represent the ability of an armor to not be phased by very weak blows. A weak peasant with a rake should not be able to do much or maybe any damage unless he gets lucky and hits an unprotected spot.
For example, it's been mentioned a few times that helmets are worthless. The reasoning is that headshots damn near always kill you, anyhow, so what's the point? I don't think helmets are worthless, but they are definitely not worth all that much and only the heaviest helmets will save you from a headshot and that's only if it didn't do too much damage.
Now, you could do a kludge and make headshots do slightly less damage or make helmets have a higher rating than body armor (which does make sense since helmets are usually MUCH thicker than body armor) but I think that a much better solution is possible.
So the simplest armor system possible is to just take a few points of damage off. This is what happens now, and it is simple, but it does not really model amor very well at all.
A heavy blow can easily bounce off the side of a facegaurd on a helmet from a certain angle doing no damage, and just as easily instantly kill someone if it is an inch to the left by going through the eye ino the brain.
In a system like DnD, you either hit or don't hit, and that's the end of the story. In M&B you never miss this way - some say it's unrealistic for your arrow to hit on the screen and do no damage, but it's also unrealistic to never have a blow deflected, as well.
Both of these should be used sparingly, however, because their results are too dramatic.
Some systems use damage resistance as a percentage. So, if you have 100 points of damage, armor that absorbs 30% of it will leave you taking 70 points of damage.
Some systems also have coverage area, which is basically how likely you are to bypass the armor completely.
An ideal system would combine them both in a sort of GURPSlike manner:
Damage resistance: Even clothing would dampen blows a bit and give 5% or so resistance, whereas chainmail might get 50% resistance and plate armor 70% resistance
Coverage: Usually this will be a high number like 85-90% for body armors and for some body armors even 95% However, this allows you to model things like openfaced helmets that might only cover 60% of the head, or breastplates which have extremely high protection but do not cover the whole upper body, or plate armor that does not cover the rear in the legs. If there is 80% coverage, there is a 20% chance a blow bypasses the armor completely, which could be very serious for a head shot.
Deflection: this is a chance that a blow will flat out be stopped cold no matter how hard it is delivered. Basically, curved armor, especially plate mail, can have even a severe blow simply slide right off if it does not contact the armor very directly. Armor like leather would have an extremely low deflection chance such as 5% or less, whereas plae armor could have a much higher chance, perhaps as much as 30-40%.
Soak: Soak is what's used now, and it should be used extremely sparingly. In more sophisticated systems it is used sparingly indeed because it is so powerful and hard to balance, but it does have its place. Without balancing it youe asily get into situations where you either totally deflect blows or get killed instantly if you don't have enough armor, which is what happens here and is not terribly realistic - a man in plate armor is not invulnerable to a mob, nor is he probably going to die from one glancing blow of a scimitar either. Both can happen in M&B, though. What soak IS good for is to represent the ability of an armor to not be phased by very weak blows. A weak peasant with a rake should not be able to do much or maybe any damage unless he gets lucky and hits an unprotected spot.
